Welcome to an exclusive interview with Andrea Rosso, the Creative Director of Diesel Living and Diesel Sustainability Ambassador. A visionary leader in the world of design, Andrea carries the legacy of Diesel, a renowned international lifestyle company that has redefined the denim industry since its founding by Renzo Rosso in 1978. In this interview, Andrea provides insights into the dynamic intersection of heritage, innovation, and sustainability within Diesel Living, particularly in collaboration with Lodes.
Lodes, a Venetian company founded in 1950, has recently added four distinctive launches to its Diesel Living with Lodes collection, further solidifying its position as one of Europe’s leading designers and manufacturers of decorative lighting. As the Diesel Living Creative Director, Andrea Rosso plays a pivotal role in maintaining the brand’s deep roots while infusing a visionary and contemporary essence into each product launch. He envisions a more elaborate and artisanal evolution of the lighting collection, with recent novelties such as Magic Mushroom, REGLOBE, and U.F.O. setting the stage for the brand’s foray into challenging materials and shapes.
Join us in this insightful conversation as Andrea Rosso explores the dynamic interplay between heritage, innovation, and sustainability within Diesel Living with Lodes, offering a glimpse into the brand’s exciting future in the world of lighting and interior design.
As a descendant of Diesel, you have a deep connection to the brand’s legacy. How do you balance honouring the brand’s heritage while continually innovating and pushing the boundaries in your product launches, such as the one with Lodes?
As Diesel Living Creative Director and Diesel Sustainability Ambassador, my job is to maintain the company’s deep roots in a more visionary and contemporary version, aligned with Diesel’s distinct approach that works as a precise translation of the brand’s lifestyle and attitude into the design world, according also to the new creative vision of the brand of the Creative Director Glenn Martens.
In this scenario, we work with Lodes to understand the technical needs of the lighting world, trying to give the best design solutions that satisfy both design and fashion universes.
The For Responsible Living strategy and Diesel Upcycling For initiative reflect a strong commitment to sustainability. How do these initiatives shape the future of Diesel Living with Lodes and the brand’s approach to creating more responsible and eco-friendly products?
As Diesel, we always approach design and production with a responsible mindset, from the material we use to the durability and functionality of the object.
Aligned with our vision, last year we launched REGLOBE, a new recycled plastic pendant lamp made with 50% post-consumer waste of LLPDE. Every lamp is unique since the waste has a wide variety of colours, and one finished product will never be identical to the other in a ‘Random Terrazzo’ finish.
The big difference between the design and fashion worlds is that in the design world, there are many norms in different regions that are very strict on the environmental impact. Instead, those stringent norms are still being defined in the fashion world. The design field “normally” acts within these normatives. Another interesting point is longevity: a lamp’s life, for example, is much longer than a t-shirt’s.
In your creative journey, you’ve delved into diverse fields from pattern cutting to textile development. How does your multidisciplinary background influence your approach to designing lighting products and collaborations with Lodes?
It is such a good question; sometimes I ask myself the same. Apparently, nothing connects textile development and pattern cutting to lamp design. Still, if you look at the shape, the material, the construction, the colors, the weight, and the finishing, the process is similar to making a jacket. We are facing the same topics but in another field, using our production knowledge. This, together with our design team and Lodes technical experts, creates a unique and original taste for the product.
Could you share a specific moment or experience that greatly influenced your design philosophy, and how it has translated into the recent product launches?
Travelling and seeing anything in the world makes me conceive new ideas daily. Books, consumer behaviours, exhibitions, and art events have always influenced anything we create. People and a good team are essential to making anything, so we see things, get inspiration and jot down ideas, but most of all, we listen.
In your role as Creative Director, how do you envision the evolution of Diesel Living with Lodes and its impact on the world of lighting and interior design in the coming years?
The Diesel Living with Lodes lighting collection will evolve more elaborately and artisanally, as we saw last Milano Design Week with the latest novelties: Magic Mushroom, REGLOBE, and U.F.O.
Working with people with technical knowledge strengthens the will to work with more challenging materials and shapes and gives Diesel Living great opportunities in the hospitality field.
The Diesel real estate concept embodies the lifestyle and mindset of the most boldly contemporary denizens today, who share a passion for better living and a “togetherness” approach. Following the success of the Diesel Wynwood Condominium in Miami, future cutting-edge design projects are to be implemented in the Las Vegas Art District in collaboration with the best developers of branded residential buildings and the most authentic diesel DNA.