Manuela Simonelli was surrounded and inspired by the creatives in her family, and even as a young girl she was already a maker. She would often recover scraps of wood from her grandfather’s carpentry shop and fabric from her mother’s tailoring atelier to craft furniture and outfits for her Barbie doll.
As Simonelli prepared for university, she considered studying fashion or architecture but eventually set her sights on a career in product design – a path that would change her life. She soon met partner Andrea Quaglio, both enrolled in the same courses and were bolstered by a similar worldview. The duo was invited by Philippe Starck to join a division of French company Thompson Multimedia (now Vantiva) as product designers for a range of brands.
Manuela Simonelli \\\ Photo: Courtesy of Lexon
They eventually formed their own Paris-based studio, Quaglio Simonelli, and today the pair envisions every type of object, from lamps to seating. Simonelli approaches her work with a sense of wonder, and diverse interests keep her output fresh. “I like to tell myself that there are still many areas to explore, infinite possibilities, and things that remain to be learned,” she says.
Simonelli is particularly interested in how artists play with scale and materials. She admires the paintings of Francis Bacon, with bold brushstrokes that seem to spread his heart and soul on each canvas. Structures like Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao offer a continual, sometimes surprising shift in perspective, with the sun reflecting off of its metal skin.
Yet the designer values her own photos most of all. With the power of digitization, she’s able to take thousands of shots, capturing beloved fragments of time. “They are the testimony of precious moments,” Simonelli notes. “Reawakened by memories, they are a little like music, an inexhaustible source of emotion – and also a big source of inspiration.”
Today, Manuela Simonelli joins us for Friday Five!
1. Traveling, near or far, as long as the place is new
Discovering new landscapes, new cultures, meeting people, managing somehow to communicate with them even when you don’t speak their language, feeling a little or completely lost… it gives me an incredible feeling of freedom, fills my brain with sounds, images, smells. It’s the diversity that the world is made of that enriches us and stimulates our creativity. It’s an inexhaustible source of inspiration! And sometimes, you just have to turn the corner, change streets to be surprised…
Photo: Steven Meisel for Vogue, May 2011
2. McQueen and his boundless creativity
Fashion is always a source of inspiration and the disappearance of Alexander McQueen was a real loss. His atypical career commands respect, his creations admiration, so poetic, dreamlike, theatrical… absolutely magnificent! He was an example of how inspiration can come from anywhere, but that you must be an alchemist to know how to transform a pebble into gold. His creations went beyond simple beautiful clothes, they told stories, his shows were real artistic performances. He was not afraid to mix the disturbing with the sublime.
Installation view, James Turrell, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 21-September 25, 2023 \\\ Photo: David Heald
3. The light sculptures of James Turrell
I love this artist who uses light and color to redraw spaces, erasing their material limits. His works interact with the environment in which they are placed, giving it a new reading and involving viewers. You don’t admire his work, you live it, you immerse yourself in it, you feel as if you’re breathing in the colored light… it’s a peaceful experience!
Light is a powerful theme that particularly appeals to me. It arouses deep emotions, like music. It’s vital for living beings but it’s not just functional, it transforms an atmosphere. It has the power to make you feel happy like in a sunny summer day, sad when the sky is gray and the light is flat, weak or enchanted when with touches it brings out shapes from the shadow in a chiaroscuro…
4. The yoghurt pot, as the people of Le Havre call it
Like many of Niemeyer’s creations, the Volcano seems to have arrived on earth from who knows what planet! It landed in a city, almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, rebuilt by Auguste Perret with great architectural unity. It has a little air of an Eastern European city, very austere, radical, with a cathedral that looks like a space rocket. And here comes this architectural complex that’s not just a sculptural presence, it’s a lively cultural center where people like to stroll, go to shows, visit the library… It’s built right next to a basin, and its candid curves catch the light in an astonishing way. I never tire of taking photos of it every time I go to Le Havre.
5. Objects found here and there, which I accumulate, forget and rediscover
A true bric-à-brac in which antique and modern objects stand side by side, sometimes refined, poetic, sometimes amusing or totally kitsch! But all of them tell a story, bring back memories being linked to one moment or another in my life. It’s interesting to wonder why one object catches our eye rather than another, how it manages to create a relation with us.
I hope our designs are also being “adopted” and become objects you don’t want to part with, and that will therefore stand the test of time.
Work by Quaglio Simonelli:
Collection for Lexon
Unbeaumatin Chairs for Ligne Roset
Naiade Faucet for Docol
Mademoiselle Lamp for Mason Editions
Vienna Chair for Amura
La Petite Lamp for Artemide
