About Us

Ad Origine began as a personal project by Gonzalo Cárdenas. Growing up between Peru and Canada, alongside a mother who worked with clay, he learned to look with his hands—to turn objects slowly, to listen to materials, and to speak with those who made them. Trained first in architecture before moving into industrial design, his focus shifted from space to the objects that shape it.

Meeting Alessandro Martinelli brought the project into focus. A mathematician and fashion historian with roots in Tuscany, Alessandro brings context, lineage, and an editorial eye. Their paths converged in Milan, where Ad Origine found its first clear direction.

Ad Origine is our journey through markets, studios, and fairs—beginning in Italy and unfolding outward over time. It is guided by the belief that a home is a portrait, one that changes with you through the objects you choose to live with.

The story behind each object is often as complex as the reasons we bring it into our home. The more storied an object, the more meaning it carries—becoming part of daily life, celebrations, and moments that stay.

What we offer is a bridge between these objects and your portrait. We make collectible design easier to access by opening a direct path to the markets, fairs, and places we move through. We make it easier to bring these pieces home by making them available clearly and without the usual back-and-forth, so that what surrounds you begins, almost without notice, to look more like you.