Mario Milana

Classe 1981, Mario Milana nasce a Milano e fin dall'infanzia frequenta il mondo dell'arte e del design grazie al padre, Dario Milana, designer di spazi espositivi e scultore. Dopo aver terminato il corso di Industrial Design all'Istituto Europeo del Design di Milano nel 2003, Milana fa la sua prima esperienza professionale presso lo studio di Denis Santachiara a Milano.
Nel 2005 si trasferisce a New York e inizia a colloborare con Karim Rashid. L'esperienza accanto al noto designer gli permette di lavorare accanto a grandi realtà quali ad esempio Alessi, Artemide, Corian, Gufram, Meritalia, Riva1920, Samsung, Slide, Tonelli e Zanotta.

Nel 2014 Milana fonda il suo omonimo studio con due sedi, una a New York e una a Milano. Ad aprile lancia durante il Salone del Mobile la sua prima collezione di sedute artigianali completamente realizzate a Milano per poi presentarle anche a New York, al Sight Unseen OFFSITE durante la Design Week 2014.

La filosofia progettuale di Milana si focalizza particolarmente nell'esplorare la funzionalità e la semplicità fondendo artigianato e tecnologia.

The thought process behind my design is rooted in functionality and the relationship between the user and the object. This first collection of seating that I have presented is called "The Spring Collection" and is founded on the idea of dynamism. Every piece in the collection has some element of "spring" to it; moving with and adapting to the user rather than the other way around. I tried in my design process to strip down the chair to only its most essential elements. What makes a chair comfortable? In the end I hope people find the result to be playful, geometric and sculptural but moreover functional and ergonomic. This idea of balance is also reflected in the chosen materials: the rawness and coolness of the hand-welded iron is combined with the refined elegance and warmth of the Italian leather.

The artisans of Italy are a big source of inspiration in my designs. All of the chairs are handmade in and just outside of Milan, my hometown, and I have a great respect for the work of these craftsmen. The iron is hand-welded and I have purposely left the weld marks to tell the story of the production behind the object. The highest quality Italian leather is all hand stitched and upholstered by a small family owned operation in Seregno that has been in business for generations. I truly believe that you can create innovative designs using traditional production technologies and that we must support and uphold these artisans and their know-how.