The first products of Produzione Privata came from the necessity of Michele De Lucchi to furnish his own house in Milan. It was small and full of charm, built at the end of the last century but badly treated during restoration. These new products sought to link the style of the house, the furniture and that specific moment of family life in a contemporary fashion. This picture illustrates details of the pear wooden bed made as an exclusive edition in 1990

The three vases in marble and stone were made in 1990 in a limited edition of six copies each, the last piece was sold in 1995

The vases and pottery decorated with black and white were made in 5 copies each, the sugar bowl with the "cow" pattern was produced in 150 copies. The pots were made in 1987 by ‘Ceramiche San Marco’ and later replicated by Produzione Privata in 1990. One of the vases with black and white decor is kept at the Groninger Museum.

The Minimal Machine n. 7 is a lamp that can be swiveled up and down. The combination of the two movements of the arm favors more positions and gives the lamp a considerable mobility. Auction and canopy are made of painted metal. The shade is in parchment paper, the counterweight turned brass. A prototype and two lamp designs have become part of the permanent collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, on display from 18 November 2003 to 30 October 2004. “The Minimal Machines are machines because they work the same way as small cars do; they move, get up, go down, solve problems and meet needs. The Minimal Machines are minimal because they do not have anything more than what it takes to make them work well and for a long period of time. In minimality it is easier to recognise the quality of form and matter, because minimal refers to an idea of art, because art is in Mankind.”

— Michele De Lucchi, April 1991.

The updated Macchina Minima N.8 is still in production

The series consists of three models of which only the ‘Vaso Bianco’ in the middle is still in production, the other two were made in a limited edition of 15 specimens each.

“Science is spectral analysis. Art is photosynthesis”.

— Karl Kraus

How can they both be so light yet so opposite and with such a huge paunch? Are they two miracles that not even science can explain? The ‘Vaso Bianco’, now a classic of Produzione Privata, has a companion. The white color in ceramics has its own characteristic and its own elegance, similarly glossy black has a bright light and a depth unmatched by artificial materials. Both vases are handcrafted with the technique of ceramic casting. The Black Vase went into production more than a decade later in 2004.

Was a limited series produced in 1990 in 10 copies for each model and each material. Only one specific candlestick was also produced in 36 specimens in 1997. All pieces are made from solid metal, turned from one piece of solid brass and plated in silver.

Desktop paper holder, made in silver in a limited edition in 1991.

The jewellry box is the transposition of and object designed in wood but made in metal. Michele at this time was doing a lot of work in Japan, for exhibitions of designs and objects made of wood by Japanese artisans. One of the many forms developed for this exhibition was found in one of his paintings and seemed to possess a particular significance. It was not possible to bring this object to Italy or to reproduce it and so it was remade in brass and became a much loved jewellry box. It is a one off-piece turned out of copper sheets on a lathe.

In 1991 and 1992, many of the projects of Produzione Privata were objects to be made in pear wood. The attraction for this material stemmed from a research carried out for the Design Gallery of Milan, which culminated in an exhibition. It was comprised of twelve projects and entitled ‘Fine Novecento’. All the pieces of furniture were made of solid wood and they are representative of that historic moment between two decades.

This coatrack also stemmed from Produzione Privata's research for the Design Gallery of Milan exhibition. Coat rack in pear wood, produced in 1991, limited edition, out of production since 1994.

This was a prototype of a Macchina Minima lamp adjustable from the ceiling. It was produced as one of a kind.

“With every project one always has to start again from scratch, as if experience did not exist and one had always been wrong, as if mysterious recesses had hidden the truth” The chair is made entirely in natural beech. As a planned choice it has not been treated with paints which could have altered the beauty of natural wood. The assembly of single pieces is carefully realised, valuing the continuity of the wood's grains. The first Produzione Privata chair, a folding type made entirely of natural beech, was born in 1993. A single element contains its backrest and rear legs, another the seat, whilst two flexuous armrests joins them to form the front legs.

The Trefili lamp originated from the small action required to give as a present: to refold it in a light parcel. The aim in this case was not that of designing a lamp with only movement, but to give attention to the part of a lamp, which is never designed: the wire. It was not easy to find a manufacturer willing to thread the three wires by hand. The Trefili recalls a little the projects of Bruno Munari who was not interested in the aesthetic quality but in a gentle idea. As with the slight irony in this case of the electrical wires plaited like the hair of a child.

These lamps designed in 2001 are made with ordinary bulbs, and their form is created to paly with their shapes. They reflect a contemporary essentiality reminiscent of minimalism in art and architecture. The idea of these lamps was thought of in 1994 during an Artemide workshop, after which the Lighting Field prototypes were made by Artemide. The series, produced in 2001 by Produzione Privata, in a version with base for collectors, was limited to 10 pieces, signed and numbered, per type. The names of the Le Marionette lamps are Burattino, Groviglio, Stanca and Viso. They were part of a collection within the Ready Made Laboratory, inspired by the Ready Made concept in the art of Marcel Duchamp and Dadaism. It is a concept whereby existing parts are assembled and transferred into design, where it acquires a fresh meaning by focusing on a particular system of very common industrial production.

The Ready Made bottle vases grew from research into common forms, on the typicality of anonymous and everyday containers: bottles, dermijohns and industrially manufactured glass jars for the food industry. A bottle is automatically a vase, but it is not really a vase, it is a pleasing object, fragile and transparent. Such coincidences or similarities have been the direction of a project that, from the tought of the "ready-made", has achieved the handicraft realization of these vases made of industrial glass and aluminium. Reference to the bottle is not however so immediate, because they have been inverted, cut and the bottom has been removed. The method for plugging the neck of the bottle which fixes it to the base is most unusual and has been much studied: the long stem which exerts pressure on the rubber rings thus preventing water leakage. Producing these vases is difficult between cutting and edging the glass.

The idea is elementary: shaping by means of "bending" a pair of metal strips, making them eligible to hold a light source. Helium is a minimal lamp whose structure adopts a pincer system for the sealing and the outlet of the diffuser. The pair of pillars, made of curved metal strips, retains and supports the diffuser globe. Two elastic rubber bands, at the base of the structure, function as both structural and protective elements making the lamp slip and scratch resistant.

Porcelain manufacture is a complex production process and when it's not made on industrial scale it requires very careful handling. For this reason many artisans opt for ceramic, due to its much simpler manufacturing procedure. Michele De Lucchi chose to work with this material in order to pair a modern lamp design with an traditional technique that needed revival and revolutionizing. The choice of the porcelain diffuser has additionally been made due to the poetic ambiguity of the material, which assumes transparency when the light is turned on, diffusing and regulating the light beams in a soft and sweet way unknown to any other material. Essentially, there was an aesthetic and functional necessity for a bell-shaped diffuser formed in a single piece and having an upper cone to integrate and accomadate the lamp-holder. A little suspending ring made of chromed metal puts an end to the strive for simplicity otherwise pursued in the design. The platinum edge on the lowest side of the lamp emphasizes with discretion the entire construction's basic geometry.

The name of the Acquatinta lamps stems from the coloured waters around the glass blowers in the city of Murano where they were first produced. The artistic manufacture of Murano glass is a production process with limited standardisation: the pieces are blown singularly; for this reason the are similar but not equal although they belong to the same series. This uniqueness, typical of blown glass (not industrially moulded), creates a product much more involved which does not annul the role and the work of the artisan.The intent of the project is to produce, starting from the same form, three lamps different for thie characters and type of lighting. Simplicity as the other project theme, incited the design of a blown diffuser in a single piece whose shape integrates and lodges the lamp-holder.

The contrast between the base in ground transparent glass wich retains it's lightness and the heavy, cast iron conical cup, constitutes the formal theme of this vase. The vase is finished by hand in a way that retains the characteristics of the material. 'When I first started to think about the Pluvia vase, we were as in many other times in the garden. We wanted a vase that was weather resistant and strong enough to make a contrast against the exuberant vegetation in the background and against the violent thunderstorms of the lake. It was the first time that I thought about making an object totally of cast iron: a material once much used outdoors which is making a certain comeback today. It made me think of garden furniture too, but I wanted them to be modern, not with an old characteristic. I saw only two strong forms and then I had the slightly mad idea of attaching the glass. I wanted an invisible base to give the sense of a heavy, strong, resistant body, which rest almost upon nothing, confronting the materiality of the cast-iron with the immateriality of the glass. I presented these vases for the first time at an exhibition of water colours in the monestary at Maulbronn in Germany and it was raining heavily that day…”. It was very difficult to find suitable craftsmen. Small craftsmen’s outlets are not willing to sustain the waste of defective pieces created in attempting to maintain the glass so slender in section. The big foundries on the other hand are unwilling to stop their machines and waste time for seven or eight vases. Notwithstanding the fact that a very precise mould was made, the emergent pieces differ one from the other and it is impossible to avoid waste. The piece is, relatively speaking, large and very deep and the cast-iron contracts a great deal when cooled thus the forms tend to lose their geometry.'

— Michele De Lucchi, 1997

With the Basequadra vase, Michele De Lucchi wanted to combine the transparency of glass with the ruggedness of metal. The effect of the mouth-blown glass is the only decoration, impure, composed predominantly of sand, iron oxide and chrome, with its unmistakable and unique green colour. When blown by mouth in a pure form such as the cup, a vase almost becomes a lens, in which the world is seen totally changed. Michele became more and more fascinated with the idea of combining blown glass, the thinnest and most transparent substance that man is capable of creating with iron, the symbol of hardness and industrialisation. The diversity between glass and iron is the main theme of the project. The difference is accentuated thanks to the contrast: the base is in natural metal and is square and thin. It holds the vase, which is conical and trasparent. The cup is worked on in all phases using artisan methods; drawn from the fire and then blown by mouth. These are operations which required talent and knowledge of the materials. The green colour is the result of research into the reconstrution of the original colour of un-purified natural glass, mostly composed of sand, silica, iron oxide and chrome.

"In art the important thing is not that one takes eggs and fat, but that one has fire and a pan".

— Karl Kraus

Sometimes it is not the ingredients that make the difference, but the way they are cooked. Table centerpiece Petali made of four plates with metal handle.

Treforchette is a conceptual object. It suggest, slightly ironically, a way of designing with ready made instustrial products. These products, transfered into other contexts reveal a different potential. The contemporary designer must exploit industrial know how and industrial products in order to transform them into useful objects.

A prototype of the lamp and a design have become part of the permanent collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, on display from 18 November 2003 to 30 October 2004.

The lamp Treforchette XL went into production in 2011.

Acquaparete is the wall version of the suspended lamp Acquatinta, which trascends from the same figurative themes. The diffusers are made of hand blown Murano glass. Such artisan workmanship renders this piece unique. Acquaparete is a moveable lamp, the diffuser may be rotated 180° from top to bottom. The glass globe is held by a metal arm. The various positions and possible finishes allow a choice of direct or indirect light.

The idea of being able to guard light is the basis of this project lamp Tokio. The light is considered a relic and as such is protected by a show case, an object know symbolically, which serves the double function of "preserving and highlighting" the object contained within. The design of the Tokyo incorporates the two experiments with transparent and opaque sandblasted glass. The lamp is completely transparent and the sandblasted “cupola” is used as a reflective element: the form of the glass cover protects, and at the same time, is functional in terms of the quality of the light. The lamp is for use as a table or a bedside light. At first glance it seems very technical, but as with almost all the lamps designed by Michele De Lucchi, and as with the famous Tolomeo, it is in fact technically very simple.

"Beauty is simply the unveiling of a fallen shadow and the light which has come out of it"

— Alda Merini, Body of Love, 2001. Acquamiki is the small version of the pendant lamp Aquatinta. The art and craftmanshing of the glass blowers and the quality of the Murano glass constitute the value, uniqueness and finesse of the piece. Originally the lamp was made of Murano glass. The lamp Acquamiki is in production since 1999 in clear, frosted, transparent green and glossy white.

Two trays frosted glass for the home and office. A small tray to function as an object and pencil holder. A large tray which is a fruit or paper holder. From the flat surface of the plate glass are cut and grinded to hand the shapes of the two trays, then lying on steel molds and subjected to the temperature of the oven assume the final shape with 4 handles.

The lamps, were produced versions both wall and ceiling versions. They were the result of research conducted on sheet glass moulding and bending. The glass, cut with the technique of high pressure water and sand jets, is transformed into the oven by the high temperature cooking into a form that reminds one of the lid of a box. In the wall version the diffuser is restrained and suspended to the frame with a single screw visible on the underside. The light of this sandblasted box of glass emits a soft diffused light and the four cuts create four suggestive light blades. Setting up the Quattropieghe production took a long time because it was necessary that the fissures along the four borders let out sharp beams of light, as sharp as possible. At first glance this lamp seems cold and minimalist but close up one catches a glimpse of the contour of the lamp through the opaque glass and when turned on, the four rays of light, so strong and unexpected, transform it into a living and warm object.

The lamp is the result of research conducted on the topic of cooking and shaping sheet glass. The pair of diffusers in frosted glass are supported by a thin metal structure. The two glass silhouettes are held spaced apart to facilitate the partial view of the lamp holder and the internal structure. In this product Produzione Privata's philosophy that structure is not only functional aspect but the object of research is openly manifested. The Cubetta was developed as the hanging version of the Quattropieghe. In the end, however, it emerged with a totally different character to the initial version. How to hang the bulb and how to hang the two sheets of glass in the void using the least amount of materials was the central issue to the project.

The collection "What are the flower vases for?" consists of 12 vases made of Murano blown glass in a limited edition, limited to ten copies each. These are their names and story: 1. Papavero (poppy): Dedicated to the delicacy of poppy petals 2. Philadelphus: A vase to inebriate 3. Calicanthus: A vase to remember a winter miracle 4. Iris: A vase to welcome the splendid fruit of poverty 5. Melograno (Pomgranade): A vase to fill with an image of paradise 6. Liriope: A vase for the search for sincerity 7. Ortensia: A vase for a maiden 8. Ninfea (waterlily): A vase to remember flowered lakes 9. Mimosa: A vase to immerse on in a yellow parfume 10. Delphinum: A vase for the discovery of a cobalt blue world 11. Agapanthus: A vase to recall two celestial eyes 12. Artemisia: A vase to smell the aromas of grey

The series of four Candle lamps, in production since 2000, is made of Murano blown glass frosted white, with painted metal base. They mount CFLs warm tone bulbs with low energy consumption. The bulb is dimmable with technical filters supplied in three colors: green, amber and gray.

The collection of nine Sufi table lamps, produced in 2000, is a numbered series, signed and limited to 18 copies for each model. The names of the lamps are: Rumi, Yahya, Bayezid, Nizami, Ghazzali, Nuri, Hafi, Junaid, Shibli. The lamps are composed of a metal base and two diffusers blown out of Murano glass. The inner cup is made out of sanblasted white glass. The external glass is produced in 9 variations with different finishes, including 5 with engraved decoration for grinding. They support fluorescent bulbs of warm tone with low energy consumption and with an excellent visual comfort.

The Christmas Vases were made from blown glass and colored metal. They were exclusive presents and limited edition products. Each vase corresponds to a different Christmas year. From 2000 to 2011.

Hello lamp was made in a single copy in the exhibition for the "Count Down design: Write it with design," Space Consolo, Milan, 2000

“Tinker Bell, why can’t I fly?” “Peter Pan, all you have to do is think one happy thought and you’ll fly like me”.

— James Matthew Barrie, Peter Pan The large and small lamps, Fata and Fatina, are made from a single piece of blown glass. The stem and diffuser combine to form an overall volume of light. The circular, painted metal base holds in place the body of satin-finish blown glass.

Produced in Murano blown glass and metal. The series of vases H consists of Hermosa, Hansa and Handel. The Hero vase in black glass was made specifically for the online sales. The Samson vase was made only as a prototype.

The 2001 folding chair was designed to be practical and functional. The mechanism is solved by a timber element that is both a comfortable armrest and a device that allows you to close the chair in a compact space despite the curved legs. 'Usually folding chairs are stiff, I was interested instead draw a folding chair with a soft form.'

— Michele De Lucchi, 2001

“Machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need”. from the movie Hugo, 2011, directed by Martin Scorsese The Minimal Machine no° 8, updated version of the n° 7, is exactly the same type of lamp as the previous one. The mechanisms have been improved. The combination of the two movements of the arm favors more positions and gives the lamp a considerable mobility. The arms and canopy are made of painted metal. The lampshade is in parchment paper, the counterweight turned brass.

The Ipy Collection designed by Michele De Lucchi for Produzione Privata is a series of four hanging lamps in borosilicate glass. Their names are: Ipy Sfera, Ipycoppa, Ipyramide. The high transparency, durability and versatility of borosilicate glass have intrigued and stimulated this application. The conical and hemispherical shapes are controlled manually and are obtained by the expansion of the heated glass to the flame. The holder has constant shape, is transparent and is represented as a sheath to the porcelain bulb holder. The minimal structure is made up of metal components including the quadrangular rosette in painted metal. They are produced in three versions, transparent, sandblasted and transparent green. The Ipy ball went out of production in 2003. The production of Ipycoppa Ipyramide and ended in 2012.

Lagrande lamp designed by Michele De Lucchi for Produzione Privata is a large pendant lamp made from bent glass and silkscreened. The lamp is made by hand shaping a glass plate of PLX with a normal thickness of 4 mm. The shape is obtained by placing the glass on a metal mold. The heat of the tunnel oven moves the glass and makes a conical structure from an originally flat glass. The bearing structure, the location of the bulb holder, visible metal, is constituted by a flat disk painted metal attached to the central support. The outer surface is sandblasted and silkscreened.

An evolution from the Ipy Collection designed by Michele De Lucchi is a series of pendant lamps in borosilicate glass, and called Trepalle Trellissi. The high transparency, durability and versatility of borosilicate glass have intrigued and stimulated this project. The conical and hemispherical shapes are controlled manually and are obtained by the expansion of the heated glass to the flame. The holder has constant shape, is transparent and is represented as a sheath to the porcelain bulb holder. The minimal structure is made up of metal components including the quadrangular rosette in painted metal.

For Michele De Lucchi the Ready-made formula is the most advanced design, because, in addition to demonstrating that nowadays design means putting together components, it has the great advantage of introducing irony in products. Put together brushes, parchment and a metal frame and behold, the table lamp is ready! Ready to be turned on and painted by anyone wishing to leave their mark on the lampshade. In September 2004, was presented the Artista colòr. This particular edition was created in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It 'a tribute to man's innate need to express themselves, to score with something its passage. The brushes and paper lampshades of four colors are asking to be used freely, invite you to write a name, a date or make a drawing, and dial one of the possible 24 shaded colors, one of the 12 two-color or monochrome one of 4 according to the mood the time and the atmosphere of the environment. Even the gift box enhances the desire to create something with the tools of "Ready Made" putting together objects in another context, to give birth to something new.

Meteora is inspired by the idea of using river stones as iconography of the traces of time and nature in a lamp. It also compares the materiality and the translucence of the glass with the roughness of the stone. It consists of a glass sheet and a river stone.

The force of geometry: “The universe... is written in the language of mathematics, and the characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these one goes wandering about in a dark labyrinth”.

— Galileo Galilei, The Assayer, 1623 In 2002, De Lucchi introduced a family of lamps that evoke the elementary idea of small birds flying happily. This year a sitting small bird completes the family. In all respects this lamp is reduced to basics and essentials of contemporary design but at the same time maintains a poetry all of its own. Ipy wall was made in transparent, transparent green satin.

The pinnacles are decorative architectural elements that crown Romanesque or Gothic buildings, but also small obelisks. The latter are typical of Egyptian art and had celebratory purposes. In this mindset, Michele De Lucchi sees the use of these objects, as the celebratation of tea when used as sugar bowls or jewelry when used as containers for preciousness. The study forms a pinnacle, already realized in 2003 with wood carvings, continues experimenting with different materials in 2004, the final objects were turned from a single block of brass.

A Japanese cook slices fish with a yanagiba knife. “I create sushi in my dreams”.

— Jiro Ono This ceiling lamp follows a very simple, pure concept of form and yet it makes a big impact, not least thanks to the specific character of this transparent Murano glass.

Lapiccola is the younger sister of the pendant lamp Lagrande. The particularity of these lamps is the perfection of the thickness of the glass diffuser which is made from a single folded sheet. Originally they were two sheets of flat glass, one big and one small, resting on a conical metal mould. Then came the intense heat of a tunnel kiln and the flat sheets became conical, as if by magic. Technical magic. Although it is the small sister, it has a considerable size being 60cm in diameter. Lapiccola gives a particularly warm light and has the character of a timeless and modern lamp. The supporting structure and the rosette are made of metal, the surface of the glass is sandblasted.

Altocielo is a collection of four vases with light, designed by Michele De Lucchi. It could be ironically titled, "What good is a bunch of light" because instead of flowers there is a light that is projected exclusively towards the sky. The forms are very massive incurred by a thin stalk, middle, that rises slightly off the floor: the structure in handcrafted metal is shared by the four vases. The vases of light carry the name of the four orientations North, South, East, West, and are made of aluminum and glass.

The laboratory of wood of Produzione Privata is enhanced by this new research devoted to the techniques of craftsmanship with Alessandro Visi. The inspiration was nineteenth-century engineering but it reaches a particular lightness and modernity because of its simplicity, robustness and elegance. The table-stool, invites a completely unique use. Sgabò is a collection made of unique pieces or very small lots, handmade in Tuscany in Casentino by Alessandro Visi personally, signed and dated by Michele De Lucchi.

Orientalina was presented as a prototype in 2004. It entered production in 2005. It is a small table lamp in Murano blown glass with a metal flower structure which supports the glass. Out of production since 2006.

The basic idea of this lamp is a perfect cone with a stem that gives it authenticity and elegance. It 'a ceiling lamp turned out of aluminum on a lathe. It explores the applications of aluminum plates and is handcrafted on the lathe with Pyrex glass that diffuses the light above the metal cone. The combination of the metal with the glass enhances the brightness of both. The diffuser compound has a basic shape and expresses determination and geometry.

It 'a typical representative of the "Minimal Machines" by Michele De Lucchi, the most famous being the Tolomeo lamp. The latch mechanism in the form of zigzag is both ironic and innovative. It is a simple and efficient system of rotation of the lampholder which represents balance. The lamp that was born with technical values becomes an object full of expressiveness.

Bison, The Animals and The garden are part of the collection from the "Outside of this World". This new collection of Produzione Privata is exclusively dedicated to projects with a particular expressive value of Michele De Lucchi. These handicrafts are on a very small print run and produced on request. It is an intimate laboratory that is evolving with objects that appear and disappear. The only way to track them will be in the historical books of Produzione Privata. 'I wanted to make some playmates for Leli and Vivi (my daughters), friends who lived in the bathroom between the bottles of perfume, on the tray accompanying afternoon tea, and would always be present in their room. Those with long necks are the first but still many others will follow.'

— Michele De Lucchi, 2005

The Garden: Palm, Pomegranate, Lemon, Rose. The Garden and the animals are part of the collection 'Outside of this World'. Four trees in raw metal protected, laser-cut from a sheet of 2mm thickness. Trees "poems written in the sky of the earth" as Kalil Ghibran said ... I Will always continue to approach and to design this unique, wonderful gift of nature: thin small sculptures that tingle and reflect, like real trees, light, carrying the eye and the imagination out of time for a moment.' — Michele De Lucchi, 2005

Suspension lamp in Murano blown glass with a white satin finish. The shape of the three waves rising upward develops the theme of a reversal of the proportions generally adopted in common lamps where the major diameter is usually facing down.

After a long time, comes a new floor lamp by Michele De Lucchi in Murano blown glass. The lamp is in white satin and with a layered metal structure. The lamp Lasemplice was built as a prototype in 2005 but never came into production.

Bisons are part of the collection 'Outside of this World'. 'The children have noticed right away that those were the horns of a bison and overlaying the stools you could create an awesome animal. It has the dual function of being stool and coat hanger, but what really matters is the game of 'evocation', the immediate sympathy aroused by this beast: a shy nice head with horns!' — Michele De Lucchi, 2005

"When lamps are suspended from the ceiling we try to protect our eyes from the glare of the bulb. Shades, bells, pans and lids are always there in various shapes to create romantic atmospheres. Today however, there are bulbs that do all that by themselves. So I decided to concentrate my design on the wire to hang them from. I was very much helped by sophisticated laser cutting technology, and by the generous performances of zoology and botanical science. This year, to the Flora and Fauna lamps created in 2006 I have added the lamp with fishes and corals, called Ittica, and the lamp with swallows in flight called Migrante."

— Michele De Lucchi, April 2009

'These lamps are celebrative, just as the garland decorates the table, just as bay leaves decorate the heads of graduates, just as curtains frame the windows, just as the lace enriches altars, just as the veil makes a bride, just as the crowns distinguish kings and queens, just as ribbons to identify heroes. For a lamp, a twig with nine leafs suffices.'

— Michele De Lucchi, 2006

It is not at all obvious that in a glass vase it is the void that gives shape and the color that makes transparency. I drew them with a thin stylus that I used during my time at the school of architecture of Florence. I built the design with countless features, obtaining the effects of a haze and reflections with extreme, wanted and enjoyed patience. This satisfaction is probably visible from the insistent repetition of motifs that are generated from each other, making the effect more and more complete. I am satisfied in the end, these vases are so simple and rich in their shape and rare color that few in Murano still know how to achieve. I made twelve wooden molds and I composed, for the time being, only ten models: many combinations are still open and the exploration of the possibilities still makes me curious.

— Michele De Lucchi, January 2006

“... and only by endlessly following the same road can it be discovered and saved from the blindness of habit”.

— Michele De Lucchi, 12 tales with little houses, 2005 The 2007 chair is a revised version of the folding 2001 chair, reissued in the fixed version, where beech wood replaced the leather backrest and finishing of the seat, improving the level of comfort. The result is more basic, simple, inexpensive, but with the same functional and aesthetic qualities. Produced in natural beech wood.

“The donkey would put his front hooves on the window ledge, the dog would jump on the donkey’s back, the cat would climb on the dog and the cock would fly up and sit on the cat’s head. So they all did this and, at a signal,they began to play their music: the donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat miaowed and the crow crew”.

— The Brothers Grimm, The Bremen Town Musicians The table is a simple object enhanced by the material and form of its legs. Benedetto is made with oak duramen by Riva 1920 Carpentry of Cantù, with their customary mastery. The table is not painted, but simply hand-rubbed with oil to preserve the natural effect of its wood. Time will bring out the best of its colour and finish. The top is composed of boards paired with the traditional "filo morto" system, allowing the wood to breathe and move. The legs are comb-tongued and fastened to the top with four screws. Thus the table can be easily dismantled and conveniently stowed.

Three vases for a combination of different kinds of glass processing. The containers are blown, delicate and slim forms. Their thick glass water jet bases are stout and solid. Vases in transparent blown glass, bases in flat glass cut by water jet.

Four oak leaves embrace the candle. The leaves are joint together for a short distance to a stem with a string of wire, which leaves them free to maintain their elasticity. The leaves barely touch the candle and when the wax melts, they do not the hold them so that they can be easely removed.

Perseus was a hero of Greek mythology. He killed the Gorgon Medusa, founded Mycenae and married Andromeda after having rescued her from a sea monster. Associations of the mind may sometimes transcend pure logic, and so a heroic life deserves to be remembered. The glass bubble is blown with masterly skill, remembering the design and fragile consistency of Japanese paper lanterns. The faceted surfaces evoke the sculptural tastes of Isamu Noguchi and his work on tradition as the desire for a genuine, delicate world. The year after the Perseo versions have a 28 cm suspension diffuser and a 15 cm suspension and wall diffuser.

In the Metamorphoses Apollo tells Daphne “Because thou canst not be my mistress, I espouse thee for my tree: ... and as the locks of Phoebus are unshorn, so shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn”. 

— Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, 1st century AD Light is framed by a crown of leaves just as laurels on the head of the ancient heroes. The leaves are laser cut from a sheet of metal. The silvered light bulb casts a crown of shadows that embroidery for walls and ceilings with light.

Giona is a prophet who lived inside a whale. Jonah is a boat, a cloud, a space craft, a brioche, a banana. But above all, a lamp that kindles the imagination. The large parchment lamp shows its illuminated belly. When closed, it is compact, but at the same time it looks flexible and light. It dominates the space and its diffused light is moderate and sincere. Hung with a metal frame, it emits a fine light that is also suitable above a table.

Pergola is a pendant lamp extendable to 7 bulbs. It 'a system for lighting, a trellis that hangs and stretches, assuming various configurations as needed. Not forced to perform complicated operations to the ceiling is installed very easily, like a common chandelier. It was thought up to be hanging over large tables and in large environments, as it spreads light evenly. The trellis is reminiscent of a pergola, a structure for gardens that reminds of places to relax. In the idea of this system is to be a simple structure with immediate functionality which make it both a technical and professional object.

“The wind does not move. The flag does not move. It is the mind that moves”.

— Zen adage Maestrale, Libeccio and Scirocco are the 'Wind Vases' designed by Michele De Lucchi in 2008. They were born of the desire to resurrect fading ancient traditions and craftsmanship techniques, in particular the technique of 'optic glass' achieved through mouth blowing into a wooden cast to shape the intended glass waves. The glass effect is called “optical” because of its facets, which produce a particular brightness and transparency. The preciousness is emphasized by the combination of sinuous forms and by the green colour peculiar to many Produzione Privata creations. The rediscovery of the optic glass through the artistic interpretation of the personality of the 3 major italian winds is part of the creative imagination of Michele De Lucchi.

'Unjustifiable Needs' were the last teachings of Ettore Sottsass

I always wanted to do kilim carpets, and I have repeatedly tried to make them in Turkey, Afghanistan, China, but they turned out as I wanted them, they were not what I had in mind. I have drawn many, looked for color combinations that were beautiful in geometric figures and researched which were transferable in colors for wool and textiles. Now I am very pleased with these carpets which Rachna Joshi Nair brought me from India. Perhaps because in that country which is so impenetrable and spiritual, wool is still crafted by artisans manually, which has great value to me. It seems to me that now is precisely the time, because thinking of Ettore I remembered the tales of his travels in India and was able to explain to myself why I embarked on the long project of kilim. So this is the year when I opened a new laboratory for Produzione Privata: 'the Laboratory of Textiles'. We produced 7 models, all hand-woven. We will hange them on walls like tapestries to decorate rooms. Otherwise you could use them to heat the floor when too cold, or someone could even use them as room dividers, as once the nomads did in their tents. They are architecture maps are vaguely impenetrable but freely interpretable. For Ettore they would have been unjustifiable needs. For me they are unjustifiable needs.

— Michele De Lucchi, February 2008

"When light wants to enter, not even a block of perfectly turned Carrara marble can stop it." Turned out of a block of opaque, compact, cut and polished Carrara marble came a hollow cylinder to house the bulb. Light is emitted decisively from its aperture. Filtered by the marble, it leaves glimpses of beautiful veinings. These are the latest objects from the Marble Workshop.

"This is a bottle, a dish-cover, a circus tent, a jar, a fireplace, a Mongol hut, it is … certainly strange to see it fly." The Bonne Nuit lamp, in the suspension version with a 26 or 16 cm diameter, has a cupola in borosilicate glass, partly sandblasted and partly transparent. It looks like an object made to be placed on a table, whereas actually it is hung by a single wire that passes through the cupola chimney. Bonne Nuit is intended to put the lid on light. The light is served at table in the glass, a fine goblet of the elegant sort, and then covered with a sandblasted glass cupola to diffuse it. Housed in the top of the cupola is a small transparent glass chimney, with which the lid is lifted and the light revealed.

"The core is a cylindrical body, the face a transparent glass bubble that makes the light shine. De Chirico gave this form to the heads of his “Disquieting Muses”, in a square in Ferrara." The structure is in metal painted dark grey, with a ring base in the floor version, but a disc base for the table version.

Sometimes branches, sometimes in a bunch, sometimes a single flower, sometimes on a long stalk, sometimes a wild flower such as a daisy. These three vases, of different heights and capacities, have stackable lids in transparent borosilicate glass that narrow the spout to accommodate the flowers better. One last element acts as a cap, so that they can also be used as receptacles. Kado is the Japanese art of cut flower arrangement, the three vases are called Kado, or “way of the flowers”.

"Trays are beautiful objects often ignored, because you never know where to put them, because sometimes they are bulky and it is hard to find a convenient location to store them. These wall trays are of a new category, and they hang like architectural models, but they work in all respects as serving trays to carry things off the table and the kitchen. They are designed to be hung, and when not in use are beautiful works of art: the humble service which they are intended turns into a wonderful opportunity to represent studies of buildings, building facades, windows, doors and balconies, just as in a serious study of architecture where the models are scattered on tables and hanging off the walls. They are made of precious natural walnut wood for an authentic contact experience with solid wood and are handcrafted with extreme care."

— Michele De Lucchi, November 2009

Spettra is the nearest thing to an all-glass lamp. Absolutely simple, it is distinguished by its absence of screws or metal structures. A transparent column bears the translucent cupola, and the contact between glass on glass gives the shade its delicate balance.

A ghost made of nothing moves beneath a handkerchief, the Spettra lamp. Vanishing with the appearance of light when the glass loses its consistency, it gets lighter and flimsier, like a ghost watching over the house.

The sandblasted borosilicate glass shade is ogival. At the top, where it meets the suspension cable, it becomes transparent. The light is diffused along the shape of the shade, and sparkles in its transparent apex.

“AI went to the woods because... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, .... to put to rout all that was not life and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived”. 

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1845 - 1847 Michele De Lucchi wants to represent on a small scale all the trees in the world. He has chosen his first six on the basis of their size and diverse foliage: the Lebanon Cedar with its “chandelier” bearing, the evergreen Fir, the Birch with its silvery wood, the Chestnut and its good fruit, the Larch with its pyramidal mane, and the European Beech with its dense leaves. Engraved in burnished iron, they are faithful icons of trees in the scale of 1 : 100. These figures can be used to form a wood, comprising numerous different species and growing from year to year.

Treated as architecture, this desk is designed for writing, drawing or jotting down thoughts. And notebooks can be kept in it for handy access. Scrivinpiedi is composed of fine identical canaletto walnut splines that form regular structure. With its folding top, the writing table can be detached and if necessary clamped to the wall, at variable heights. And inside, it has three useful shelves.

The splendour of transparency is even more spacial when transparency penetrates trasparency and the emptiness of vases is superimposed to create an assortment of empty lines: the void inside the void and inside the void again, lending texture even to the sense of air. The transparencies can be transformed with liquids and substances that interpenetrate without merging into one another.

"In architecture everything is perspective. Perspective is representation, the architecture is representation. The architecture is space that is represented through views of perspective which guide our vision. The mirror is a stage, everything becomes theater, including what the mirror reflects. The frame is the stage of a theater and the scenes create perspectives of infinite places. Stairs, columns, lintels, splays, small windows, large portals, all the rest to the imagination."

— Michele De Lucchi, 2011

"Steadly more rarefied, fewer and fewer materials, closer and closer to nothingness." The Belle Soiree lamp is made in four versions: table, suspension, wall and floor. Of the four versions only one table is designed specifically for LEDs which reflected off the silver cap will soften and spread into space.

Four hands stretched upwards greet you from a distance. On a folding hanger that stows jackets and coats at the top, shoulder-bags and scarves at mid-height, shoes and handbags at the bottom. There is room too for the kids, who can hang their coats at their right height. It puts away, but organises and keeps everything neat and tidy in halls, wardrobes and bedrooms, cupboards and storerooms, everywhere.

"In architecture everything is perspective. Perspective is representation, the architecture is representation. The architecture is space that is represented through views of perspective which guide our vision. The mirror is a stage, everything becomes theater, including what the mirror reflects. The frame is the stage of a theater and the scenes create perspectives of infinite places. Stairs, columns, lintels, splays, small windows, large portals, all the rest to the imagination."

— Michele De Lucchi, 2011

"Steadly more rarefied, fewer and fewer materials, closer and closer to nothingness." The Belle Soiree lamp is made in four versions: table, suspension, wall and floor. Of the four versions only one table is designed specifically for LEDs which reflected off the silver cap will soften and spread into space.

Four hands stretched upwards greet you from a distance. On a folding hanger that stows jackets and coats at the top, shoulder-bags and scarves at mid-height, shoes and handbags at the bottom. There is room too for the kids, who can hang their coats at their right height. It puts away, but organises and keeps everything neat and tidy in halls, wardrobes and bedrooms, cupboards and storerooms, everywhere.

" Pompei reminds me of the projects to improve Italy’s archeological sites. That is why I give the name Pompei to my showcases, because showcases are objects born to exhibit themselves through the things we love and want to be surrounded by. The showcases display the bones of animals rediscovered like the ghosts of distant souls, love letters among pharmacy jars, porcelain clowns and useless machines, dead leaves among eggcups with lions’ legs. Nothing is precluded, nothing is impossible to find in a showcase, for everyone has their own inner world and puts it on display. To be viewed from time to time, like turning to observe one’s footprints."

— Michele De Lucchi, 2012

The name is derived from the strip shape of the borosilicate glass tube when stretched, to accentuate the evanescence of such thin material. When the hot strip has assumed the right dimensions, it is squashed with pliers to form the stem. After that the base and cup are processed. Design here has steadily reduced the weight of these objects to make them look even flimsier.

"The lamp is enclosed in a vase. Looking at reality from a different angle produces unexpected effects." The table version is a stemless shade: a lamp inside the heart of a vase, in its simplest and most essential form. The ribbed glass shade is not supported by a stem, but by a blown vase in transparent borosilicate glass. The pendant version works the other way round: with the ribbed glass shade supporting the transparent glass vase. Every now and then things need to be looked at from different, unexpected angles.

Michele De Lucchi has designed a collection of vases in maiolica for the 500-year-old family firm of Ubaldo Grazia in Deruta. Starting from the Renaissance tradition of hand-turned crockery, to this day miraculously perpetuated in the Umbrian town of Deruta, the design updates its forms by adding a touch of modernity. Grounds and decorations are hand-painted by Carol Brannigan to designs by Michele De Lucchi. Produced in colours beyond the traditional maiolica palette, they are four-colour processed by computer and then developed in the Ubaldo Grazia Maioliche research labs. The raw material is the clay extracted from Umbria’s rivers, after which the vases are named. Designed in a spirit of innovation, the maiolica collection shows that design by now not only works in partnership with industry, but is also capable of creatively reviving the time-honoured knack and know-how of Italian craftsmanship. Michele De Lucchi’s commitment to boost the sector’s growth by experimentation prompted the Deruta Town Council to support the project.

I will design the new glasses every year, always different, always new, always special and every year I will try to catch the spirit of the time, with what there has been and what is coming. After a few years we can prepare a beautiful table, for Christmas and whenever we want to celebrate!

— Michele De Lucchi 2012

I will design the new glasses every year, always different, always new, always special and every year I will try to catch the spirit of the time, with what there has been and what is coming. After a few years we can prepare a beautiful table, for Christmas and whenever we want to celebrate!

— Michele De Lucchi 2012

"The glass moves freely, driven by the blower’s breath on a glass mould. Beauty is spontaneity." The Glacier lamp, in glazed white blown glass, has a beautiful story that comes from its mould. In fact it is not a typical mould, but a mould in steel plates, inside which the glass is blown. Depending on the pressure of the air, each lamp is different from the other, because each breath is different and pushes the glass in different ways between the plates. Normally the lamps of Production Private are blown into a mould that directly shapes the glass, while the shape of this new lamp is not defined in any way, but arises from the freedom that the glass has to move within the mould and the force of the breath of the glass blower.

“Nothing can be made out of nothing, because every thing must be generated from a seed before it can merge into the unresisting air”.

— Titus Lucretius Carus, De rerum natura, 1st century BC This suspension lamp is proportioned like a seed. It comes from the observation of nature, where beauty is harmony. Two layers of transparent glass enclose a layer of white glass that make the shape that contains the bulb.

This project redesigns the iconic lamp with a ‘drop’ diffuser that is cut at its base. To this classic of lamp we have included a harmonic steel mask available in two designs. This sheet of untreated laser-cut harmonic steel takes its shape as it is inserted inside the glass diffuser eliminating the need of forming the metal. Despite the transparency of glass, the glass diffuser has depth thanks to the metal mask and the form becomes three-dimensional.

Three mountains, a small, one medium and one large. hey look like mountains because they have the contours, but instead they are three glass vases that are carved according to the traditional Murano processes. The technique produces a “hammered” surface that come from the engraving wheel. The texture is reminiscent of those of the earth, reflecting the beautiful irregularities of nature. Inside each mountain is a container for water in borosilicate glass.

I will design the new glasses every year, always different, always new, always special and every year I will try to catch the spirit of the time, with what there has been and what is coming. After a few years we can prepare a beautiful table, for Christmas and whenever we want to celebrate!

— Michele De Lucchi, 2012

"Looking up... Sixteen glass tiles compose a roof of light." The project takes up an ancient tradition still used today to build roofs with wood and stone tiles. The system enables surfaces of different, including round, forms to be clad. Superimposed on the octagonal structure of the Marais are two layers of bent glass tiles.

"Chapeau, hats off to the newborn!" The white metal brim is supported by an invisible mind enclosing the bulb. Under the metal a soft light is diffused in the room, and above it a spark is ignited. The collection reverses the conventional material composition of lamps having a metal structure and a glass shade.

“A strange creature, the human being, groping in the dark with an intelligent look!”

— Kodo Sawaki Roshi

Maybe someone ought to turn on a light! It may not seem like it, but Touché is a glass lamp and the processing of glass limits its freedom of formal expression. The good thing about glass is that details of surface treatment and a few lines of composition are enough to transform a conventional form into a special object. The silvering enhances its richness.

Four pairs of slender metal wires stretch from the base to carry the curved sheet glass. The profile suggests a gliding parachute. Like a puff of air, the light fills the concave form of the glass and diffuses a softly functional luminescence.

As Souto De Moura says, "The architect's job is to continue what others did before us, while making use of new materials, technologies and languages". The chair, in beech heartwood, is made in two versions: with and without armrests, to adapt to the different parts of the house and office. The seat panel is upholstered in leather.

Glacier is a mountain going up and Marianne is an ocean valley going down! The shape of Marianne vases stems from the freedom of the glass to move inside a steel bladed mould. Depending on the strength of the puff, each vase differs from the next, because every puff is different and drives the glass in different ways through the blades. The vases are made in two versions: transparent and glazed white.

“Only when the clock stops does time come to life”. — William Faulkner This circle of light is suspended from the ceiling by three metal cables. It has no hands, mechanism or face, but is made of twelve luminous dots indicating the hours of a clock. The leds are housed in twelve pieces of solid walnut.

“Filippo di Ser Brunellesco was small in stature but so great in genius that he may well be described as a gift from heaven bringing new form to architecture...”.

— Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, 1550

He was called Pippo. Light and architecture meet. A row of leds runs along a wooden structure reminiscent of the Renaissance, stressing the planes with five barrel vaults rising to the central cupola. The pentagonal framework is unfaced, and its 25 fillets are formed by superimposed steam-warped sheets of oak.

The glass moves freely, driven by the blower’s breath on a glass mould. Beauty is spontaneity. Glacier springs from experimental glass-blowing inside a steel-bladed mould. Due to the mobility of the blades and varied blowing force, each lamp differs from the next. Glacier is shaped like a mountain, marked by wrinkles and crevasses through which the light is diffused. The transparent glass enhances its brightness.

Architects do not design space but relations among objects. For the first time Produzione Privata presents a lamp in solid walnut, and Metro is the carpenter’s novelty. This lamp measures space. Ten strips each ten centimetres long are aligned and glued together to form a wooden rod. It is exactly one metre long, like the old instrument used by tailors. The light source consists of Led Strips and the lamp is hung from the ends to direct the light source.

Perseus was a hero of Greek mythology. He killed the Gorgon Medusa, founded Mycenae and married Andromeda after having rescued her from a sea monster. Associations of the mind may sometimes transcend pure logic, and so a heroic life deserves to be remembered. The lightness of the Perseo lamp makes it a Produzione Privata symbol. Now it is turned upside-down and rests on four crude iron supports. Whilst previously it may have resembled a large hanging beehive, today it looks more like a hot air balloon.

“Once upon a time there was a piece of firewood. It was not an expensive piece of wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood”.

— Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1881 This table harks back to the cast irons of the belle époque, but is made of wood using contemporary processing technologies allowing what was impossible at that time. It comprises two pairs of feet, four legs likewise paired, and a round top. It is crafted in oak heartwood and treated with natural oil.

"A physicist had a horseshoe hanging on the door of his laboratory. His colleagues were surprised and asked him if he believed it brought good luck in his experiments. He replied: “No, I am not superstitious, but they tell me it works even if you don’t believe in it”.

— Robert L. Weber The back retraces the arched line of the horseshoe as a good luck symbol and, together with the wide seat, comfortably embraces the sitter. The chair is supported by four legs modelled and connected by a crossbar. Made in beech wood.