ECC presents: A Still Life

In the hills of Montevecchia, a short escape from the city of Milan, sits the family-owned winery, Cantina Ceresé. With an exterior the colour of the local clay, set so deeply into the surrounding hills that it seems to belong to them, its architecture reveals itself slowly on approach.

Out of the fertile landscape rises a structure with a slender, curving roof sown with wildflowers; its circular opening framing the sanctuary of the Madonna del Carmelo on the ridge above. Designed by Pietro Pizzi of Studio Pizzi, it’s not hard to see why Cantina Ceresé was named Italy’s best new architecture in 2024, winning the Premio Italiano di Architettura.

This year, Cantina Ceresé became the setting for ECC’s first brand campaign, A Still Life: a study of what it means to live well in a considered space—and what happens when there’s room for pause. Since 1909, ECC has brought the best in international design to New Zealand. The campaign features pieces without compare from the makers we’ve partnered with over those decades.

Produced from New Zealand alongside London-based creative agency TwelveAM, we assembled an international team to help capture a portrait of living with pieces built to last, set in the landscape that shaped them. In the years since ECC was established, we’ve learnt what endures, who to trust to make it, and the importance of living alongside it. This campaign is a quiet celebration of that work.