Michael Anastassiades Is The Designer of the Year of Maison et Objet 2020 ⇒ Cypriot product designer Michael Anastassiades has been announced as the Designer of the Year for Maison et Objet 2020! Anastassiades’ work is between what is utilitarian and honest in its function, but also poetic and enigmatic in its presence. Best Design Guides brings you more about his amazing work.
⇒ Subscribe to our newsletter! ⇐
Michael Anastassiades is a London-based company specialising in the design and manufacturing of high-quality lighting and objects. Established in 2007, it was founded to increase the availability of Michael’s signature pieces. The objects are fabricated by family-run workshops worldwide, selected for their unique manufacturing skills and traditional use of materials. Each product is handcrafted and stamped with the designer’s mark. Michael Anastassiades’ design philosophy is to produce exceptionally designed objects of permanent value.
Michael Anastassiades founded his studio in London in 1994. He trained as a civil engineer at London’s Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine before taking a masters degree in industrial design at the Royal College of Art.
Although best known for his lighting, Michael Anastassiades has designed with the same rigour and clarity in all fields: furniture for the likes of B&B Italia, Herman Miller, Cassina; drinking glasses for Lobmeyr; speakers for Bang & Olufsen; a public project in Mint Street, London; a drinking fountain for the Victoria & Albert Museum. His work can be found in permanent collections at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the MAK in Vienna, the Crafts Council in London and the FRAC Centre in Orleans France.
Michael Anastassiades believes that to design a light, one first has to embrace darkness: he sees no need to turn night into day. Lights for him are a source of warmth, and what fascinates him most is the glow.
When designing a light, Michael Anastassiades takes into consideration that a lamp is off 80% of the time, so he takes the time to figure out the relevance of the object when switched off. In his vision, a lamp is never an isolated object because it has to interact with its environment.
We are so happy that Michael Anastassiades was highlighted as Designer of the Year for Maison et Objet 2020 and we’re looking forward to seeing his work at the event!
