Born in 1992, Pablo Dorigo is an Italian-Spanish multidisciplinary designer. He studied at the IUAV University of Venice and then at the prestigious École Cantonale d’Art in Lausanne (ÉCAL), where he was involved in innovative research projects, working in close contact with industry professionals such as Sebastian Wrong and Erwan Bouroullec. He has gained experience in international design studios, such as the Lagranja Design Studio in Barcelona and the Gam Fratesi studio in Copenhagen, as a designer for well-known brands such as Poltrona Frau, Hermès, De Padova, Gubi and Porro. He has been living in Copenhagen since 2019 and works there as an independent designer. Some of his designs have been published in high-profile media such as Dezeen, Interni, Domus, Elle Decoration and Icon Design.
“I first approach a design with emotion, pleasure, sensuality”, explains Pablo. “The words of Ettore Sottsass, who claimed to have an erotic relationship with design, have been of great help to me. My process is nearly an obsession. I start from a feeling of inadequacy, rebellion. I look at how the design has been handled until now, I immerse myself completely, with all my senses. When I come across the solution, I have a feeling of catharsis.”
The research project for Favini, “From Venice with Algae”, is the perfect example of Pablo’s “multisensorial” approach to design. When coming up with practical applications for Shiro Algae Paper®, a paper created by Favini by reusing the seaweed that pollutes the Venetian lagoon, Pablo studied the process, reproducing it. He explored the potential of the material – grain, colour, texture – to latch on to two ideas: the first, sculptural and artistic, a series of paper Venetian masks; the second, a line of stamps that can be replicated on a large scale.
“I thought that the masks, with their universal ability to tell the story of the grotesque and sublime aspects of human history, were the perfect medium to express the ambiguous beauty of Algae Paper®,” says Pablo. “Instead, to tell the world the story of this extraordinary paper, I chose a small, simple and ubiquitous object like the stamp, that has an intrinsic viral storytelling power, in addition to being an expression of sophisticated technology.
“There are two themes that are very close to my heart,” says Pablo. “The search for tranquillity, that is to say the search for an aesthetic far from the madding crowd, soft and non-aggressive, and the search for the essential, a genuine idea, which needs no additions to be recognised as effective.”
The design of the Altopiano chair, presented at the Milan Design Week in 2019, is an object that conveys a sense of calm, through its essential lines and balance of weights and proportions.
“Altopiano also stems from a deep need to showcase my homeland, Friuli, and its well-known wood-working expertise,” says Pablo.
Discover the products of Pablo Dorigo
The professional relationship with MCZ Group was born in 2015, with the creation of the first, successful product, the Curve pellet-burning stove.
“I offered my services to the company to design an object that would not bear my signature, but which would be a kind of universal archetype of the ‘stove’ concept,” says Pablo.
Curve, much appreciated by customers around Europe, was also the subject of a short work of video poetry in 2017 and of the MCZ advertising TV campaign, broadcast by RAI and France Télévision since 2019.
