Maximilian Marchesani showcases lighting design inspired by nature at Nilufar Gallery

Maximilian Marchesani’s research stands in a special position—on the edge—in a new and fascinating form of balance between the natural and the artificial. Here matter is no longer forced and forged by an anthropocentric instinct, but on the contrary, technology is digested by the natural element, which becomes its skin and skeleton. The artificial is meticulously integrated into the natural, inhabiting it almost invisibly, maintaining its technological function while remaining excluded from the aesthetic one. On the occasion of his first solo show, Bì.Li.Co, at Nilufar Gallery, curated by Studio Vedèt, Marchesani suspends us among his lamp branches that gracefully invade the ground floor of the gallery on Via Spiga, overturning the space and inviting a new perspective.

At what point are we? What will happen to the natural matter that we have been domesticating for millennia in the direction of our system? How precarious is our equilibrium? How much more can we push, or pull? Marchesani’s luminous branches dance above our heads, suggesting potential and graceful movement; on the surface, their balance is delicate and poetic. To the eye, to the ear, however, wonderfully, they loom, they are branches laden with doubts and questions, dutiful but disturbing. But they are also laden with hope.

Marchesani brings a site-specific edition, part of his first project, Family to the gallery. The lamp design is developed around the twisted branches of the hazel tree. This plant has a very long relationship with humans, who have been feeding on its fruit for millennia and who, almost from time immemorial, have been working with methodical pruning to maintain the genetic mutation that produces its arboreal 'curls.' Again humans in a typical attack of exoticism, brought to Italy, and to Milan in particular, the Collared Parakeet: this charmingly coloured parakeet has literally invaded urban parks with effects that are not ideal for their ecosystem. Its beautiful green feathers, collected by Marchesani at Parco Sempione, decorate the twisted branches of a hazel tree, of the same origin. Owing to the designer’s masterful gestures, technology inhabits them semi-invisibly, and as a result, is a wonderful object that subtly grafts an alarm between its branches and feathers in which other plants struggle to grow. The beech tree is a bit like humans. Like humans, the beech tree endures, but perhaps exactly like them, the beech tree hangs in the balance.

In this second imposing lamp tree, Marchesani stresses aesthetic and material elements in the analogy with humankind; in fact, women’s hair is woven into the branches, while the clay rosette is shaped like a cave. In that cave—the designer imagines—there could be a human, who finds themselves again, and restarts from the beginnings, consciously rereading the path taken and from the little cave-roson looks at the beautiful, upturned skeleton of this tree. Perhaps the human still has the opportunity and indeed hope, as does the beech tree, of reinventing with a new, different attitude—integrating with everything else to make the matter of the world.

Marchesani started working at 15 years of age, as a cook helper in his village and in Switzerland; he then continued to work and study gastronomy. In 2009, at 21 years old he moved to Berlin where he worked in some of the city’s best restaurants. His curiosity and passion for creativity were too strong, so he returned to Italy to study design. He moved to Milan, and after 3 merit-based scholarships, he graduated in 2013 from IED (Istituto Europeo di Design). After 6 months of internships, he is now working as an R&D project manager and Product Engineer for LUCEPLAN. Marchesani’s first exhibition was in 2022 at Alcova Milan.

STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2023 showcases the best exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands, and special projects to look out for. Explore Euroluce 2023 and all the design districts—5vie, Brera, Fuorisalone, Isola, Tortona Design Week, and Durini—with us.