The work of Jacopo Foggini is other-worldly, with an ephemeral quality that magically floats, swirls and sparkles in a luminosity of colour, form and reflection described by Foggini as "pure light and pure colour”. Here, we meet the designer and get a glimpse inside works that include grand chandeliers made in the “laboratory" in Milan and his collection of jewel-like chairs for Edra.
Jacopo Foggini wears many hats: artist, designer, material maverick to name a few. He brings together experience working with his father in the family business where he explored the versatility of industrial materials used in the design of cars, and the influence of his mother’s art practice in what he describes as "a wonderful game that can be called design”.
It is these experiences that have “spontaneously” shaped a career that began in the early 1990s. Adapting an industrial machine in a hack that would open up new design possibilities, Foggini would begin heating methacrylate to volcanic temperatures to produce spiralling filaments that were both elegantly fluid and full of colour and could be shaped by hand into enormous installations that filled whole rooms.
The beauty of Jacopo's big passion, the sea "its abyss, creatures and colours", is expressed in the movement and luscious colours of the Ella Chair designed for Edra. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
Jacopo Foggini’s first exhibition opened inside fashion designer Romeo Gigli’s Milan boutique in 1997 and he describes the invitation he received to create the 'Lampadario da Teatro' for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Turin in 2006, the huge chandelier illuminating the stage and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, as a career highlight.
Over the past 14 years he has been nurturing a creative collaboration with furniture house Edra, producing a collection of jewel-like chairs that can be found in museum collections around the world, including the NGA in Melbourne, and working on his own collections of light sculptures and private commissions for homes and collectors, fashion brands and hotels, including the Riad Enija Hotel in Marrakech and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Today when we catch up for a chat, he is busy working with his team of seven on a series of three big installations destined for far flung places, and the launch of his latest collection of chairs for Edra that he calls a new language for his work and "a moment of great expansion for my activity".
"I try to preserve the essence of my work as artisanal, done by hand, one by one, all different one from the other."
Jacopo Foggini
More Space: Hello Jacopo and thanks for talking with us. You are busy working on so many projects, can you describe a day in the life of Jacopo Foggini?
Jacopo Foggini: My workspace, it’s a laboratory, a colourful factory where I escape when I need to break free. A place to create and imagine possibilities. I live my days especially during nights. Sounds like a joke but it’s not: I’m a nocturnal animal, I usually wake late and I spend around one hour in the bathtub. Here I start working, I call my friends and I start my design process; in the afternoon I join my team at the laboratory. I like to spend my nights with my friends, but I enjoy very much also staying at home with my dog and mate Charlie, eating and watching movies on the bed until late.
How many people work with you?
My team is currently made up of seven people with different backgrounds and stories. They all bring to the team their personal skills, following their specific tasks, but in the meantime, they are all very aware of the full and complete process of each project, a coral work.
Can you talk about your philosophy and how it informs your creative process?
I don’t see myself as a designer in the way it is conceived nowadays. My practice is something still very close to manual work and we use industrial machines that I have modified according to my creative needs. I try to preserve the essence of my work as artisanal, done by hand, one by one, all different one from the other.
Jacopo Foggini inside his Milanese 'laboratory". Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Brill Chandelier is part of Jacopo Foggini's light sculptures collection developed and made in his laboratory in Milan. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Brill Chandelier, Model A. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Brill Chandelier, Model E. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Brill Chandelier, Model F. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Brill Chandelier inside the Casino Baden Baden. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The golden Ella Chairs designed in collaboration with Edra. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The laboratory in full flight, including Jacopo's dog. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Gina Chair by Jacopo Foggini and Edra. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Gilda B Chair designed for Edra and named by Foggini after his friend Gilda Bojardi, the director of the Italian design bible Interni. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Alice Chair by Jacopo Foggini and Edra. Photos c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The Gina Chair in gold. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
The J.Jungle collection of vases by Jacopo Foggini. Photo c/o Jacopo Foggini.
"The production process is indeed something about magic, it is production and creative act at the same time. The material I extrude from the machines – methacrylate to make the Brilli Chandelier, polycarbonate for Alice, Ella and the Gina chairs – immediately becomes pure light and pure colour that I turn into pieces of furniture."
Jacopo Foggini
What do you enjoy most about working outside conventions?
Working outside conventions always gives interesting and unexpected openings. That’s why I tend to find my sources of inspiration from everything that can tickle my imagination, such as the sea my big passion since forever – its abyss, creatures and colours.
How and when did your relationship begin with Italian manufacturer Edra, and what have been the creative highlights of the partnership?
Our relationship began 14 years ago. It was a love at first sight that soon became a true and deep love. The first piece we produced together was the Capriccio table, then we went on with Alice, Gina, Gilda B, Ella, Margherita and the Ester chairs. A highlight of the partnership is the custom made Nel Blu Dipinta di Blu chair made for Musée d’Orsay in 2014.
In your hands, materials magically float, drip, ooze and sparkle in a luminosity of colour, form and reflection. What are some of the surprises?
The production process is indeed something about magic, it is production and creative act at the same time. The material I extrude from the machines – methacrylate to make the Brilli Chandelier, polycarbonate for Alice, Ella and the Gina chairs – immediately becomes pure light and pure colour that I turn into pieces of furniture. Working with these materials, one of the things that fascinates me the most is their double life: they react differently and unexpectedly if they are illuminated by the ever changing natural light or if they are artificially illuminated.
Colour is obviously very important in your work, how difficult is it to control?
Colour for me is more than a finishing or a decoration, it is the very material that I shape. A material that is never fully predictable nor controllable.
Is there a career highlight that has pushed your work to another level?
The chandelier I designed and realised for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin when Luciano Pavarotti gave the last performance of his career.
What projects are you focusing on in your studio right now?
Right now, I am launching the new collection I have made for Edra that will be officially presented to the public and available from September on the occasion of Milan Design Week 2021. With this family of pieces, I have opened a new language and possible use for polycarbonate, playing with its fluidity and transparency. It is a moment of great expansion of my activity and we are engaged in projects and big installations in the Emirates, in Asia and in the US.
Great to talk with you Jacopo, thanks for your time.
Jacopo Foggini and Edra collecitons are available exclusively in South East Asia from Space – Australia and Space – Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
