From Nature, With Nature, Back to Nature

Autumn, Beautiful Decay and the quiet transformation of Casa Giusti.

By Mark Farhat Giusti

There is something magical about the way autumn changes everything so quietly.

One week the trees are still green, and then suddenly the city is covered with a carpet of gold, rust, amber and deep red. The leaves begin to fall, the light changes and even places you walk past every day somehow feel completely different.

I have always found something beautiful ,  almost holistic , about the way nature sheds its old skin at this time of year.

From the outside, everything may appear to be slowing down. Trees become bare. Leaves disappear. Colours fade. But underneath, nature is already working on its rebirth, quietly preparing to surprise us again in spring.

That idea became the starting point for our October / November theme at the House of MARK / GIUSTI:

BEAUTIFUL DECAY
An exploration of beauty, transformation and the changing season through art, design and craftsmanship.

For me, Beautiful Decay is not really about decay at all. It is about transformation. About understanding that something does not lose its beauty simply because it changes. Sometimes the change is the beauty.

When nature becomes the mood board

I personally get a huge amount of inspiration from the colours of nature and from watching the seasons change. I genuinely believe that every Pantone shade we could possibly need — and probably thousands that we have never even seen , already exists somewhere in nature.

So why always look elsewhere when it comes to design? Sometimes inspiration is already right outside the door. We simply need to stop long enough to notice it and in presence with it.

A leaf that has changed colour.
The bark of a tree.
The way sunlight passes through branches late in the afternoon.
A combination of green and burgundy that you would perhaps never have deliberately placed beside one another.
Nature does these things effortlessly.

For me, creativity does not always begin with a sketch or a mood board. Very often it begins with a walk, a place, a colour I cannot stop looking at or the way the light hits something for only a few seconds.

Then you bring that feeling back with you.
And somehow, little by little, it becomes part of what you create.

Beautiful Decay at The House of MARK / GIUSTI

That was also the starting point for our window installation at the House of
MARK / GIUSTI in Via Malpighi 7 in Porta Venezia, Milan.

I wanted to bring some of that autumn magic inside.

Rather than creating a conventional product display, we imagined a small outdoor patio as an extension of Casa Giusti,  almost as though autumn had quietly made its way through the doors of the House.

We worked with fallen leaves, branches, warm seasonal colours and natural textures, using only elements that had already fallen naturally to the ground.

Nothing needed to be cut down or created especially for the installation.
That mattered to us.
The result is intentionally imperfect.

Leaves overlap. Irregular pieces of stone and wood on top of each other . Colours shift from one leaf to another. Nothing is too controlled.

And that imperfection is precisely where the beauty lives.

That, for me, is the essence of Beautiful Decay.

Not trying to freeze something at its most perfect moment, but appreciating what happens as it evolves.

When our leather came home

Something unexpected happened when we began placing our bags and accessories into the installation.

They looked completely at home. Our  vegetable-tanned leather bags and accessories, particularly in the deeper greens, reds, browns and natural tones we use throughout the MARK / GIUSTI collections, suddenly became part of the landscape rather than objects sitting on top of it. Unlike conventional tanning methods that use harmful chemicals, vegetable tanning relies on natural tannins from plants like oak and chestnut. It is a safer and eco-friendly choice, aligning with MARK / GIUSTI's commitment to a greener future

It reminded me of something that is easy to forget when we see a finished luxury object in a shop window.

Leather begins in nature too. The materials we choose, the way they age, the natural variations they carry and the colours we develop are all part of that story.

Vegetable-tanned leather is particularly important to us because of the way it develops character over time since it is tanned using natural elements from plants.

It is not meant to remain frozen and untouched.
It lives with you. It changes. It softens. It develops its own patina.
In many ways, that is another form of beautiful decay.

A material becoming more personal, more individual and more connected to the person who lives with it. And placed among fallen leaves and branches, that relationship suddenly felt very obvious. It was almost as though the pieces were coming home. From nature, with nature, and back to nature.

Why transformation matters

The idea of Beautiful Decay also speaks to something much wider in the way we think about design.

We live in a culture that often celebrates only the new.

The untouched.
The perfect.
The just-arrived.

But some of the most beautiful things around us are beautiful precisely because they have lived.

A stone floor worn smooth over centuries.
A leather bag that has developed a patina.
A mosaic whose surface carries the traces of time
A tree losing its leaves before growing again.To me, these are not signs of decline.

They are signs of life.

And I think luxury can learn something from that. The value of an object should not disappear the moment it stops looking new. Sometimes its story is only beginning and the value will only get higher.

Responsible design should begin with what already exists

For us, responsible design is not simply about adding a sustainability statement at the end of the process.

It should influence the way we think from the beginning.

Can we work with materials that already exist?
Can something be repaired rather than replaced?
Can a piece be designed to stay relevant beyond one season?
Can an old craft or cultural story be given a contemporary purpose rather than being forgotten?
Can what we create today still have meaning years from now?

These questions influence much of what we do at MARK / GIUSTI.

We have never been interested in creating simply for the sake of creating more. We want the pieces we make to have a reason to exist.

And perhaps Beautiful Decay is also a reminder that responsible design is not always about keeping something looking new. It can also be about designing something well enough that it becomes more beautiful through use.

Nature, mosaic and cultural memory

There is another connection here that goes much deeper into the identity of MARK / GIUSTI.

Our work has always been strongly influenced by mosaic heritage. For centuries, artisans looked to nature for colour, geometry and form. Flowers, stars, leaves, water, movement and repetition found their way into mosaics covering floors, courtyards, palaces, places of worship and public spaces.

We continue to look closely at those same historic surfaces. We study their geometry, redraw them, reinterpret their colours and find ways to carry their stories into contemporary life through leather goods, textiles, interiors and objects. Many of those mosaics have also changed with time.Some have faded.

Some are incomplete.

Some carry cracks and imperfections. And yet those traces of age often make them even more extraordinary. Again, the beauty is not in pretending time never happened. It is in recognising what time has added.

That process is very similar to the way I look at nature. It is never about simply copying what already exists. It is about understanding it. Respecting where it came from.

And then asking: How can we give this a new life without losing the soul of the original?

A different idea of luxury

For me, luxury has increasingly become less about perfection and more about connection.

Connection to the material.
Connection to the person who made something.
Connection to culture.
Connection to nature.

And ultimately, connection to the person who will live with the piece.

A beautifully crafted bag is important. But understanding why that material was chosen, where the pattern came from, whose hands created it and how it will change as you use it gives the object another dimension. That story creates value that goes beyond the moment of purchase. It is something we try to bring into everything we do at the House of MARK / GIUSTI.

The house of MARK / GIUSTI is not simply a place where we display collections.

It is a place where we can experiment, create installations, invite artisans into the space, talk about cultural heritage, introduce new designers, host conversations and allow people to experience the world around the objects.

Beautiful Decay was one of those conversations.

A way of looking at autumn not simply as the end of a season, but as a moment of transformation.
A reminder that beauty can exist in change, imperfection, ageing and renewal.

Sometimes you simply have to look around

Perhaps the most important lesson from this installation is also the simplest.

We are surrounded by inspiration every day. Sometimes we are so busy searching for the next thing that we forget to notice what is already in front of us.

The colours of autumn will disappear.
The leaves will eventually be cleared from the streets.
The trees will become bare.

And then, quietly, everything will begin again. That cycle is part of what makes nature extraordinary. It reminds us that change does not always mean losing something.

Sometimes you have to let go of one season to make space for the next. And perhaps that is what
Beautiful Decay is really about.

Not an ending. A transition. A quiet moment before something new begins.

For a designer, that may be one of the most beautiful reminders of all.

Look around and be present.

The next idea may already be there.

Discover the House of MARK / GIUSTI

Visit Casa Giusti, Via Marcello Malpighi 7, Porta Venezia, Milan, to discover the latest collections, craftsmanship, interiors and cultural projects from the House of MARK / GIUSTI.

Explore our Italian leather bags, accessories and bespoke pieces online, or contact us to discuss private commissions, interiors, hospitality and bespoke projects.

From nature, with nature, and back to nature.