Danese Milano is a Milan design company for home and office accessories, founded in 1957 by Bruno Danese — entrepreneur and designer — and his partner Jacqueline Vodoz, incorporating the artistic ceramics workshop DeM founded by Danese and Franco Meneguzzo. The activity began as a craft workshop for unique objects and artist editions; the decisive turning point came with the encounter with Bruno Munari and Enzo Mari — two masters of Italian design — who opened the company to industrial production. From this encounter emerged objects conceived not for an elite market but for broad accessibility. Danese Milano became an experimental laboratory developing projects for all aspects of human life: home, office, play, reading, communication. In 1991 Bruno Danese decided to sell the company after over 30 years — to the Strafor-Facom group. In 1999 Carlotta De Bevilacqua (architect, partner of Ernesto Gismondi of Artemide) became the stable owner, bringing a humanist vision and cosmopolitan curiosity to the house. In 2014 Danese Milano was fully integrated into the Artemide Group. Between 2017 and 2018 artistic direction was entrusted to Israeli designer Ron Gilad, who reinterpreted the logo, streamlined the catalogue and designed new objects in a minimalist language. Since 2019 Giulio Iacchetti has led the artistic direction.
Iconic products: Falkland (Bruno Munari — pendant and floor lamp whose form emerges from the tension of a nylon tube and the weight of metal rings; a design classic of the 1960s), Timor (Enzo Mari — perpetual wall calendar, 1967), Putrella (Enzo Mari — glove rack/bowl from an industrial semi-finished product, limited edition of 100 pieces/year), Bambù (Enzo Mari — ceramic vessel series in opaque white industrial porcelain), Cubo (Bruno Munari — table ashtray, two elements), Barbados (Angelo Mangiarotti — glazed ceramic ashtray), Camicia (glass vase in aluminium or stainless steel casing), Sula (carafe, ceramic, for tap water). Current lamps: Itka (wall lamp, ceiling lamp and table lamp in opal glass, hand-worked, marble or metal base). Other: Bincan (waste bin, umbrella and coat stand), Sicilia (stainless steel waste bin). Designer portfolio (selection): Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, Angelo Mangiarotti, Achille Castiglioni, Michele De Lucchi, Paolo Rizzatto, Naoto Fukasawa, James Irvine, Matali Crasset, Yves Béhar, BIG, Jean Nouvel, Ron Gilad, Giulio Iacchetti.
For architects and interior designers, Danese Milano is the oldest and most influential Milanese design laboratory for home and office accessories — a house whose history coincides with the history of Italian design, and whose catalogue contains Munari's Falkland lamp as well as contemporary objects by BIG and Jean Nouvel, all connected by the unchanging question: how should an object be, in order to serve the person without overwhelming them?