Enzo Catellani – Innovative Italian lighting designer

Enzo Catellani 1950

Enzo Catellani is an Italian designer, born in 1950 outside Parma. Catellani began making limited edition lamps in the 1980s, which he sold in his workshop. The lamps were discovered by the Düsseldorf-based distributors Renate and Peter Meese, who presented them at the Ambiente fair in Frankfurt in 1989.

At the fair, Enzo had immediate success with his designs, which were appreciated by visitors, and in the same year he started the company Catellani & Smith. The production, which is carried out by hand at Lake Serio in the Bergamo area of Italy, means that each lamp is completely unique.

Fil de Fer is arguably the most iconic collection from Catellani & Smith, which Enzo first designed in a limited edition and then produced for a wider market after its immediate success. Four custom-made pieces measuring two metres in diameter were created for the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London and are on display in the museum café. In the garden of the Milan Triennial, there is a permanent installation with a diameter of three metres, which is made of almost 22,000 metres of aluminum wire and has a total weight of 350 kg.