ATELIER BIAGETTI

DESIGNER ALBERTO BIAGETTI AND ARTIST LAURA BALDASSARI, the husband-and-wife team behind Atelier Biagetti, made design-world waves in Milan with their 2016 Salone del Mobile presentation, “NO SEX,” a meditation on physical connection in a digitized world. This year, the studio’s Objets Nomades contribution is Flower Tower, a glistening and translucent lamp composed of 15 flower-shaped glass bubbles.

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? There are certain “optimal conditions.” One is proximity to the sea, since we were born by the seaside. Another is long drives. Our best projects were born in our car, during moments when there are no deadlines or interferences.

HOW IS ATELIER BIAGETTI’S ETHOS REFLECTED IN THESE NEW OBJETS

NOMADES? The title itself gives us a sense of fresh, unprejudiced equilibrium with the natural environment around us. Flower Tower is an infinite column of light, a metaphor for our inner light. When we started this piece, we were thinking about a luminous landmark, a celestial totem that acts as a point of reference for a contemporary, domestic landscape.

WHAT’S ONE MATERIAL THAT ALWAYS TRANSCENDS YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

Materials are related to our psychology; they’re part of the visible and legible DNA of each work. Flower Tower is made of crystalline blown glass that’s pure at the core, a fragile and translucent starting point.

BY Adam Friedlander