Italian designer Elisa Passino brings bold colour, rhythmic geometry, and personal heritage to the fore in her new collaboration with Bert & May. Launching during Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, The Dulce Collection marks both the unveiling of a vibrant tile series and the opening of Bert & May’s new Shoreditch showroom. Known for blending Venetian richness with Milanese minimalism, Passino reimagines surfaces as poetic expressions of memory and joy. In this interview, she shares her design journey, her connection to East London’s creative pulse, and how tiles can quietly transform a space into a story.
What inspired The Dulce Collection, and how does it reflect your personal design philosophy rooted in colour and geometry?
The Dulce Collection was born from my desire to create something joyful, expressive, and versatile. Colour is always my starting point, it’s what shapes mood and perception. Geometry gives structure to that emotion, creating rhythm and movement. With Dulce, I wanted to bring these two elements into balance: bold but elegant forms, energised through vibrant palettes that can be customised for any atmosphere.
From your Venetian beginnings to Milanese minimalism, how have your roots shaped your approach to tile and surface design?
Growing up in Venice, I was immersed in layered beauty and this exposure to historic architecture and ornaments instilled in me an instinct for harmony. Later, living and studying in Milan sharpened my appreciation for restraint, clean lines, and thoughtful functionality; I think my work lives in the balance between those two worlds.
You’re known for bold palettes and clean lines—how did your creative dialogue with Bert & May evolve to bring this collaboration to life?
Bert & May and I share a common language around quality, craftsmanship, and a love for timeless design. They gave me the freedom to reinterpret their classic cement tiles through my aesthetic lens, and what really stood out was their openness to push the palette beyond their standard colours. This allowed me to refine the hues and truly “design” the colour stories alongside the patterns. It was a very fluid and respectful exchange, grounded in mutual admiration and a shared attention to detail.
Launching in Shoreditch during Clerkenwell Design Week, how does East London’s layered design energy align with your aesthetic vision?
East London is such a vibrant crossroads of heritage and experimentation where industrial textures meet expressive art, tradition meets reinvention. That layered energy resonates deeply with my own design language, which draws from the past while reimagining it in a fresh, graphic way. Shoreditch is the perfect setting for Dulce, a collection that’s both rooted in craft and alive with contemporary spirit.
Having worked across textiles, tiles, and wallcoverings, how do you design surfaces that balance functionality with emotional resonance?
For me, surfaces aren’t just backgrounds – they’re active storytellers. Whether it’s fabric, tile, or wallpaper, each has the potential to define the atmosphere. I always start by thinking about the feeling I want to evoke. Then I build from there using colour, rhythm, and form. Functionality is essential, of course, but the real magic happens when a surface resonates emotionally, when it stirs a memory or simply makes you smile every time you see it.
Drawing on influences from Portuguese azulejos to global visual cultures, how does Dulce express a sense of place, memory, and time?
The Portuguese colours and tile patterns are a constant source of inspiration. Dulce draws on that heritage, but it also weaves in broader influences: Italian architectural motifs, graphic patterns from my textile work, the chromatic language of cities I’ve loved. The result is a collection that feels both familiar and new, like a memory reinterpreted through contemporary eyes.
With international accolades under your belt, how do you keep your creative process joyful, grounded, and continuously evolving?
I try to stay curious above all. Wandering through a new city, discovering a small gallery, or simply noticing how the light hits a façade; these are moments that fuel me. I also like to switch projects regularly: going from graphic to interior design to product development, helps keep things fresh and allows me to return to each project with a new perspective. And most importantly, I surround myself with collaborators who bring energy and authenticity to each process.
In a digital-heavy design world, how do you maintain a tactile connection to your materials—do you lean into sketching, modelling, or experimentation?
Absolutely. While I use digital tools for refinement, I always begin with physical exploration, sketching by hand, testing colour swatches, assembling mood boards. I believe materiality has to be experienced physically to be understood. Even in tile design, I think about how the light hits the surface, how the colour changes throughout the day. It’s those sensory details that elevate a project beyond the screen.
When people encounter The Dulce Collection in their space, what feeling or story do you hope each tile quietly tells?
I hope each tile from the Dulce Collection feels like a gentle whisper of joy, something that catches the eye, but also lingers in the heart. I want it to speak of places once seen, colours once felt, and moments that made you pause. In its geometry and hues, there’s a quiet story of craft, memory, and playfulness, an everyday piece of art that makes your space feel more alive, more yours.
