Stefano Pugliese and his view on design27. Mar2013
Stefano Pugliese is an italian architect born in Rome on 31 October 1978.
He completed his secondary education in Luxembourg and then studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. While at university he worked with Milanese designers Carlo Tamborini and Fabio Azzolina on a number of projects for companies operating in the furniture and lighting sectors.
After his graduation in 2004, he collaborated with StudioVigo architects in Milan where he was responsible for designing office spaces and industrial conversions, and in Sicily together with the architect Nunzio Sciveres.
In 2006 he moved to Chile where he attended a Master's degree in architecture at Catholic University in Santiago.
While in Chile he worked as a lecturer in interior design, construction, history and theory of design and founded his design studio, focusing on designing and manufacturing furniture for both homes and offices.
In 2010, he collaborated with architects Rodrigo Duque Motta and Rafael Hevia Huidobro, he designed the interior of the new campus of the Faculty of Economics at the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. In 2011, together with Guillermo Chavez Bakovic, he designed and manufactured plywood furnishings for a number of Jesuit chapels located on the outskirts of Santiago.
In January 2012, Stefano opens his design studio in Milan (Italy) where he exhibited his work at Salone Satellite and designed and realized the furniture for the Legnano Castle (Legnano Italy).
What triggered you to start to design things?
I started to get involved with object and furniture design during the time of university in Milan where I studied Architecture at Politecnico. I always felt that it was a discipline closer to my spirit because of the possibility in most of the cases to follow all the design processes from concept to prototyping.
Then I moved to Chile where I got involved in many furniture design projects for private customers and companies.
In that period I had the chance and the opportunity to work very close with various craftsmen.
It had been a period of exploration because the search of materials, workshops, things that could be useful to shape and realize my projects. That gave me the chance to discover Santiago de Chile beyond the boundaries normally set for a foreigner. It was a very intimate experience that fed my need of travelling and exploring.
Once back in Milan after six years, I discovered that this explorative methodology kept part of my design process and experience. I'm now, thanks to my projects, discovering places, landscapes, and people from my own country. I love that!
What design areas are you active in now? What other areas would you like to explore in the future?
At the moment I'm working on a collection of vases that I will be presented in April at Ventura Lambrate 2013 in occasion of the Milan design for an exhibition called 'Memory and Matter' a collective project made together with Analogia Project.
The project that I will present aims to synthesize the design process by simplifying the formal elements that shape the object. Two geometrical shapes, a circle and hexagon, are bended into a simple form that describes and reveals the design process matrix. Geometry becomes this way the only decorative element of the vases.
For the future in this moment I'm full of doubts and questions, I believe that there is an over diffusion of 'Design' objects. The Milan's Design Week is a clear example of it. In many cases I have the feeling that design only exists for the purpose of taking a press quality photo shot and diffuse it.
In that sense I believe that first of all it is important for me to understand the meaning and the role of Design in this context.
What is the story of the first object that you created? To whom was it sold/given/donated?
It was a lamp named ''Cinque Litri di Luce'' that in English means ''5 Liters of Light''. While in University in Milan I lived next to a little shop selling every kind of object in plastic: raincoats, boots, kitchen accessories, etc. Among them they also sold water tanks.....one day I bought one of them for no particular need, I just liked it.
Then I transformed it into a lamp. It was actually a very naive object and not very original, but I believe that the most interesting thing lays in the somehow ironic name of it ''Five liters of Light''. The one and only prototype is now in my good friend Franz house!
Cinque Litri di Luce / Five Liters of Light lamp by Stefano Pugliese.--- What do you consider to be your best work so far?
I don't have a best work. Every work is different and from each and everyone I learn new things, I find new design or constructive problems, nothing is easy and I always make new mistakes!
Who are your main influencers in your work?
From the theoretical field I had been very much influenced by Bruno Munari texts and works that combine a rigorous design methodology and a poetic approach to design.
Tell us about your design process.
When I start to design something, there is difference if the work comes from a custom client of for a personal research.
In the first case in general there are some elements that start leading the design process for example the theme: a table, a chair, a cabinet, etc. and (but not necessary) a material and/or a technology. In the second cas, if it is a personal research in general, it starts because I want to explore a material, a technology or a theme.
In both cases my work is always led by material and technology used for a particular project.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
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"Made in ch-i-taly" furniture series. Stefano is mostly known for his ''made in ch-i-taly'' furniture series, a family of basic furniture objects- stools, tables and bar chairs inspired by his work in Chile and Italy. The objects are made using a CNC router plywood cutting technology, with an innovation- the black layer on top of the stools and table is a Raystone 100% organic petrol free bio composite board produced from the waste of sugar production. The series was presented by DDJ in more detail here.---
His most recent work is a series of vases called Marchigue, which will be presented in April at Ventura Lambrate 2013 in occasion of the Milan design for an exhibition called 'Memory and Matter', a collective project made together with Analogia Project. The vases are made in a special cement produced by an Italian company, called MAPEI. It is a very smooth cement that is mainly used for leveling floors.The process consists in making a mould cut through a CNC machine. Once de-moulded, the vases are given a hand crafted finishing.
As the author shares, “The project aims to synthesize the design process by simplifying the formal elements that shape the object. Two geometrical shapes, a circle and hexagon, are bended into a simple form that describes and reveals the design process matrix. Geometry becomes this way the only decorative element of the vases.”
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