After ten years in partnership, a practice of his own: Davide Mercatali, designer and promoter

A decade inside an associated studio, then independence: the career of Davide Mercatali turns on that change. Once the years of Mercatali and Pedrizzetti were over, he set up by himself as designer and promoter, collaborating with major companies, in the words of his biography, «in the most disparate sectors». The phrase is accurate. Trained in architecture in Milan, his native city, he became a specialist in taps, yet lamps, sofas, fireplaces and cutlery are his as well. He has also taught outside Italy, through stages held in Brazil, Barcelona and Osaka. Today he continues to practise as an independent designer.

The partnership years left I Balocchi, designed together with Paolo Pedrizzetti for Fantini and brought back by the company in 2012: its first range of coloured taps. Where a bathroom in an Indian residence or hotel calls for colour at the basin, the series is the natural place to begin, and La Mercanti goes through the brief with whoever is drawing that bathroom.