Maurizio Varratta
Born in Genoa, Maurizio Varratta took a degree in architecture in 1981. From 1983 to 1999 he worked with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. In 1999 he opened his own firm and began to participate in many national and international competitions. His works range from architectural design (hospitals, production facilities, offices, bridges, hotels, railway stations and airport terminals, shopping malls, highway service areas) to industrial design (lighting, bath fixtures, objects) and space planning. From 1994 to 1997 he was a professor at the Turin Polytechnic, where he taught courses on the integration of architecture and physical plant systems. In 2006- 2007 he was a professor at La Sapienza University of Rome, in the masters program on lighting design. In 2015 he was a professor at Carleton University, Ottawa (Canada). The studio works on the development of the whole process from general design to details, while conducting research on technological innovation and industrialization of components for architecture. The firm applies the principles of integrated design, environmental sustainability, quality of space and energy saving, in keeping with various international protocols.
The design that identifies the function.
The essence of a terse, simple form, is an object whose design would be identified with its function.
This project is the result of the encounter between a designer and an architect and of the desire of the latter to meet the apparently simple but actually complex challenge of designing a handle.
A terse, simple form.
In a sector where everything has been designed already, it was not easy to avoid the pitfalls of over-design or self- indulgence, so during the development of the idea the effort was to rediscover the essential nature of the object through a form that would be as spontaneous as possible.
During the work meetings with Giulio Iacchetti, examining many sketches and the first resin prototypes, we immediately agreed on the overall image and geometry, so we could then concentrate on details like the edges, the curves, the thicknesses, with the aim of reaching the essence of a terse, simple form, an object whose design would be identified with its function.
In a sector where everything has been designed already, it was not easy to avoid the pitfalls of over-design or self-indulgence, so during the development of the idea the effort was to rediscover the essential nature of the object through a form that would be as spontaneous as possible. During the work meetings with Giulio Iacchetti, examining many sketches and the first resin prototypes, we immediately agreed on the overall image and geometry, so we could then concentrate on details like the edges, the curves, the thicknesses, with the aim of reaching the essence of a terse, simple form, an object whose design would be identified with its function.
