Our work begins with a simple belief: the objects we live with shape our experience of home. A chair, a vessel, a textile or a lamp can carry history, express a point of view and create a sense of place. The most meaningful objects do all three at once.

Ad Origine began as a personal project by Gonzalo Cárdenas, an industrial designer raised between Peru and Canada. Growing up alongside a mother who worked with clay, he learned early to look with his hands—to turn objects over, pay attention to materials and speak with the people who made them.

He studied architecture before moving into industrial design, shifting his attention from space to the objects that shape it. After spending two decades designing and developing collections across furniture, footwear and food, Gonzalo kept returning to the same questions: How is something made? What gives it character? Why do some objects remain meaningful while others are quickly replaced?

Eventually, he left corporate work to create something of his own.

Meeting Alessandro Martinelli brought the project into focus. A mathematician and fashion historian with roots in Tuscany, Alessandro offered another way of looking: through context, lineage and the cultural histories surrounding an object. Their paths converged in Milan, where Ad Origine found its first clear direction. Today, Gonzalo leads the practice between Milan and Toronto, while Alessandro continues to contribute historical research, editorial insight and a particularly exacting eye.

Their search moves through markets, fairs, workshops and galleries—the places where objects are made, displayed, restored and exchanged.

We are interested not only in what an object is, but in how it came to be: the people behind it, the ideas that shaped it and the traditions that continue to inform it. Tradition is accumulated intelligence: generations of knowledge embedded in materials, techniques and ways of making. The most compelling contemporary work builds upon it. In the end, we look for objects with history, character and a place in everyday life.

We will probably enjoy working together if…

You believe the right object is worth searching for. You want an interior to reflect the personality of the people who inhabit it. You are comfortable placing contemporary design, vintage pieces and studio craft in the same room. You care about where objects come from, but still expect them to function in everyday life. You appreciate informed opinions, honest conversations and the occasional unexpected suggestion. Lastly, you would rather keep looking than settle for something that is merely close enough.