M attia Bonetti has spent decades shaping a design language that refuses to sit still. His works move between humor and gravity, surrealism and restraint, the deeply hand-crafted and the wildly imaginative. In this conversation, filmed inside the Breuer building in New York, he reflects on the impulses that guide him: drawing as instinct, sculptural precision, and a fascination with nature that runs through everything he creates. Even his most technically demanding pieces begin as something quiet and internal, long before artisans translate them into wood, bronze, metal, or gilded structures.
As Bonetti revisits works, a fuller portrait emerges—one shaped by fantasy, Pop Art’s irreverence, and a willingness to let contrast do the storytelling.
The exhibition featuring these pieces is on view at Sotheby’s New York in the Breuer building through 9 December, ahead of the Important Design sale, taking place live on 10 December.
