ATLANTE Design presents Common Ground by designer and creative director Margherita Rui, bringing five Italian manufacturers into dialogue.
Common Ground, is a project born from a journey across Italy, exploring the country’s manufacturing excellence and bringing different materials, traditions and creative identities together around the table.
A journey through Italian craftsmanship
Common Ground began as a journey of discovery. Travelling across Italy, Margherita Rui encountered artisans, visited manufacturers and explored the materials, techniques and knowledge that define their identities. From Sicily to Veneto the journey resulted in a dialogue around what it means to sit around the table.
From these encounters emerged a collective project bringing together five Italian manufacturers — NasonMoretti, Fornace Brioni, Fortuny, Imolarte and Amenta Incisioni — each representing a distinctive tradition: glass, terracotta, textiles, ceramics and artistic printing.
Rather than simply juxtaposing different objects, Margherita established a dialogue between these diverse expressions of craftsmanship, translating her journey into a shared design language.
The table becomes both the destination and the symbol of this exploration: a place where objects, people, territories and stories meet, celebrating the cultural richness of Italian making through the everyday ritual of gathering.
From the journey to the table: EDIT Napoli 2026
First presented at EDIT Napoli 2026, as part of the EDIT Cult programme, Common Ground found a particularly meaningful setting in the Church of Santa Caterina da Siena, home of the Fondazione Pietà de’ Turchini. A place historically dedicated to music, cultural exchange and collective experiences, the church provided a natural setting for an installation centred on encounter and conviviality.
The objects gathered along Margherita’s creative journey came together in a composition that connected the architectural setting with the identities of the five manufacturers. Glass, terracotta, textiles, ceramics and artistic printing became elements of a collective narrative, celebrating the diversity of Italian craftsmanship within a contemporary design vision.
Margherita Rui and Atlante Design: an evolving collaboration
The relationship between Margherita Rui and ATLANTE Design began well before Common Ground, through collections she designed and creatively directed for brands already represented and promoted within the ATLANTE portfolio. This new chapter expands that established dialogue, bringing Margherita’s creative vision and her work with multiple manufacturers into greater focus.
Building on its presentation in Naples, Common Ground continues its journey, opening new opportunities for visibility, distribution and collaboration, while preserving the distinctive identities that make it a collective design project.
Discover Margherita Rui and explore the Common Ground collections on ATLANTE Design.