Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 36 (Roberto) and 37 (Rodolfo).
Occupation: Designers and manufacturers.
Instagram: @morghenstudio
Hometown: Trento, Italy (Roberto) and Biella, Italy (Rodolfo).
Studio location: Milan.
Describe what you make: We are a multidisciplinary studio that works on the boundaries between design, art and craftsmanship. All of the works are handmade by us in our studio workshop in Milano. We work mainly with light, in all of its forms and shapes, relying on techniques passed on by the classic artisan heritage mixed with experimentation and contemporary materials.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: To us every project has its own importance and personal meaning, but if we have to pick one among all we would definitely pick Ophelia, our first chandelier. This can be considered the project that shaped our current approach to design both aesthetically and technically. It was a turning point for us: after a period of experimentation with many different materials (resins, silicons, composite materials, organic materials…) we started working with brass and fire and we are still experimenting in this direction.
Describe the problem your work solves: We try very humbly to answer to the needs of our customers: working with light we have the great power to change the perception of spaces while crafting unique and sculptural objects. Through the means of prototypes, mock-ups, drawings and visualizations we support and enrich the creation process in order to meet the particular needs and desires of each client.
Describe the project you are working on now: We’ve been 100 percent focused on the Milan Design Week. It was the first edition after the pandemic and it’s important to be part of it to regain hope and shape the near future. We are taking part in different shows around town but the most important is definitely with Galerie Philia: “Rick Owens, dialog with emerging Italian designers.” We’re very glad to be part of this exhibition that pulls together Owens’ design work with that of contemporary Italian sculptural design artists.
We are working on commissioned orders, some from our collection and others custom. Otherwise, we’re testing new techniques and materials and developing a collection of sculptural light pieces.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We have many projects in the drawer, among these another exhibition with Galerie Philia in Paris in October.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: We can’t work without a musical background! We have an old iPod with thousands of songs that goes on shuffle every day.
What you do when you’re not working: In our field it’s sometimes difficult to separate your private and professional lives: they’re very much intertwined. We love nature—it’s both a source of relaxation and inspiration, so in our free time we try to get away from the city as much as possible.
Sources of creative envy: Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Carlo Mollino, Angelo Mangiarotti, Dieter Rams, Olafur Eliasson, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Keith Jarret.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Smartphones (Roberto). The internet. It’s extremely useful and basically fundamental for the contemporary way of living and working, but it can also be extremely distracting and time-consuming (Rodolfo).
Concrete or marble? Both, depending on the application.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light, obviously!
