Cane

Not every place needs a “big” project to become special.
Sometimes, it just needs care — care that is visible, tactile, and deeply connected to the rhythms of everyday life.

In the mountain village of Canè, Italy, our approach was deliberately modest. Instead of redesigning the whole square or reshaping the landscape, we added two simple gestures:

- A reclaimed timber frame in the church square, perfectly aligned with the Adamello peaks, engraved with moments from the village’s intertwined history of mountain labour and alpinism.

- A marble block in a grotto, flanked by blue-painted wooden benches, holding a weatherproof “alpinist’s book” where residents and visitors can record thoughts, much like signing a summit register.
Both are built from local materials — timber from the steep surrounding forests, marble from the village’s former quarry — chosen for their authenticity, their durability, and their ability to age beautifully. These are not luxury installations; they are everyday objects elevated through intention.

Because small, inexpensive interventions can completely change how a space is experienced.
A bench becomes more than a seat — it becomes an invitation.
A framed view becomes a place of memory.
A marked path becomes a story you walk through.

When design is thoughtful, scale becomes irrelevant. What matters is the signal it sends: this place is valued. And when a place is valued, people engage with it differently — they linger, they share, they take ownership. Care is contagious.

At BCW Collective, we see design as an amplifier. You don’t need to spend millions or chase spectacle to make a place meaningful. You just need to spot the moments in daily life where a touch of craft, a trace of colour, and a piece of local heritage can transform the ordinary into something unforgettable.

Small is not a compromise.
Small is powerful.
And in the right hands, small can be monumental.