Studio Chiaozza, combining the everyday and the extraordinary

Studio Chiaozza, pronounced “chow-zah,” is the artistic duo of Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao, founded in Brooklyn back in 2011. The multidisciplinary pair have backgrounds in drawing, painting and architecture, with their work “existing in a grey area between art and design, 2D and 3D, painting and sculpture”. This is a purposeful decision as they “find the ambiguity interesting, challenging, and fun – we often end up with work that is unexpected, open-ended, and, we hope, wonderful,” explains Adam and Terri.

What’s refreshing about Chiaozza’s work is how inviting each of the pieces are, its graphic capability allows the studio to create work that appears to have it’s own personality. “Play is an important concept in our collaborative process – as a way of working together within a loosely structured arena,” the duo says. One particular project, The Lump Nubbins made for The Whitney Museum shop, conveys this perfectly, with each sculpture reflecting an artist being exhibited at the museum.

More recently their talent of transforming spaces into formidable jungles of fun has been spotted by other studios and companies, leading to some thrilling projects. The latest venture is a partnership between the duo and Studio Proba to create the sculpture Suspended Confetti. Partnering with multidisciplinary designer Alex Proba was the perfect fit for Chiaozza. Together, their mutual understanding of products and colour collaboration has created an astonishing cascade of design.

A further collaboration for Chiaozza this year was with Opening Ceremony to create Impossible Stairscape, a set design to showcase shoe brand, Teva. Initially inspired by the swirling illustrations of MC Escher, Chiaozza brought its kaleidoscopic vision to colourful 3D use, creating a “dream-like landscape of colourful walkers traversing a playful, seemingly endless architectural space”.