michael anastassiades on modular lighting amid milanese villa

suspended lamps illuminate historic halls at milan design week

During Milan Design Week 2025, designboom met with Michael Anastassiades as he unveiled a new collection of modular lighting. Set within the Jacqueline Vodoz and Bruno Danese Foundation, an institution rooted in Italian design history and a place of deep personal significance for the designer, three new creations — Cygnet, Frame, and Floor Mobile Chandelier — are presented alongside Halesia, a portable lamp developed in collaboration with Alessi. Together, they occupy the foundation’s historic rooms with a respectful precision: an architecture of light foregrounding craft and narrative restraint.

Anastassiades’ broader approach maintains sensitivity to context and spatial character, being respectful and sustainable, which manifests spatially through minimal interventions and a lightweight bamboo framework that carries the weight of the luminaires without disturbing the architecture. Tied using a traditional Japanese square lash, the structure floats in the vaulted Salone, drawing attention upward while refusing to dominate. ‘I was entering a historical place that had so much meaning symbolically, as well as these beautiful frescoes. I wanted to be non-invasive. I wanted to gently occupy the space, respect it, and let it speak for itself,’ Anastassiades tells designboom.

all images by Piotr Niepsuj

Michael Anastassiades unveils modular, experimental collection

The works themselves draw from modernist histories and material experimentation, inviting engagement with their distinct forms and the narratives behind them. Frame reimagines the window as a sculptural boundary, referencing three key moments in history involving creative icons such as Ellsworth Kelly, Marcel Duchamp, and Magritte. It is a work shaped from slender, almost ethereal aluminum frames hovering above a table and evoking a sense of fluidity. Cygnet, delicate and modular, channels the memory of flying kites as a child as it suspends from the free-standing bamboo structure.

Constructed from Alexander Graham Bell’s simple tetrahedron cell, the hovering light installation is composed of two equilateral paper triangles illuminated by a connective, concealed light source. ‘In relation to every year, you want to pass a message,’ Michael Anastassiades tells designboom. ‘It’s hard to be part of a world where it’s all about the party and no substance — but at least with my brand, I have the independence to do something meaningful.’ The rechargeable Halesia lamp, developed in collaboration with Alessi, poetically distills this approach. Portable and poetic, it continues the Italian brand’s tradition of democratic design, while speaking in Anastassiades’ soft, restrained register. Alongside these pieces the journey ends at the Sala Ovale, where the Floor Mobile Chandelier sits at the center of the distorted perspective, domed ceiling, and frescoes. Read our full conversation with the designer below, where we discuss the origins of his relationship with the Jacqueline Vodoz and Bruno Danese Foundation, how he continues to draw from historical narratives for his experimental luminaries, and his views on adapting design to context.

on view at Milan Design Week 2025

in conversation with michael anastassiades

designboom (DB): Your new collection debuts in a very symbolic space. What does it mean to you, personally and professionally, to be presenting your work here?

Michael Anastassiades (MA): When I graduated in design back in the early 90s when I was in my early 20s, I came to Milan to meet Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz, the founders of the Danese brand. And they had just opened the foundation and had sold the company. It was a very interesting moment, because I had always admired the brand, and they were so welcoming and generous with their time. They wanted to see what I was doing. I showed them my work, and they were so supportive.

Four or five years later, I had an exhibition in Paris at Colette, and they turned up at the opening. I was really moved by that, and so this place has always been very special to me. So, this time deciding not to participate at Euroluce and wanting to do something in the city — it was a special moment when this space was offered to me. I immediately said, yes, 100%.

Michael Anastassiades unveils new furniture series

DB: Do you feel like Bruno Danese as a source of inspiration has influenced the designs that you’re showing here today?

MA: These are masters. I mean, it’s about knowing your design history. And for me, history is most relevant to bringing things into context. You cannot ignore it. You have to embrace and acknowledge and study and know, and of course, you have to refer to it, because nothing is new. We have to honor all these incredible things that have happened in the past. For me, they have been an inspiration. And they always will be.

DB: In this specific place here, do you feel like you’re bringing together part of history with something contemporary?

MA: Just simply by being part of this space, yes.

modular lighting collections that draw from modernist histories and material experimentation

DB: The installation includes the bamboo structure that we’re seeing here, which interacts with Cygnet. How did architecture and spatial composition influence your approach to this particular display.

MA: I wanted to be gentle in my approach. I was entering a historical place that had so much meaning symbolically, as well as these beautiful frescoes. I wanted to be non-invasive, and to gently occupy the space, respect it, and let it speak for itself.

Of course, I had to find a way to hang all these structures in the space where I’m not allowed to drill — especially with the fresco. So, all this bamboo is just simply supporting the hanging lamps, and it’s just gently tied together. We can pack everything up and go quickly. And I think this is how everything needs to be. No excess, no waste.

set within the Jacqueline Vodoz and Bruno Danese Foundation, an institution rooted in Italian design history

DB: Frame reimagines the window as a sculptural element. Can you tell us more about how this piece balances function and abstraction?

MA: Well, again, it’s a reference to historical examples — the idea of this cassette ceiling, normally associated with offices back in the Art Deco period. There were also a lot of beautiful references of this. But to just try to bring technology in, achieving something which is actually completely hollow in that way, and you can see through it, is really significant. So, I’m hoping that all these references are there in this piece. And it is this idea of using the module in the repetition and to achieve something new.

Anastassiades’ broader approach maintains sensitivity to context and spatial character

DB: Would you describe this piece, and the rest, as modular?

MA: They are, in a way, because they allow the imagination for other things to exist. And as designers, we cannot define everything. You have to give inspiration for things to happen in the future – as future things, as past things existed, to give us a starting point to develop ideas.

DB: And the exhibition is like a narrative sequence, starting from one sala to the other. And then ending with the Floor Mobile Chandelier. How did the layout of the foundation influence the storytelling of your exhibition?

MA: You have to adapt everywhere you go. You occupy a space, and you have to be gentle and sensitive towards it. So the space comes first, and the work comes second. You have to make sure the work occupies the space respectfully, so with scale, typology — with everything. It’s not about what you’re trying to push to the world as a commercial product or communication. It has to feel right in your space. It has to be gentle.

an architecture of light foregrounding craft and narrative restraint

DB: Milan Design Week is always a platform for bold statements. What do you hope visitors will take from your 2025 installation, emotionally and intellectually?

MA: It’s important to bring the meaning of design, and the focus of all these celebrations, during Design Week back to meaningful products. And it seems that with the way that the whole industry is working, is running away from just purely creating experiences rather than products. It’s all about the noise, the show, the party, and no substance. It’s hard to be part of that world, but at least with my brand I have the independence to do something meaningful.

Floor Mobile Chandelier sits at the center of the distorted perspective, domed ceiling, and frescoes