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Product Design Masters 2021 Student Spotlight: Caterina Fratino

Student Spotlight featuring MA Design: Products and Furniture student, Caterina Fratino, and her project, Aenigma.

    About Caterina:

    Caterina Fratino graduated with a BSc in Architecture Design from Politecnico di Milano. During her studies she learnt to relate to the social and historical context in which a building stands. Here she discovered her passion for the use of materials, deepening her interest in woodworking and hand-blown glass workshops.

    When designing a product, she brings in research of materials, technologies and how the consumer places himself in front of it. Methodology starts with the use of prototypes and active relationship with the customer through co-design activities. Caterina bases her work on the physical and direct interaction between the user and the object. Her projects are created on the modularity, personalisation and freedom of a form.

    Each consumer has different needs and emotion, the object must follow them.

    Aenigma

    The increase of hours indoors, due to Covid-19, has completely revolutionized our routine. In the same environment we study or work and spend our free time. Aenigma acts as an aid in rebalancing this new reality by modifying the atmosphere in a room using light and new technology and making it suitable according to the consumer’s activity. This table lamp is composed of two modules, made with iron and hand blown glass in Murano, Italy. On one side, on the top, we find a studio light, on the other a strip of ambient light inside the corrugated crystal glass shell.

    Both LED strips are dimmable, adapting to the external light. The task light can be adjusted in height and swivels, following the daily consumer’s needs. The ambient light can be controlled by a magnetic button and through an App. This allows you to create endless colour combinations and save your favourites. It has got a section with pre-set moods depending on the activities that take place in the space and a timer that can help you manage your working and breaks time, increasing productivity.

    See more of Caterina’s work at the Product Design Masters 2021 Showcase