Highlights of Milan Design Week: Illuminating the Future ~ Mandalaki's Innovation in Design and Lighting

The sunset red Giga Light designed by Mandalaki in Milan, during the city's famous Salone de Mobile. Photograph: Marco Menghi

Milan Design Week is a bustling hub of creativity and innovation, among the standout exhibits at the Rosanna Orlandi Gallery was the work of Italian studio, Mandalaki. Their new collection, Artifact, showcases how they merge sculpture and lighting, redefining the boundaries between art, design, and illumination, writes Isabella Lancellotti

The team in Milan that make up Mandalaki's studio,

Photograph: Marco Menghi

MANDALAKI'S harmonious fusion of sculpture and light is epitomized by the Italian company's new designs Hypersun and an associated table. The slim and linear forms are highlighted by the use of shimmering, hand-polished brass.

The fine craftsmanship and innovative design of each piece are enhanced by minimalist lines and plays of light from the shiny surfaces. Form and function are beautifully integrated. The Halo Edition developed sophisticated optics that are technologically advanced, combining high-powered LEDs and a form of thermal dissipation, 

The Giga Light, another, more refined iteration of the Halo Giga which the team introduced in 2021, was also launched in Milan. It has a slender and compact design and merges powerful optics that maximize light projection. Mandalaki's engineering optimizes heat dissipation and allows for precise adjustments in light intensity through a mechanical dimmer. The projection of light creates an enveloping sun, in warm, graduated hues. Like an art installation, the light washes over the viewer, engendering an experiential effect of being bathed in illumination.

Projections of light create an enveloping sun, in warm, graduated hues like an art installation, the viewer is bathed in illumination.

Halo edition, Hyper Sun table by tthe team.

Photograph: Marco Menghu

The studio embraces art, technology and sustainability with their holistic approach to design, from modular micro-houses to electric cars. Their interdisciplinary approach and experimentation aim to bridge the gap between these various sectors.

Founded in Milan twelve years ago by Enrico De Lotto, George Kolliopoulos and Giovanni Senin, they added Davide Giovannardi as a partner in 2013. Each member of the studio has a different background, from product design to economy and art. 

More recently, Mandalaki have been working on lighting. Instead of seeing it as a source of illumination, they imagine it as all-encompassing projection. Yet one that comes from a well-designed physical object. The studio has exhibited work at galleries, fairs and institutions around the world.