Industrial design practice based in Milan, Italy
established by Paolo Dell’Elce in 2010.
Cinecittà, a table mirror made of brass and resin, designed for the Swedish brass manufacturer Skultuna.
Collide is a family of surface mounted lighting devices made of solid aluminium.
Design and Creative direction for BASIS, a retail platform committed to the creation of long lasting, functional tools for everyday use.
Plié, a family of lamps revisiting the traditional pleated shade.
The glass mirror and the polished, curved brass frame of Brera mirror interact creating an attractive and harmonious play of light and reflections.
Projects
Cinecittà, Skultuna
Basis
Plié, Il Fanale
City Icons, Palomar
Duomo, Lexon
Overlap, Rotaliana
Brera, Skultuna
Collide, Rotaliana
Howl, Torremato
Sunset, Rotaliana
Curve, DesignMarketo
Via Fondazza, Skultuna
Davis, Danese Milano
Bronte, Danese Milano
Tutti Frutti, Zero
Tide, Rotaliana
Stillness, Kaneka
Honolulu, Danese Milano
Copernico 500, Artemide
Reall, Artemide
Pleat, Artemide
Svalbard, Danese Milano
Copernico, Artemide
Copernico Parete, Artemide
Bumblebee, Danese Milano
Fractals, Artemide
mirror
design direction
lamps
souvenir
table mirror
suspension lamp
mirror
wall lamp
wall lamp
floor lamp
screenprinted glass
vases
bookshelves
book stand
suspension lamp
wall lamp
wall lamp
storage unit
suspension lamp
floor lamp
wall lamp
laptop tray
suspension lamp
wall lamp
magazine holder
suspension lamp
Descriptions
Basis
Design and Creative direction for BASIS, a retail platform based in Milan, Italy, committed to the creation of long lasting, functional tools for everyday use. Basis objects have a nostalgic and a sentimental feel, are steeped in cultural references and strongly connected to the Mediterranean craft tradition.The aim of the project is to promote the values of craftsmanship to a wider and new audience, while supporting an endangered millenary artisan tradition. www.thisisbasis.it
Cinecittà
Cinecittà is a table mirror made of translucent resin and brass, designed for the Swedish manufacturer Skultuna. The object is made of three parts, a cast resin base, a brass plate and a mirror. The mirror slides into a slot in the base and it stays in place without the aid of any mechanical fixings or glues. While the brass part comes from the historic Skultuna factory in Sweden, the resin base is hand-made in Italy by local craftsmen, combining the best of two cultures in a single product. www.skultuna.com
Plié
The project consists of an update of the traditional pleated country shade. The iconic element in brass or aluminum is mounted on a pure cylinder including a LED source. The result is a contemporary fixture with a familiar and cosy feel, declined in the suspension, ceiling and wall mounted typologies. www.ilfanale.com
City Icons
City icons is a collection of scale reproductions of some of the most important contemporary landmarks, where the subjects are reinterpreted and brought back to their essential form. The simplification process implemented attempts to achieve the purity of the original volume, probably conceived by the architect in the very early stage of design. The neutral material and the absence of color confer a further degree of abstraction and recall the outline of a building that stands out at night on the skyline. www.palomarweb.com
Duomo
A table mirror with a cosy and familiar appearance, made of two injection molded melamine parts, kept together by means of magnets. This product requires physical interaction in order to be fully understood and to disclose an unexpected feature: the mirror can be separated from the support and carried elsewhere, acquiring a new function. It is a project conceived to enhance ones engagements with everyday objects and to stimulate senses and curiosity.
www.lexon-design.com
Overlap
Collide is a suspension lamp composed of several overlapping circular parts. A central aluminum disc includes the Led sources providing indirect light. A series of outer discs are mounted on the central one and arranged on different levels. All these discs can be freely rotated in order to create always different spatial configurations. This play of pure shapes results in a unobtrusive yet dramatic geometry. www.rotaliana.com
Brera
The idea of Brera mirror originates from the details of the eclectic period of Milanese architecture and in particular the rose window of Santa Maria del Carmine church, located in Brera district, Milano and realized in 1880 by the architect Carlo Maciachini. The glass mirror and the highly-polished, curved brass frame interact creating an attractive and harmonious play of light and reflections, effortlessly bringing a sophisticated atmosphere to any environment. www.skultuna.com
Collide
Collide is a family of wall/ceiling lighting device made of solid, CNC machined aluminium. The object plays with the concept of intersection between pure geometrical shapes and it represents the natural extension of the lighting sources used, two circular LED circuits that operate at mains voltage, with no additional driver required. The object is very clear and understandable, every element that composes it declares in a direct and honest way its specific function. The simple style is functional to an optimum light performance and aim to a seamless integration of the device within the surrounding environment. www.rotaliana.com
Howl
Howl marks the beginning of our collaboration with Torremato, a family-run lighting company based in the province of Treviso, in the northeast of Italy. It is an indoor / outdoor lighting product made of only two parts of cast aluminium. The same fixture comes as two distinct products, a sconce and a bollard. It is powered with high voltage LED modules and is available with single or double lighting emissions. www.torremato.com
Sunset
Sunset is a floor lighting device made in aluminium that offers indirect lighting emission and is made of three distinct structural elements. The general geometry of this object consists in an unusual angular configuration that makes it adjustable to many different spaces and uses, taking up very little space. The inclination of the lighting sources was conceived to make a better use of the reflection on the walls and ceilings nearby and offer an ideal lighting effect. The die-cast aluminium head incorporates high voltage powered LEDs and although it only reaches a 5mm thickness, it also functions as a heat sink. www.rotaliana.com
Curve
Silk-screened Durobor glass inspired by the diagnostic shading technique used
in automotive design and computer graphics, known as Zebra striping. The circular, concentric motive designed, being applied on a transparent and curved surface, varies according to the position from which it is observed, affecting the perception of the roto-symmetrical glass, and transmitting to the viewer a sense of apparent movement and dynamicity. The work was commissioned by DesignMarketo in occasion of BarAlto event, held during Mons European Culture Capital 2015. www.designmarketo.com / www.durobor.com
Via Fondazza
Via Fondazza is a collection of vases realized in mirror polished spun brass and designed for Skultuna, a swedish company producing brass and sterling silver objects of the highest quality from 400 years. The project is inspired by the archetypal subjects represented in the still life paintings by the artist Giorgio Morandi, considered a forerunner of Minimalism, whose work was based on a thorough research on shapes and proportions. Via Fondazza is the name of the street in Bologna where the artist’s house and studio was based. www.skultuna.com
Davis
Davis is a basic and functional shelf, suitable for both home and work spaces. By simply laser-cutting and bending a metal sheet a lightweight and wide structure is obtained, which holds books and documents and contains them thanks to a frame, part of the same sheet of material. Davis is designed to be used as a stand-alone element or to be configured as a bookcase, where five shelves are assembled on a wall-mounted solid maple structure. www.danesemilano.com
Bronte
Bronte is a bookstand including a LED: a multifunctional tool that refers and pays tribute to James Irvine work for Danese. It is made of a cut and folded sheet of aluminum jointed together with a simple mechanism, offering movements and the possibility to flatten the object. The lighting source is located on an adjustable plate on the top and is provided with a lens that controls the light, illuminating the books and the working surface on the front. In the closed position, Bronte is backlit and provides a gentle glow in the environment. www.danesemilano.com
Tutti Frutti
Loosely translated as “all fruits”: perhaps a pear, a peach or an orange, ripe for the picking. Referencing cosy interiors and traditional Scandinavian lighting fixtures, Tutti Frutti provides a gently inviting feeling through its warm colours and soft surfaces. Just as elegant as subtly playful; just as contemporary as classic. Tutti Frutti’s E27 socket, metal, silicone and plastic are extremely easy to disassemble for recycling. Materials: rubber painted aluminium, rubber ring and matt acrylic diffuser. www.zerolighting.com
Tide
Tide is an innovative LED wall lamp providing indirect light. The light sources are completely hidden within a sinuous die-cast aluminium body. The new generation LEDs used are powered by power voltage and do not require any additional driver. This allows to create small products also using less material which not only makes these lamps structurally lighter but even more pleasant to look at. Even though Tide is a compact and low consumption lamp, it is able to light up just as well as traditional halogen lamps. www.rotaliana.com
Stillness
Stillness aims to enhance the most interesting features of OLED technology in terms of lighting emission: softness of light, low luminance and a gentle glow. Consisting of a three-dimensional grid of OLED panels, Stillness is defined within a rectangle whose sides lengths are in the golden ratio. The inclination of the lighting sources gives the piece a perfect visibility from any angle of a room and helps to diffuse the light in its surrounding, while the mirrored surface creates an attractive play of reflections. Commissioned by: Kaneka. Manufactured by: Realize. www.kanekaoled.jp / www.realizesrl.com
Honolulu
Honolulu is a system of movable containers, apparently a classic dresser that reveals a different functionality. It consists of a structure made of metal rod that hold simple boxes made of OSB. The sliding mechanism of the drawers is eliminated to allow the containers to be easily extracted. This also means that the structure can be extremely elementary. The boxes are designed to live separately from the main structure, so that they can interact with other containers, objects and surfaces. Honolulu is conceived to store personal items in the home environment and is perfect in the working space as a place to share and store tools or documents. www.danesemilano.com
Copernico
Copernico Parete
Copernico 500
Copernico is a family of lighting devices obtained from a single laser-cut sheet of aluminium. The articulation with copper contacts allows the electricity to pass through the concentric ellipses that form the structure, and enables these to be rotated independently over 360°. The mobility of the elements and the low-voltage LED allow users to configure the light in space by clasping and moving the object, modulating the emission according to their needs. In collaboration with Carlotta de Bevilacqua.
Compasso d’Oro 2014 Honorable mention
Red Dot Design Award 2011
www.artemide.com
Reall
Visual lightness and thermodynamics are the main characteristics of this project. The die-cast aluminium head is appropriately shaped and perforated to form a permeable visual interface and to facilitate heat exchange, guaranteeing optimum dissipation of the heat produced by the LED source. It rotates on two axes and moves vertically on its stem, allowing users to interact with the device and to define the light most suited to their needs. In collaboration with Carlotta de Bevilacqua. www.artemide.com
Pleat
Pleat is a synthesis between a folded aluminium sheet and a printed circuit board applied on it. A fragmented emission with 36 LEDs and a basic geometry obtained through simple cuts and folds give rise to an optimal and precise wall emission. The dissipating surface contributes to maintain performance over time, limiting the loss of quality of the light. In collaboration with Carlotta de Bevilacqua. www.artemide.com
Svalbard
Svalbard results from a focused research on behavioural patterns related to contemporary technological devices such as laptops, e-readers, tablets, used in dynamic workplaces, and was designed with the aim to support new needs and attitudes. It is a small, flat pillow with a wooden surface that can be easily removed thanks to magnets. It is designed to be comfortable and useful and can also be converted in a simple pillow. Unlike standard laptop desks or trays, Svalbard is cozy, joyful, pleasant to put on your lap and open to interpretation. www.danesemilano.com
Bumblebee
Bumblebee is an adaptable magazine holder that meets modern requirements concerning space related issues. According to the number of magazines to hold, the object develops its shape.
It is composed of four aluminium sheets and basic mechanisms and tracks that make it foldable and extendible. Bumblebee can be placed into a bookshelf and used to hold magazines as if it was a bookend. It can be placed on the floor and extended to hold new magazines when collections grow. The use that you can make of it changes according to needs and ideas. It is flat when closed up and is easy to transport. www.danesemilano.com
Fractals
Fractals is the project that marks the beginning of our long collaboration with Artemide. The lower clear acrylic surface supports the LED sources, mounted on a magnetic spherical joint, which allow the user to orient the same source directly and indirectly, by simply rotating it. The upper surface, when intercepted by the flux of the LEDs, projects the fractal pattern into the environment. The LEDs are adjustable and fitted with lenses that allow focused light flow control. In collaboration with Carlotta de Bevilacqua. www.artemide.com
About
Paolo Dell’Elce (1983) is an Industrial designer based in Milano, Italy specialized in furniture, lighting and product design.
He studied design at Politecnico di Milano (IT) and at the Oslo school of Architecture and Design (NO).
His work has been published internationally, has received design awards including a honorable mention for 2014 Compasso d’Oro and the Red Dot Award: Product Design, and has been exhibited in prestigious institutions as Triennale di Milano, Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome, Kunstraum Muenchen in Munich.
DAMN°, a bimonthly magazine on contemporary culture wrote about his work: “His objects perform a rare balancing act: they display clear, precise forms without relinquishing the essential sensual component.”
From 2011 to 2014 he has been Design Director of historic Italian company Danese Milano. From 2015 he leads the Furniture design team at David Chipperfield Architects, becoming Associate of the firm in 2018.
Office
Our design practice develops innovative solutions for contemporary living, which are free from unnecessary and aims to stimulate active participation of the user, while offering to our clients a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
We are more interested in the familiar than in the striking new and all our objects are conceived to openly declare their function in a way that is uncomplicated and easy to understand.
Together with the support of a network of local specialists, we are able to oversee our projects from concept to product development and manufacturing.
Clients of the office, among others, include Artemide (IT), Humanscale (USA), Zero Lighting (SE).
Awards
May 2014
XXII Compasso d’Oro ADI – Honorable Mention – Copernico, Artemide
July 2011
Red Dot Award: Product Design 2011 – Copernico, Artemide
April 2017
Young & Design Award 2017 – Overlap, Rotaliana
April 2011
Young & Design Award 2011 (Special Mention) – Bumblebee, Danese
Exhibitions
April 2018 / January 2019
Triennale Design Museum – Storie. Il Design Italiano
May 2015
Bar Alto Mons 2015
December 2013 / January 2014
Immagini D’Io, Triennale di Milano
September / October 2013
ADI Design Index 2012 at WIPO headquarter,
Geneva, Switzerland
June / August 2013
ITALIAN.DESIGN.UD L’ADI Design Index 2012
verso il Compasso d’Oro, Chiesa di S. Francesco, Udine
April 2013
Kaneka: Infuse, Superstudio Più, Milano
April / May 2013
Intorno al Libro, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano
September / October 2012
Time Capsule, Kunstraum Muenchen, München
January / February 2012
Time Capsule, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt
May / July 2011
Collezione di Design della Farnesina,
Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Rome
November / December 2010
Biennale Internationale Design 2010, Saint-Étienne
Contact
Paolo Dell’Elce
Via Santa Sofia, 27
20122 Milano, Italy
hello@paolodellelce.com
P.IVA 07527420967
We don´t offer any internships at the moment, but you are welcome to send your portfolio and we´ll contact you if there is an opening.