Bio - Studio65 Official Website

about about usus __

Based in Turin and riyadh, working internationally.

our story

Franco Audrito founded Studio65 in Turin in 1965 as an avant-garde experimentation collective that brought together a group of artists, painters, photographers, and aspiring filmmakers- all students of the Faculty of Architecture. In 1975 Franco Audrito and his partner Athena (Nanà) Sampaniotou, along with their Studio65 colleagues, began their adventures in the Middle East, leading the studio to win competitions and build structures in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, and then Russia, Indonesia, England, China and the UAE.

Studio65 pursues projects of high quality on architectural, engineering, environmental aspects, achieving this aim through its close collaboration with the clients and the excellence of its team of architects and specialists: structural and infrastructural engineers, planners and environmental consultants, craftsman and model prototype, cost specialists and project management to create the project of high quality on drawings production, specifications, cost analysis, budget definition, time scheduling, 3D models and renders presentation for conceptual design and competitions. Studio65 offices are currently based in Turin, Italy and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Franco Audrito: The Merchant of Clouds

our association

In 2015 Franco Audrito and his partner Athena Sampaniotou, along with their daughter Valentina Audrito, founded the cultural association “Il Mercante di Nuvole” (The Merchant of Clouds) to promote their activity in the field of design, art and education and to promote Studio65 Historical Archive. The association's headquarters are based in Turin, Via Valprato 68, where they organize events, workshop and host the permanent exhibition of their most iconic design pieces as well as the historical archive.

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Design Icons

Franco Audrito is also a famous international designer for furniture and interiors. The most famous designed pieces are the “Bocca” sofa and the “Capitello” armchair, but many others have been designed.

Worldwide Exhibitions

These famous pieces are from the Franco Audrito Studio65 Multipli collection and are on permanent exhibition at the MOMA in New York, at Vitra design museum in Weil am Rhein, Vienna Museum of applied arts, Milano Triennale design museum, Beaubourg contemporary art museum in Paris, Louisiana contemporary art museum in Copenhagen and many others all around the world.

the archive

The purpose of Studio65 Historical Archive, managed by the cultural association Il Mercante di Nuvole, is to preserve and enhance the projects designed between 1965 and 1995. In 2017 the Historical Archive obtained the recognition of "historical and cultural interest" from the Piedmont Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence.

More than 60 years
of successful experience

Awards & recognitions

iDOGI Awards, 2017 First prize Aga Khan Award for Yanbu Cement Factory, 2004 Dedalo Minosse Award for Yanbu Cement Factory, 2001 London Association of Engineers, 2000 Yambu Cement Factory – First prize and award of contract, 1994 Special prize from the City of Grugliasco, 1997

Nomination for Aga Khan Award for Arabian Chevron Compound, 1985 First place for Damascus International Fair project, 1981 Arabian Chevron Compound in Riyadh – First place and award of contract, 1980 Al Madinah Newspaper Headquarter – First place and award of contract, 1977

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publishing since 1971.

press

Studio65 activities are well documented by the publications on books and magazines all over the world, as well as exhibitions and international awards, and the four monographs published. Our very first publication was on Casa Vogue in 1971. The first monograph was published by Electa in 1986, entitled "Studio65"; the second and third by L'Arca Publishing, "Lo Studio65", and "Franco Audrito e lo Studio65" in 1995 and 2000, then on 2015 published by Skirà "Il Mercante di Nuvole. Studio65: 50 years of future".

Hundreds of people in Italy and abroad have shared this wonderful living and working experience for more than 50 years, all this time continuing to truly believe that one can design and create dreams. We have ventured together, with curious gaze of a child, to discover the most remote corners of the world.