Ilaria Marelli Studio Biography
Ilaria Marelli was born in 1971 in Erba. In 2004, he founded Ilaria Marelli Studio in Como, a laboratory of ideas that deals with art direction, product design, strategic consultancy, interiors and installations. In addition to his professional activity, he holds Design Innovation courses at the Polytechnic of Milan and promotes Social Innovation projects, including the first cohousing project in Italy.
After studying architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan, where she graduated with Ezio Manzin, she began her professional career at Giulio Cappellini, working in the fields of product development and artistic direction between 1997 and 2003. Her approach to the project it is strategic and collaborates synergistically with the companies it works with to develop communication projects, installations for exhibitions or events, unique pieces or mass-produced pieces, creating a design contaminated by the influences of fashion and art.
His first product project was ARA for Nemo: a family of floor and wall lamps designed as a cut of light in a monolithic mass, which won the 2004 Light of the Future award, marking an important stage in the career of Ilaria Marelli as an independent designer. Today it can boast prestigious collaborations with companies such as Fiam Italia, for which it created the Milo series of coffee tables, bedside tables and open storage systems; Cappellini, for which he designed the Cirkel carpet and the Cannot coffee table in collaboration with Michela Catalano; Nemo, for which he also created the Chain table lamp; Bonaldo, with the Nadir family of armchairs; Zanotta, for which he designed the Segreto bedside table in collaboration with Diana Eugeni, and Foscarini, with the Belle De Jour lamp.
Among his most recent projects, there are the two lamps Aura and Allure for Slide, both for internal and external use, which explore a new and promising field for the company. In addition to product design, Ilaria Marelli also deals with communication consultancy projects and corporate showroom projects. Among his creations, we can mention the Electrolux company showroom in the Susegana production site, the Tokyo Omotesando flagship shop of the women's fashion brand Aquagirl and various installations of Pitti Uomo and Pitti Bimbo.
Thanks to her ethical and social approach to design, Ilaria Marelli is part of the Italian Design Council and has received awards such as the Milano Donna award in 2008, the AlumniPolimi Award for Architecture in 2015 and an honorable mention at the GrandesignEtico International Award in 2019.
