Milan (AFP)

They are eight, between 16 and 20 years old, and dream of becoming movie or television stars ... in the meantime, they already have 16 million followers on the TikTok app as budding Defhouse influencers, Italian nursery of social media stars.

Their home: a design loft in fluorescent colors of 500 m2, bay windows, gigantic terrace and jacuzzi in a luxury residence in eastern Milan, where each corner is designed to serve as a backdrop for the videos of a few tens of seconds shot by its residents.

The pop style of this duplex with geometric patterns where the boundaries between real life and virtual world are blurred, is inspired by the Memphis school, a movement founded in 1981 in Milan by architect and designer Ettore Sottsass.

The fans would pay dearly to know the address, kept top secret.

“I am recognized when I walk in the streets of Milan,” says Simone Berlini, a tall 20-year-old brunette with a dazzling smile, posing in front of a canvas of blue sky that seems to have just emerged from a Hollywood setting.

If he believes he can "live from what we do", thanks to the brands which sponsor young influencers, this former student in business management considers that "Defhouse is a springboard" for a future career, preferably as an actor .

Since moving into the bright loft that opened on October 15, 2020, this Neapolitan has almost doubled his number of TikTok subscribers to 2.7 million.

This is also the case of Alessia Lanza, 20 years old, blond quilts, increased to 1.4 million followers.

But she recognizes that success in the virtual world is fleeting: "One day we touch the stars, and the next day, we are at the lowest."

Her pink bedroom is illuminated by a fluorescent sun emoticon.

- Generation Z -

The days of Defhouse residents are punctuated by the production of dozens of videos per day.

With their smartphones attached to an LED ring for perfect lighting, they stage their daily lives by skipping, singing in playback, playing sketches, busy in the kitchen or dancing to the background of disco music.

"At the beginning, I was not at all convinced. To move the lips on tunes of music without even singing, for me, that did not require any talent", loose Luca Casadei, 44 years, founder of Web Stars Channel, house of production that has propelled the careers of many web talents in Italy.

Then, he says he understood the "creative potential" of TikTok and founded Defhouse, like the Hype House in Los Angeles, by injecting "a DNA: training and design", designed for Generation Z , the age group of 15-24 years.

"The young people of the TikTok generation do not know anything about politics, do not inform themselves, they have the capacity of concentration of a goldfish. Hence the idea of ​​training them", explains the manager.

On the program: courses in politics and current affairs, recitation and diction, music and culture or even good manners.

- Luxury brands -

On the business side, the equation is simple: Web Stars Channel contracts with luxury brands like Herno, telephone brands like Vodafone or DJ consoles like Pioneer, and donates part of the revenues to young talents at Defhouse.

"It has nothing to do with teleshopping programs. They are creatives of the digital world who soak up the philosophy of a brand, in a natural and fun way", assures Luca Casadei.

Profitability is there.

"We thought we would recover after three years, the rent alone costs 500 euros per day. But finally we got there after three months," he says.

Owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, TikTok has experienced a meteoric boom in Italy during periods of containment due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But the death on Thursday of a 10-year-old girl, suffocated while she was participating in the "headscarf game", caused a chill.

The authorities have declared a partial blockage of the application.

TikTok, a dangerous game?

"I started to be active on social networks when I was 15, but I never saw this kind of challenge," says Jasmin Zangarelli, 17, an influencer for Defhouse.

"Social networks are a great thing, as long as you put them to good use," said the former figure skating champion.

© 2021 AFP