About – Marcello Ziliani

Marcello Ziliani

I graduated in Architecture at Politecnico di Milano, with Achille Castiglioni as my thesis advisor and an incomparable mentor, and since then I have mainly focused on product design, with particular attention to sustainability, human centered design and agile producibility. I do not love absolutism or unshakable certainties. I prefer to speak softly and, above all, to listen. I believe that every project is a desire, a hope for flight.
Then, in reality, you end up running hard while waving your arms.
But by insisting, sometimes you do manage to glide for ten meters. And it is wonderful.

Design as responsibility, dialogue and vision.

For me, designing means responsibility. First and foremost toward people, but equally toward the environment, processes and clients. My vision is grounded in a deeply conscious idea of design, where innovation is both driver and method, not an end in itself but directed toward generating intelligent, relevant and enduring solutions.

Every project begins with listening and develops through an agile and flexible approach, capable of adapting to different contexts without ever losing coherence. People are always at the center, understood not only as end users but as part of a complex ecosystem that design has the responsibility to respect and enhance.

I like to experiment with forms and languages that move beyond passing trends, preferring solutions with personality, character and a sober, timeless elegance. My work seeks to intertwine analytical rigor and a multidisciplinary vision, aiming to bring to life objects that speak of balance, functionality and conscious innovation.

For me, design is an ethical act before it is an aesthetic one: a responsible gesture that must, even if only through incremental and subtle improvements, enhance life, generate value and promote culture.

I enjoy developing projects that incorporate elements of innovation, not as an end in itself but directed toward generating intelligent, relevant and enduring solutions.

A pair of fireplace andirons, defined by a minimal and refined design, transforms into a grill support and spit device through a simple vertical lift. An idea that reinterprets objects rooted in tradition and craftsmanship with an innovative and functional approach.

To transform six electrical cables with their respective lamp holders into a lighting fixture with a strong expressive character. All achieved through elements reduced to their utmost dematerialization and with minimal packaging volume.

The technopolymer version of Icon, developed to sit alongside the soft version, presents significant elements of innovation. The connection between the backrest and armrests assembly and the seat has been engineered to ensure a controlled elasticity movement between these two elements. This results in a high level of comfort.
When this is combined with the slight flexibility provided by the central bases, either four spoke or five spoke on castors, a surprising natural syncro effect is achieved that works without the need for any mechanism.
The seat is also designed to be upholstered with a padded cushion that wraps around it and is secured underneath with simple Velcro straps, making it extremely easy to remove. To complete the system, an additional cushion can increase the backrest height, bringing Icon close to a seat with the characteristics of a professional task chair.

Icon is a project that, probably for the first time, explores the function of synchronized movement between seat and backrest and armrests in a classic tub armchair. The mechanism, completely concealed, ensures a level of comfort and ergonomics that is unusual in this category of seating. Icon has been developed in two backrest height versions to ensure maximum versatility.

Cube is a project based on the concept of service. A very simple parallelepiped, produced in two height versions in round steel with a stone washed finish, functions as a table serving kit riser to support serving plates, trays, cutting boards and bowls, also allowing the creation of bridge configurations, even multiple ones.

If in the bathroom there is a traditional washbasin without generous supporting surfaces, Pendolo provides the functions of soap holder, dispenser and toothbrush cup, requiring only a very limited footprint while remaining perfectly stable thanks to the suction cup and counterweight that balance the ensemble. With the lifting of the numerals and the hands, Tempiduri sets things back in order.

If in the bathroom I have a traditional washbasin without generous supporting surfaces, Pendolo provides the functions of soap holder, dispenser and toothbrush cup, requiring only a very small surface while remaining perfectly stable thanks to the suction cup and counterweight that balance the whole.

A square module measuring sixty five centimeters on each side from which arched shelves emerge, intersecting in a non Cartesian manner. This module can be used in any of four positions rotated by ninety degrees, always offering horizontal and vertical surfaces for books, magazines and objects.
When combined through a dedicated connecting system, they allow the creation of ever changing compositions in which no repetition of identical modules is perceived.

Gogò was the first plastic monocoque to be developed on different bases: four legs in steel, aluminum and also wood, all stackable, a four spoke central base and a five spoke base on castors, height adjustable. It was also the first stackable monocoque with a circular seat.
Still in production, more than three million pieces have been sold to date.

Aluminum and polymer step ladder featuring the innovation of a mechanism that allows it to open and close through the simple sliding of the safety bar. Two are the major advantages of this solution: a barrier positioned well above the knee, therefore ensuring high safety, which completely disappears when closed, resulting in extremely compact dimensions.

A bookcase inspired by traditional bed warmers, based on the concept of a tensile structure. The uprights are in fact wooden slats that take on their arched shape during assembly, making the structure, thanks to their elasticity, extremely solid.
The terminal connecting elements of the slats are actually hinges that allow the bookcase to be packed and shipped partially pre assembled, requiring only a few simple operations for final assembly while ensuring minimal packaging volume.

Ply introduces significant elements of typological and functional innovation. The shower column, clean and minimal, features a very compact shower head with an incredibly wide and enveloping spray. The surprise is that, thanks to a small lever positioned behind the upright, the dispensing head can slide downward, transforming into an extremely comfortable hand shower. A simple gesture is enough and the shower head rotates, transforming from overhead shower into hand shower, with the spray angle that can also be freely adjusted.

With Gabriele Pezzini – A faucet can be interpreted, if one reflects on it, as a container of water: I turn the knob and the precious content is dispensed. So let it also become a container for what may be useful around the washbasin: toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrush, makeup brushes. Simple and innovative.

Marcello Ziliani was born in Brescia in 1963, under the sign of Pisces. In 1988 he graduated in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano. Since then he has mainly focused on product design, developing projects in the fields of furniture, lighting, accessories, bathroom, office and early childhood, while also working in art direction, design coordination, exhibition design and communication.

Like everyone, more or less, he has set aside the minimum indispensable share of awards and recognitions, delivered lectures and workshops, served on juries and taken part in exhibitions.

Recently he received the Archiproducts Design Award in 2018, 2021 and 2023, the Big See Production Design Award in 2023, the Good Design Award in 2017 and 2019, the Iconic Award 2019 from the German Design Council, two European Product Design Awards in 2019, the Red Dot Design Award in 2020 and 2025, the German Design Award from 2020 to 2024, as well as three projects selected for the ADI Design Index.

He has signed projects for Alf Dafrè, Allibert, BBB, Bertocci, Bossini, Calligaris, Casprini, Ciacci, Ciatti, Crassevig, Creative Cables, Domitalia, Donati, Ethimo, Flex, Flou, Flos, Frascio, Geuther, Inglesina, Infiniti, ISA, Krios, Krover, Lanzini, Magis, Modo e Modo, Norda, Olympia, OMP, Opinion Ciatti, Pali, Parri, Pedrali, Pinti Inox, Progetti, Rapsel, Roche Bobois, Scab Design, Schönhuber Franchi, Sintesi, Techimpex, Vanini, VeryWood, Views International, Visentin, Wever & Ducrè, Zago.

Teaching

After several previous experiences, from 2011 to 2023 I was a lecturer at the Università degli Studi della Repubblica di San Marino, teaching the third year Product Design Studio.
Since 2023 I have been teaching a course on materials, sustainability and production techniques at ITS Academy Machina Lonati in Brescia.

My passion for teaching, conceived not with academic ambitions but as a tool in service of new generations of designers, focuses on exploring and testing effective design tools to address product design with the necessary awareness and responsibility. A discipline that can and must position itself as central within cultural, economic, social and ecological scenarios undergoing constant and profound transformation.

Fundamental tools therefore include themes related to Design Thinking and Lateral Thinking, as well as Behavioural Design, together with those essential for a correct approach to sustainability, with particular attention to product life cycle assessment methodology.
Last but not least, an indispensable design tool for me is the ability to navigate with competence and awareness the landscape of materials and production techniques commonly adopted in the field of product manufacturing, which is the primary focus of my current courses at the ITS Academy Machina Lonati.