In The 50th Issue of est magazine, we asked ten of the world’s most in-demand architects and designers to share their five era-defining products.
Brazilian designer Andre Mellone founded his New York-based namesake studio in 2012. Specialising in high-end residential projects, his interiors are marked by ‘simplicity, rigour and common sense’.
Mellone considers the Akari ceiling lantern by Isamu Noguchi as an era-defining piece because it represents a switch from traditional lighting to something new – both as a material and lighting experience. The Armchair 41 “Palmio” designed by Alvar Aalto in 1930 also makes Mellone’s list, reflecting Aalto’s carpentry techniques and how he “revolutionised the way we experience wood,” he adds.
The designer sees the Barcelona coffee table by Mies van der Rohe as “the ultimate expression of form and function” and the Battuto vase by Tobia Scarpa for Venini as a “completely modern interpretation of Murano glassworks”. Mellone opines any rug designed by Ivan da Silva Bruhns as “a real moment in time… the most beautiful expression of abstract Art Deco composition”.
Andre Mellone | Photography by Marc Regas
Akari ceiling lantern by Isamu Noguchi | Photography courtesy of The Isamu Noguchi Archive
