Gaia is a Rotterdam-based social designer, visual artist, and researcher originally from Milan, Italy. Her practice focuses on anthropogenic environments, contaminated landscapes, and pollution, exploring how human activities, production, and culture manifest in the material world. Gaia’s work involves collective experiences, multimedia installations, and performances that challenge the relationship between fiction, myths, and realities surrounding consumerism, standards, and exhaustion. Through material research and storytelling, she examines the interaction between environments, materials, and bodies to create tangible data and hybrid narratives that deepen the understanding of socio-environmental issues.

Exhibitions

UpComing ITALY: A New Collective Landscape,” Italian  Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2025 (CN)
2024 “Runaway” at DOPO?Space, Milan Design Week (IT)
2024 Pressing Matter with WhyWhyNot Collective, at Keilewerf 2, Rotterdam Art Week (NL)
2024 ITALY: A New Collective Landscape,” HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong (HK)
2023 Plan-B, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (NL)
2023 ReA! Art Fair, Fabbrica Del Vapore, Milan (IT)
2023 ITALY: A New Collective Landscape, ADI Design Museum, Milan (IT)
2022 DAE Graduation Show, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (NL)
2021 Zero Hunger, Zero Power, Klokgebouw, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (NL)
2021 Working Through Conditions/Conditioning,” Perculate Collective in collaboration with the Van Abbemuseum at Eindhoven Airport, (NL)


Education

2020-2022 MA Social Design - (Cum laude), DAE, Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven (NL)
2016-2019 BA Product Design - (Cum laude), NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan (IT)
2021 Depth Psychology Academy, Jung and Alchemy, Online course


Grant and Residency

UpComing Elias 2069, Residency Program with Matilde Patuelli (SL)
UpComing Marble Pyrgos, Residency Program, Tino island (GB)
On going Design Starting Grant with Studio Stolfa, Stimularing fond. (NL)


Experiences

2024 Intro Week for the master department at Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven (NL)
    PRODUCTION AND CURATORIAL TEAM
2024 “Saline Dimention: Meals from a salt burnt ground” Event with Studio Stolfa at Verfris, Rotterdam (NL)
    EXPERIENCE AND FOOD DESIGN, INSTALLATION
  2024  “Dreamweaving the Grottesque” with Matilde Patuelli at Onomatopee, Eindhoven (NL)
    WORKSHOP
2024 “TATREEZ COLLECTIVE COLLECTION” with SO, BASE, Milan Design Week (IT) (Selectect project from SO CV)
    SET DESIGN, CROWDFUNDING MANEGMENT, CURATORIAL AND PRODUCTION TEAM
2024 “Spatial Tales of Unearthly Critters” MIARD and COOKIES at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (NL)
    PANEL DISCUSSION, PERFORMANCE
2023 Piet Zwart Institute, Course “Marvellous Monsters” by COOKIES, MIARD Department, Rotterdam, NL
    TUTOR FINAL TERMS
2024  “Talk and Tour” Design Academy Eindhoven, Master Social Design. (NL)
    ALUMNI LECTURE
2023 Podcast with Future Material - Jan Van Eyck Academie at Klokgebouw, DDW23 Eindhoven (NL)
    PODCAST
2023 “Inizi Continui” at Italian Cultural Institute curated by Martina Muzzi and Studio Ossidiana, Amsterdam (NL)
    LECTURE , PERFORMANCE, SET DESIGN
2023 1/8 Of WhyWhyNot, Catalogue and identity for Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2023, (NL)
    RESEARCH AND CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT, GRAPHIC DESIGN, PHOTOSHOOT ART DIRECTION
2023 Commissioned sculpture by Ginevra Gatti for the project AMNAS, Milan (IT)
    MATERIAL RESEARCH, PRODUCTION, ASSISTANT SET DESIGN.
2022-2023 Odd Matter Studio, Fendi’s shops window, Rotterdam (NL)
    PRODUCTION
2022  Design Academy Eindhoven, Master Social Design. (NL)
    LECTURE
2022  “Story of Dust,” at Arena DAE Graduation Show DDW22, Microtuin (NL)
    PANEL DISCUSSION, PERFORMANCE


Featured

Upcoming Slanted Publishers book project “Reload.Earth” (DE)
2024 “Spatial Tales of Unearthly Critters” MIARD publication with COOKIES (NL)
2023 Acre Magazine - Interview about “The Myth of the CiucciaNebbia”
2022 Future Material Bank, Jan van Eyck Academie (NL)