Valerio Sommella
Italian industrial designer Valerio Sommella creates objects that balance expressive form with clarity of purpose. Working across furniture, lighting, glassware, accessories and experimental objects, his practice is united by a thoughtful exploration of material, technology and the way objects become part of everyday life.
Born in Cortona, Tuscany, and raised in Milan, Valerio graduated from the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano. His early career took him between Milan and Amsterdam, where he developed an international perspective before returning to Milan and establishing Valerio Sommella Design Studio in 2009.
A language of objects
Valerio approaches each new project as a story with its own context, materials and character. Rather than applying a predetermined visual signature, he allows the purpose of an object to guide its form.
This curiosity has led to an unusually diverse body of work. From lighting and furniture to tableware, rugs, consumer products and musical instruments. Across these different disciplines, his designs share an appreciation for refined proportions, material intelligence and details that reveal themselves gradually through use.
This curiosity has led to an unusually diverse body of work. From lighting and furniture to tableware, rugs, consumer products and musical instruments. Across these different disciplines, his designs share an appreciation for refined proportions, material intelligence and details that reveal themselves gradually through use.
Designing across disciplines
Valerio has collaborated with leading Italian and international names including Alessi, Apple, Ethimo, Moooi, Nemo, Kdln, Honda, Falmec, Panasonic and Restoration Hardware.
His work demonstrates how industrial design can move fluidly between scales and categories while retaining a distinctive point of view. Each project is treated as an opportunity to reconsider the familiar: how a lamp occupies a table, how a material can create sound, or how a practical object can also carry a sculptural presence.
His work demonstrates how industrial design can move fluidly between scales and categories while retaining a distinctive point of view. Each project is treated as an opportunity to reconsider the familiar: how a lamp occupies a table, how a material can create sound, or how a practical object can also carry a sculptural presence.
Portofino for Nemo
Designed for Nemo in 2023, Portofino is a slim, lightweight portable table lamp created through a careful reconsideration of conventional product architecture.
Its internal components have been redistributed and refined to reduce visual and physical volume, producing a lamp with a delicate presence that does not become an obstacle on the table. Cast aluminium and marble give the design a quiet material richness, while its restrained silhouette allows light to remain the central experience.
View ProjectIts internal components have been redistributed and refined to reduce visual and physical volume, producing a lamp with a delicate presence that does not become an obstacle on the table. Cast aluminium and marble give the design a quiet material richness, while its restrained silhouette allows light to remain the central experience.
Calipso for the ADI Design Museum
Created for The New Poetic Activism exhibition at the ADI Design Museum, Calipso explores the expressive possibilities of an everyday industrial material.
The experimental percussion instrument is formed from a single laser-cut sheet of aluminium. Functional and sculptural in equal measure, it demonstrates Valerio’s ability to move beyond conventional product categories and discover new interactions between form, material and sound.
The experimental percussion instrument is formed from a single laser-cut sheet of aluminium. Functional and sculptural in equal measure, it demonstrates Valerio’s ability to move beyond conventional product categories and discover new interactions between form, material and sound.
International recognition
Valerio’s work has received recognition from the ADI Design Index, German Design Awards, iF Design Awards, Good Design Awards and Archiproducts Design Awards.
These accolades reflect a practice grounded in continual experimentation—one that combines the precision of industrial design with sensitivity, character and an enduring curiosity about the objects around us.
These accolades reflect a practice grounded in continual experimentation—one that combines the precision of industrial design with sensitivity, character and an enduring curiosity about the objects around us.
Introducing Arata
Valerio’s collaboration with SKLD Studio continues this approach through Arata, an outdoor collection shaped by considered proportions, tactile materials and an understanding of contemporary living. Arata brings Valerio’s quietly expressive design language into a new setting, balancing visual refinement with the practical demands of life outdoors.