Timeless Elegance

Italian architect, designer, and art director Pierro Lissoni’s vision for B&B Italia is characterised by his personal design sensibilities.

-  Sandhya Mahadevan

Italian designer Pierro Lissoni trained as an architect, but soon expanded his repertoire driven by a desire towards a more holistic approach to design. Today, his eponymous brands, Lissoni’s design studio and Lissoni & Partners in Milan collaborate on a wide range of projects, from architecture and interior design to furniture, lighting, and product design.

The award-winning multidisciplinary artist is also the creative mind behind some of the most renowned brands in the design and furniture industry. In 2020, he assumed the role of creative director for Italian contemporary design brand B&B Italia — a brand that finds pride of place in luxury multi-brand showroom Space Furniture.

In Singapore for the 10th anniversary celebration of Space Furniture, Lissoni discusses his design process, his close connection with B&B Italia and his vision to revive its modern and minimalist aesthetic for posterity.

Your foray into design is multi disciplinary, what inspired you?

To me it’s between work and passion. Today, I design buildings, I design interiors, I design pieces, I design furniture. It’s the humanistic approach to design. When I design a building, I do it with a strong connection between inside and outside.

To me, the biggest mistake about most buildings is that somebody designed the shell, somebody else the structure, and few others designed the mechanical and electrical parts, fittings, interiors and the decoration. It’s like a Frankenstein model of life — and some of them do end up looking like that. I push to be a part of all the processes.