In April 2011, I headed to Milan for the first time to report on the annual Milan Design Week. There, I also visited the Triennale Design Museum, housed in the Palazzo dell’Arte. Designed by Italian architect Giovanni Muzio, it was completed in 1944, but AMDL Circle renovated the interiors in 2002.
The multidisciplinary design studio helmed by Michele De Lucchi suspended a bamboo footbridge across the main stairwell, connecting galleries, and altering perception and possibilities of the void. I did not realise it then but during those few hours, I would encounter many more of De Lucchi’s genius.
For example, at the Triennale’s bistro during lunch, I sat on anthropomorphic Bisonte stools that De Lucchi designed with Philippe Nigro. At the Triennale’s bookstore, wanting to buy a book I could easily bring back to Singapore, I reached for De Lucchi’s 12 Tales with Little Houses, featuring 12 wooden structures the architect-cum-artist made with a chainsaw (more on that later).
Wandering through the exhibit Dream Factories that celebrated modern Italian design icons, I spotted De Lucchi’s Tolomeo lamp, created together with Giancarlo Fassina in 1986. It is one of the world’s best-selling lamps today, with lighting manufacturer Artemide dedicating an entire factory to produce the Compasso d’Oro prize-winning luminaires.
