Woven by Hand in the Philippines, Sold in Milan - Yanko Design

"The Milan-based Filipina designer has built her practice around a single material: banaca, a woven textile made from the fibers of the banana-abaca plant, harvested by hand on the island of Catanduanes in the Bicol region of the Philippines. It's not exactly the kind of material you'd expect to find at the center of a glossy Milanese design studio, and that's exactly the point."

"Since then, she has used banaca almost exclusively for her lighting pieces, and the results are genuinely hard to categorize. They hover somewhere between sculpture and utility, between craft object and fine art. When light passes through the woven fibers, the pieces seem to breathe. The way the material catches and filters illumination gives each lamp a softness you don't usually expect from a functional object."

"The forms manage to feel both ancient and completely contemporary. The newest work carries that same visual language forward. Biomorphic shapes, swells and folds that recall sea creatures, coral reefs, and natural formations, seem to suspend mid-motion. The organic quality of banaca lends itself to this perfectly."

"Monticelli studied at Politecnico di Milano, earning her Masters in Design and Engineering, but her roots have always pulled her back to the Philippines. Her mother, celebrated fashion designer Ditta Sandico, actually pioneered the banaca textile itself, a blend of banana and abaca fibers that is both remarkably durable and incredibly malleable."

Mirei Monticelli creates lamps that draw attention through banaca, a hand-harvested woven textile made from banana-abaca fibers from Catanduanes in the Philippines. Her background includes design and engineering studies in Milan, while her mother, Ditta Sandico, pioneered the banaca textile. Early work with rattan designer Kenneth Cobonpue shaped her approach to natural materials with strong aesthetic presence. Since founding Studiomirei in 2019, her Nebula lamp won the Salone Satellite Award at Milan Design Week. Her lighting pieces use banaca almost exclusively, forming works that sit between sculpture and utility. Light passing through the fibers creates a soft, breathing effect, with forms that feel ancient and contemporary. New pieces use biomorphic shapes inspired by sea life and natural formations.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News