Valerio Sommella Studio — Industrial Design Portfolio Milano
Valerio Sommella is an Italian industrial designer based in Milan, collaborating with international brands including Alessi, Falmec, Penta, Apple, Moooi, Kundalini, and Honda. Studio di design industriale e progettazione di prodotto con sede a Milano, attivo nello sviluppo di arredi, illuminazione ed elettronica di consumo.
Selected Industrial Design Projects
As the name suggests, Almond is an outdoor collection designed entirely around the profile that defines it: a generous, almond-shaped cross-section that serves as the foundation for every element. Conceived to fit naturally into a...
Arata is a comprehensive collection of aluminum outdoor furniture designed to define an elegant and fresh landscape, transitioning from dining and lounge areas to the poolside. The name is derived from the Japanese word for "...
Jasmine is an outdoor seating collection designed for Tidelli with Simone Bonanni, composed of a dining chair, a club chair, and a lounge chair. Crafted with an aluminum frame and a nautical rope finish, its sculptural volume rise...
Octave is an essential collection of glass vessels, a series of octagonal prisms in an ascending progression of height and diameter, defining a complete range from wine glass to carafe. The name, beyond clearly referencin...
Toku stems from the idea of combining the enveloping comfort of a fully upholstered seat with a distinctive sculptural character. The collection is defined by generous volumes and a rear leg that rises to connect the seat and back...
Hyppo Club is the latest extension of the Hyppo upholstered collection designed in 2016. Originally conceived to meet the needs of the contract and lounge sectors, the collection now evolves towards the contemporary workplace, off...
Nuance is an outdoor collection created with the intention of blending simplicity and elegance through what we call soft-geometric design. All the elements of the collection feature a strong geometric wooden frame, whose rigidity...
Siesta is an informal and cozy seat conceived around the idea of deep comfort. It is a sofa composed of essential volumes whose seams define its extremes. The backrest, whose design echoes that of the armrests, invites to let go a...
At the heart of the Tama family lies the idea of creating a series of single-material ceramic accessories for Ethimo, a natural material traditionally used in outdoor settings, which is elevated by a glazed finish that transforms...
Calipso is a musical instrument with ten notes, crafted from a 1x1 meter aluminum sheet that has been laser-cut to form an experimental percussion instrument. It was specifically designed for "The New Poetic Activism" ex...
A collection of wallpapers inspired by a research project exploring the digital representation of three dimensional delicate elements. Starting with traditional floral patterns, the collection transcends them into soft surfaces an...
Studies on aluminum casting is a personal project born from curiosity. I wanted to test how polyurethane foam would behave if treated like wax in a lost-wax casting working with complete creative freedom. An experiment with materi...
With this project, I aimed to redefine the concept of a wireless lamp, continuing the work started with Nemo in 2022. Sorrento is an object that surpasses the limits of perception, bringing the archetype of the chandelier into the...
Suspended sofa with essential lines, ethereal and light, is the result of a four-handed creative process. The modular soul, the accessories, the precious and expertly crafted materials make Asso a timeless product suitable for res...
The Cabo Collection exudes an air of spontaneity, authenticity, and boldness, drawing inspiration from pure lines and constructive simplicity. Within this collection, both the lounge chair and the dining chair stand as distinctive...
Outdoor furniture characterized by its architectural design that combines a curved woven structure with soft cushions. A visually light collection, unique and bold.
A couple of years ago, on the occasion of the ‘Carissimo Pinocchio’ exhibition at the ADI design museum, I was invited to give my personal interpretation of the famous puppet. I decided to strip him down to his absolute essence, l...
Portofino is a slim, sleek, and lightweight portable table lamp. It is the result of a process guided by the redefinition of product architecture, the redistribution of components, and their optimization in terms of volume and eff...
The main inspiration comes from the observation of the aesthetics of conviviality, summer evenings, Mediterranean life and moments of relaxation where relationships are genuine. If the simplicity and comfort of an embrace can desc...
A ceramic candle designed to be used asap...Once the wax is over, it shows its very own soul and becomes finally useful as a marvelous pot.
A book about love, adventure, and the fine art of camouflage.132 pages of pictures of a dog having fun, shot between 2018 and 2022. Edition of 50 copies.
Designed to be 818 Añejo Reserve bottle. Its silhouette became the brand’s logo. Eight Reserve is a custom ceramic decanter shaped around the silhouette of the numeral eight. Designed as a sculptural object first and a vessel seco...
An all-weather teak outdoor collection designed specifically for the US market. Slender teak slats create an open design that counterbalances the thick, weather-resistant cushions.
The INCA model is born to become a light office collection for 4Mariani, simple in its lines and with a highly recognizable feature. Everything moves around the theme of the intersection of simple volumes, parallelepipeds that fus...
This object is the visual representation of the physical principle known as the communicating vessels. A simple bent tube becomes a bong.
"When designing Barani, I wanted to combine visual lightness with a new structural approach. Reducing the product to two interconnected curved elements. A technical solution becomes a three-dimensional scribble".
A wave of glass and light emerges from an essential metal element. Precious grooves reveal multiple light refractions. Wall lamp with curved glass diffuser and die-casted varnished aluminium structure.
A small folded aluminum sheet that wraps and protects a light cylinder. The minimal and discreet design, the asymmetrical LED source that diffuses a soft light, make Piega perfect for elegant hospitality environments. A fixture as...
Ted is a bollard for outdoor use, designed in three different heights. It offers several lighting possibilities: single, double and asymmetrical double head. The optics used are totally asymmetrical, with no rear side dispersions....
Altura is the result of a long research on overhanging floor lamps, on their presence and on their adaptation to space, a project whose simplicity is summarized by the system that puts in relation a vertical and an horizontal elem...
Glifo comes from a drawing of two lines that, like a typeface, define its space. A vertical element that is also the fulcrum of the whole rotation of the lamp, and an oblique element that moves away from the wall defining the open...
A functional heart built into in a false ceiling and combined with a glass frame, the only visible element of the entire system, make Alba unique recessed cooker hood. Winner of the 2018 Good Design Award.
Ionico is a family of ceramic vases born from a formal research on architectural elements, decoration and the relationship between volumes. The result are familiar vessels that refer to classic aesthetic codes, but play with the p...
This small family of lamps explores the theme of single and double emission wall luminaires, shifting attention to materials, finishes and the precision of mechanical machining. The cylindrical bodies of these devices, minimal in...
Pois is a family of wall monuted lighting fixtures born from the desire to create a product that could be very versatile in terms of architectural applications. Luminaires that combine the technical quality of an aluminum CNC buil...
My contribution to the new Milan Apple flagship store opening campaign. A series of visual lanscapes representing my work, 3 metaphysical worlds that combine shapes, materials, colours and light.
An outdoor bollard generated by a single inclined cut of a cilinder. Zac! Zac is designed to illuminate avenues, walkways, pathways, gardens and parks without glaring, available in various sizes and heights is built in high oxidat...
Transcending the traditional sofa concept, Atene is a simple seating system based on two elements, a linear one and an angle that can be combined to create multiple seating configuration. The name of the collection is a clear refe...
Originally thought for bars and restaurants, Bibo is a coffee set designed to contain not only sugar packets, but also paper napkins and possibly a menu. Two polished steel round elements held together by a small melamine tray wit...
An enigmatic object designed as a result of a summer trip to Japan. “Boga” is a ginger grater fitted with hard-wearing, sharp stainless steel grater teeth. Practical and simple to use thanks to its evocative shape: the part that r...
The design of brigata is above all the design of a handle. A recognizable element with excellent functionality. The starting point can be found in the handles for professional pots, made from pipes pressed, bent, welded or riveted...
Nami, Japanese word for "wave", is a suspended lamp entirely built around a curved printed glass. This main element is surrounded by a metal frame that hides multiple light sources and provides visual and structural soli...
Shapes and Sounds is a video project developed by Valerio Sommella and the director Massimiliano Bomba to tell the story of a yearslong collaboration between Valerio Sommella and Alessi. The movie explores a kitchen landscape thro...
A geometric element replicated and oriented in three directions, for an object that is surprising due to the effect of reflection of light. As in a cubist composition, an illusion of three-dimensional volumes, of spaces and facets.
Victoria like the huge Amazonian water lilies which float on the waters of the river Rio. The disks shield the light sources that produce an indirect and diffused light. Staggered and arranged on several levels, the disks are spre...
A collection of six pieces, 3 rugs and 3 broadlooms that combine traditional carpet patterns with a contemporary image definition.A 76 dot per inch print to generate the illusion of walking on soft and fluffy surfaces.
Hyppo is the first family of upholstered furniture under the Cantarutti brand. A collection of poufs, lounge chairs and sofas that revolves around the relation between the upholstered parts and the wooden legs, the encounter betwe...
Koki is the Fifth born of the Objet bijoux family. A sculptural stainless steel ice cream scoop created with the combination of double-wall technique and casting.
Materia is a cooking hood that combine the latest Falmec technologies with a completely new material, introduced for the first time on this product typology. The raw concrete surface makes materia a monumental piece, a natually te...
Taio, is the fourth Objet bijoux designed for Alessi, a pizza cutter whose shape is reminiscent of the softness of a fabric case closed with a metal button while the broad handle envelopes the blade to create a utensil which is bo...
Vetra is a cooking hood that combine Circle.Tech Falmec technology with a strong innovation about materials and lighting. Hidden LED light sources use the trasmission of crystal clear glass to transfer an omogeneous light on the c...
VS1 capsule is conceived as a personal interpretation of MODO’s exclusive Paper-Thin Titanium collection. Made with 0.6 mm-thick Beta Titanium 153 and the TR 90 Polyamide, this collection reduces the size of the Polyamide rim to r...
"This was my starting point, the lure of smooth shapes, the idea that some of these forms can incidentally also have a function without necessarily declaring it explicitly. From all this comes a compact steel Bottle opener th...
Bent aluminum sheets and a textile diffuser define the thin and elegant structure of Grus, a floor lamp whose name refers to a skinny bird and a bright constellation.
Kushi is a collection of lamps designed with the precise idea of combining smooth blown glass and metal. This combination, created both for functional an aesthetic reasons, generates a visual illusion that transforms the glass int...
ROSE, a Jaquard-woven chenille and cotton rug, an abstract and geometric representation of a blooming rose bush.
A white shiny glass blown within a polyhedric stainless steel cage, a visual tale of the escape of the content from its container. Produced in two sizes and two versions, it was featured in "The New Italian Design" exhib...
"In designing 'Sfrido', I wanted to approach this type of object by trying to study, as well as a new form, a new way of using it, to make a product that would be convenient but not perceived as a simple tool. Hence...
“Like the villain in Terminator, 'T-1000' is the static representation of fluid metal. Two drops of mercury come together only moments earlier they were distinct elements and in just a few seconds they’ll become just one...
A graphic project that starting from encyclopedic illustrations of fish, reproduces, reflects and breaks them down to destruction through the use of irregular kaleidoscopes. Born from research on geometry and animalier prints, ill...
Gas-moulded stackable chair in polypropylene with glass fibre. Designed for the contract sector and conceived both with and without armrest. Amy represents the first seating project of the studio.
Mail is a family of bent metal wall lamps available in four sizes and five different finishes: matte white, sand grey, pearl grey, gold foil and copper foil.
I looked at tribal architecture, turtles, camping equipment and teapots. At the end I designed a hooded cat litterbox with a thin stainless steel handle.
Lumi is a large collection of satin-finish white blown glass lamps.The first was Mochi, than came Baka, Poga and Mychena in various models, sizes and light sources. The name Lumi is important for two reasons: the first is more dir...
"A vibrator, sometimes described as a massager, is a sex toy that is used on the body to produce pleasurable sexual stimulation. There are many different shapes and models of vibrators. Most modern vibrators contain an electr...
A totemic figure, an icon of a perfectly trimmed plant, like a topiary exercise. An ideal lamp for outdoor spaces and large interior.
Extra clear tempered glass with a thickness of 8mm. Its electrical circuit, like blood vessels, runs on the top of the glass through a silk-screen printing. Adjustable stainless steel cables.
A sharp square aluminum base holds an optical glass diffuser. A cylinder with a sharp cut that diffuses and refract the light.
Designed in 2001, this audio system marks the studio’s first project to enter mass production.The design is defined by its monolithic presence and a rigorous "clear design language." The interface features a series of me...
