The great artists of decorative lighting
The beating heart of Karman is a creative laboratory where ideas come to life and are transformed into collections of designer lamps capable of thrilling and surprising. Each lamp has its own distinctive traits and sources of inspiration, but they are all united by a common thread. Light is no longer just a means to see with the eyes but also a fundamental element to create the right atmosphere and arouse emotions.
“Each of my light projects aims to be a story that doesn’t need to be told with words. By observing it, it should bring forth a memory, an emotion, even if different from my own. The mind creates nothing that has not been experienced. It is a treasure chest that holds forms, colors, visual experiences made throughout one’s life. And my creations are nothing more than a mirror of mine.”
Art director and creative for Karman Matteo Ugolini slips away from ordinary design outlines entering along with the company in a unique and distinctive path. He has no muse among masters of the past: he just designs what he truly likes. His aim is to excite and create emotion, his roots are hold to the remembering of the past and nature that is deeply connected to. Very often we can find nature in his creations: it comes closer to human life just like it has always happened in the past. That process helps human race to come closer to that important element we are all gradually departing from: nature.
Designed collections
Agua
Alì e Babà
Alibababy
Alibabig
Alibaglass
Amsterdam
Aprile
Atmosphere
Black Out
Blanco
Boom
Braille
Cell
Ceraunavolta
Circus
Corrado
Cubano
Déjà-Vu
Déjà-Vu Nu
Don’t Touch
Eden Collection
Filomena
Gangster
Gonzaga
Ikonika
Kimono
Lady D
Maoo
Marnìn
Minuit
Moby Dick
Moonbloom
Nilo
Plancton
Pois
Sahara
Sherwood e Robin
Snoob
Ti . Vedo
Ugo Rilla
Ululì – Ululà
Wow!
“This work is my greatest passion: it has given me the opportunity to explore and create a sense of wonder through the use of forms, materials, and divine light.
I think of beauty as the ultimate goal because only pure and genuine beauty fulfills me completely.
I have met passionate individuals who have shared part of this journey with me—people from whom I have learned so much.
Perhaps this is the greatest gift of all.”
Edmondo Testaguzza was born in Backnang, Germany in 1964. Since 1997 gives name to his design studio. Premises to his attitude of projecting are made of regular researches aimed to achieve forms and shapes that should belong to a high aesthetic and suggestive value. He had many collaborations with Italian and international companies. Historic is the collaboration with Karman, together with who, he develops new creative languages in parallel with new materials. All his designed collections are result of this attention to the research and to its expressive value.
Designed collections
Abachina
Agua
Airtek One
Ceraunavolta
Circus
Cobu
Fló
Ginger
Ikonika
Jaco
Minuit
Papiria
Stant
Xana
Marcantonio, born ’76. He attended the Art Institute and the Academy of Fine Arts, and began a career as a set designer – sculptor. The first productions see him both as an artist, working directly for collectors, and as an interior designer, creating shops and premises for individuals. Since 2001 Marcantonio has dedicated himself to art and industrial design, bringing an unpredictable, sculptural and emotional aspect to the world of design, becoming in recent years one of the most appreciated Italian art designers of his generation. Marcantonio means creative expressions pure, daily and simple, but at the same time artistic, his creations are combinations between the object of memory and a provocative interpretation of the same. A recurring theme of Marcantonio’s production is the relationship between man and nature, as man alters the natural original, an attraction to nature and its unattainable beauty. Thus, often, the subjects are of natural, animal evocation, and the result is a new, experimental, unexpected design. Currently Marcantonio, in addition to taking care of his independent production as an artist, in which he creates bronzes and limited edition sculptures, collaborates with many national and international brands.
Designed collections
“We have always liked to define our design method as a Hic et nunc. This Latin phrase perfectly represents our approach, which does not follow precise rules but is born of the moment. It reflects a state of mind, the social condition, and the current reality, understood as an instant snapshot, a tension toward the future, and a nostalgia for the past.”
Luca and Dario, architect and designer, meet on the road between Milan and the Italian Veneto region and begin a collaboration that draws inspiration from the trip, to produce marks and drawings that respond to the needs of the contemporary home interiors. They collaborate with prestigious furnishing, lighting and decor companies, looking after art direction, concept and product development. A research in micro and macro scale that reviews and merges different spheres: architecture, design, graphics and art, to create innovative environments and objects, but able to tell stories and stir emotions.
Designed collections
The brothers were born in Venice in 1973 and 1971. They graduated in architecture in Venice in 1998. In 1996, they opened the design studio PIO&TITOTOSO design. They work in the field of architecture, completing numerous projects both nationally and internationally, and participate in various competitions. Additionally, they collaborate in the field of furniture and design, working with the most qualified companies. They design stands, exhibitions, stores, offices, and warehouses for different companies, taking care of their image and graphics.
Designed collections
A student asked his master: “How can I become a good designer?”
The master replied: “How comfortable is a chair when no one is sitting on it?”
A non-designer/designer dividing his work between study, business, market, academy, new technologies and social relations, he has been at the forefront of lighting design for 20 years and has some important collaborations to his credit, including roles as artistic director for the most famous and respected European and global lighting and furnishing brands – activities that have also included all-round, free experimentation in developing the project design, technologies, materials and the brand management. Numbered among the most representative designers of the new millennium, in 2012 he co-founded SomethingGood, a microbrand marketing high-quality decorative products created locally in Italy, with the aim of promoting and raising the profile of craftsmanship and Italian know-how. Apart from carrying out consultancy activities on an international scale, he lectures on design themes and teaches in many Italian universities.
Designed collections
The industrial design studio was created with the aim of giving ample room to imagination and creativity, transforming them into values on which to base projects with strong graphic and contemporary impact.
United by a great friendship and passion, Guido and Francesco are deeply connected to the Siena region, which always offers solid inspiration and references for the birth and development of new ideas.
Constant study, observation, and listening are key for the development of new forms and functions.
Designed collections
“Light, meeting darkness—paraphrasing Goethe—generates colors. Light, in all its connotations, surrounds us. I believe it is the most natural thing to dedicate my work, my art, to it. Above all, light deserves respect. I want it to be the true protagonist in its simplicity. To shape and give it the linearity and purity that belong to it. Light then becomes an integral part of architecture, a pillar of every one of our creations.”
Designed collections
“We appreciate a simple, understated design—never “loud,” and, if possible, “elegant”—one that stands the test of time.
We like to work with natural materials that blend tradition with modernity, maintaining our curiosity to weave a continuous thread that allows us to embrace as many perspectives as possible.”
Baldessari e Baldessari studio, founded by Giulio, Paolo and Michela Baldessari, is a professional association active in the fields of architecture, industrial, visual and interior design. It has several internal working groups and collaborates with a large network of outside consultants. It curates exhibitions in Italy and abroad. It develops research activities and it is engaged in contests and expositions. It has public and private designs underway in the residential housing, office building and industrial facilities, it is working on the restauration of historic and antique palaces and on projects of interior design in addiction to collaboration with design companies like Riva 1920, Pallucco, Adele c, cc-tapis, De Castelli, Atipico, Twils, Starpool e Luce di Carrara.
Designed collections
Designer, Interior Designer and Co-Founder of a Fashionable Brand that bears his name, where he can express his own interpretation of style. As well as his historic collaboration in the Furniture Industry, with the “Gruppo Berloni Bagno”, he has also participated in projects with a range of Design Firms, working in Architecture and Interior Design, while carrying out his own research into the pursuit of an Aesthetic based on the intrinsic abilities of a material to take SHAPE: material as a “medium” in the creative process, giving shape, contours, and style: the sincerity of materials as an ethical choice, referring to concepts like quality and timelessness.
Designed collections
Karman designers: designer lighting that surprises
Each decorative lamp carries the imprint of Karman’s designers with it, and each one, through a precise choice of shapes and materials, becomes a means to tell a story. They give life to interior lighting with an innovative design that is out of the ordinary. Just like the outdoors is covered in magic thanks to decorative lighting designed to embellish the outdoor environment. Whether it’s for private living contexts or contract lighting for hotels, clubs, or restaurants, the decorative lamps by Karman designers know how to surprise and make every location unique.
US Website