Hillsideout is an Italian-German collaboration which combines antique restoration techniques with contemporary mediums. Founded in 2009 by Andrea Zambelli and Nat Wilms, the brand name is a linguistic game related to their vision of furnishings that finds inspiration in an external element from the land by bringing it "out" into interiors.
Andrea Zambelli (b. 1978 in Italy) is a professional restorer of furniture with more than 15 years working experience in Bologna dealing with wealthy family heritages dating from the early 17th to the mid 20th centuries. As a designer he believes in a possible re-interpretation of his former profession believing that ancient skills of application, which are slowly disappearing, should be preserved. The insertion of innovative materials using antique manufacturing skills is based on the historical furniture tradition but also renews it at the same time.
Nat Wilms (b. 1976 in Germany) is a freelance artist with a degree in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna/Italy. She graduated with her thesis about Circular and Linear Time in cultural-visual Anthropology with the art critician Roberto Daolio in 2006. Both during and after her academic formation she took part in multimedia classes at the University of Art in Berlin and has participated in numerous workshops. She is a teacher of multimedia classes and as a conceptualist she developped the brand strategy.
Post-Hillsideout: The project Hillsideout contains the production of unique editions made between 2009 and 2022. The creative collaboration ends after more than 12 successful years and the two founders divide for going on with their own projects. The left editions or designs which came out during that period are still for sale though and in production on request, brandmarked and with the usual certificate of authenticity signed by the designers. Website and E-mail address will continue being the same.