Mia Alto Rosa Vase von Serena Confalonieri für Mason Editions, 2018

Serena Confalonieri wurde 1980 in Vimercate in Italien geboren und studierte Innenarchitektur am Politecnico di Milano. Nach ihrem Masterabschluss 2006 arbeitete sie in verschiedenen Architektur- und Designbüros in Mailand, Barcelona und Berlin und war außerdem als Assistenzprofessorin am Institut für Innenarchitektur am Politecnico di Milano tätig. 2011 gründete sie in Mailand ihr eigenes Studio für Produkt-, Textil- und Grafikdesign, künstlerische Leitung und Inneneinrichtungen.

Seit der Gründung ihres Mailänder Studios reist Confalonieri beruflich viel um die Welt. So erhielt sie beispielsweise 2014 ein Stipendium von Banca del Monte di Lombardia um sechs Monate lang die Textilindustrie in New York zu studieren und dort zu arbeiten. 2015 nahm sie an einem Designworkshop in Chiapas in Mexiko teil, der von der Mexico Design Week gefördert wurde. 2016 war sie für eine einmonatige Residenz an der Vista Alegre Porzellanfabrik in Ílhavo, Portugal.

Unabhängig vom Medium zeichnen sich Confalonieris Arbeiten durch einen markanten grafischen Stil aus, der sich in ausdrucksstarken Formen, Farben und Texturen zeigt. Zu ihren herausragenden Projekten gehören ihre eigeninitiierte Masai Collection, eine Serie aus bunten Vasen und Spiegeln, die von indigener Kultur inspiriert wurde; die von Wellen inspirierten Tischdekorationen aus Stahl der Kyma Collection für Sambonet; Architypes, eine grafische Fassaden- und Einrichtungsinstallation für Archiproducts in Mailand, in der sie ein kräftiges geometrisches Muster nutzte und die von Mode inspirierten Ula und Baba Stühle für die My Home Collection (alles 2017). Zu Confalonieris Kunden zählen unter anderem Namen wie CC-Tapis, Crate and Barrel USA, Nodus, Swatch, Wall & Deco, Arzberg, Gur und Azimut Yachts.

Die Designerin hat zahlreiche Auszeichnungen erhalten, darunter eine besondere Anerkennung bei den Young&Design Awards (2014) für ihre Projekte Santissimi und Cattedrale und eine besondere Anerkennung für ihre Serena Collection für Arzberg bei den German Design Awards (2016). Außerdem wurde sie 2017 als Gewinnerin auf der von Grazia und Lierac geförderten Donna Premium Messe ausgezeichnet. Ihre Arbeiten sind in einer Vielzahl an Publikationen zu finden, darunter The New York Times, Corriere della Sera, Wallpaper, Interni, L’Officiel und Elle Décor.

Smart, sleek, and versatile, Mason Editions produce objects in sophisticated color palettes to generate poetic fusions of form and function.

Having built up a wide range of experience in the interior lighting sector, Italian entrepreneur Fabio Mason of Lucerpa Srl was keen to collaborate with different practitioners to produce a variety of elegant household objects. In 2016, he joined forces with three independent designers: Matteo Fiorini, who has a background in yachting, furniture, and exhibition design; Serena Confalonieri, who had been working in design practices in Milan, Barcelona and Berlin, and had been awarded at the German Design Awards 2016; and Martina Bartoli, who, having trained at the Glasgow School of Art and at ENSCI Les Ateliers, Paris, had worked as a product designer at Palomba Serafini Associati studio. Based in Castelfranco Veneto in the Veneto region of Italy, the company works with high quality suppliers and artisans – including glass-blowers and metalworkers – to generate sleek, sophisticated pieces that adapt to many different living environments and situations. The resulting collection, art directed by Confalonieri and Fiorini, in collaboration with Bartoli, comprises of a range of lamps, objects, and accessories characterized by simple, essential lines. Produced in a thoughtful palette of matte pastels, grays, teals, ruby-reds, and metallics, each design attends to both beauty and versatility.

The studio’s series of Touché trays, designed by Bartoli, combine an organically-shaped wooden base–round or oval–with a light metal tube applied to its circumference. This rests obediently along its surface before lifting up, generating handles in a deft, symmetrically undulating motion. Featuring bases of different colors, the series, when positioned next to each other, resembles the varied tablets of a paint box, bright with possibility. In keeping with this artistic inclination is the series of Mia vases, designed by Confalonieri. The soft lines of a round, terracotta or metal base (produced in an array of colors), are contrasted with enclosing grids of perforated sheet metal, generating an elegant, architectural contrast, reminiscent of the decorative effects of the Viennese Secession. A similarly artistic approach to product design is evident in the Fugit series of vases by Fiorini. Constructed from a metal sheet, it seems to fold in on itself, generating a series of angular enclosures, elevations, and apertures and resembles the rigid, straight-edged structure of a building, rather than a vessel. This playful, sculptural approach to function is evident in the more elaborate pieces produced by Mason Editions. Confalonieri’s Lotus table lamp–perched on a conical base of aluminum or brass–presents an abstracted, geometrically simplified depiction of the flower. Its blossoms are constructed from three different elements in blown glass, leading to an intimate, delicate atmosphere when operational. Fiorini’s Alby table, meanwhile, fuses the simple form of a three-legged side-table with a small, spherical lamp of etched white blown glass. In a playful maneuver, the light source seems to have such a weight as to deform the table’s surface-plane on which it rests, in a downward dip. Named in tribute to Albert Einstein, the piece is inspired by the physicist’s space-time studies, his famous Theory of Relativity, and by observations surrounding the movements of a photon.

Mason Editions participated in Milan Design Week 2018 and in Light Blowing, as part of Venice Glass Week 2018. Their work has been featured in a variety of international design journals, including ELLE Décor and Marie-Claire.