In the enchanting world of Italian design, Catellani & Smith has stood as a beacon of artistry and innovation since 1989, when visionary founder Enzo Catellani established it near Bergamo. From riverside workshops along the Serio, this second-generation family enterprise creates breathtaking lighting sculptures—Fil de Fer spheres, Stchu-Moon discs, and Lederam motifs—blending hand-wrought imperfections, sustainable LEDs, and poetic light-and-shadow interplay that transforms any space.

Their brilliance is reflected in major accolades: the 2022 Product Design Award for the Ale BE and Ettorino table lamps; Good Design Awards for the U. floor and Sfera wall lamps; and 2025 honors for the Pòta! family and Ettorino BIG. Today, we step into their luminous legacy

GDN: How did Enzo Catellani’s early days running a lamp shop spark the experimental prototypes that launched Catellani & Smith?

Catellani & Smith: At the end of the 1970s, Enzo Catellani began creating ‘illuminating objects’ in his workshop, driven by a desire to explore how light could interact with different materials. The first prototypes took shape through continuous experimentation, assembling components and materials in search of new forms that satisfied his aesthetic sense, in a process guided more by intuition than by a pre-established design. This approach, in which everything starts from a prototype rather than a drawing, defined the identity of Catellani & Smith from the outset, because the idea must immediately take shape and become an object. This is how the brand’s first representative models were born, such as the Turciù lamp, which, presented in 1989 at the Ambiente fair in Frankfurt, achieved immediate and unexpected success, resulting in over 1,400 orders. Research and study of light, combined with craftsmanship, are still the pillars of Catellani & Smith’s production today.

GDN: In what ways does your artisan team partner with Enzo Catellani to imbue every handcrafted lamp with its distinctive “soul”?

Catellani & Smith: Our artisans work at a deliberate pace, dedicating the necessary time to each lamp to create a well-made object, without rushing. Their experience, sensitivity and attention to detail are reflected in every creation, where even small imperfections become an integral part of the object: authentic marks that testify to the value of craftsmanship and the uniqueness of an object, produced for a specific order.  The lamps are always made to order, also to be flexible in case of customised creations, and therefore we do not have large quantities of items in stock, ready for sale, as is the case in industrial production.

GDN: How do you balance modern technology with the handcrafted uniqueness of the materials?

Catellani & Smith: We manage to combine technological innovation and manual craftsmanship, fully respecting the designer’s creativity and the artisan approach that sets us apart. For us, technology is one of the cornerstones of the creative process: a continuous search for innovative solutions to be patented and applied to the design of new lamps. The new Pòta! family of lamps is a clear example of this. The new handcrafted lighting fixture combines glass and brass with the most advanced LED filament technology, becoming the design hub around which brass structures take shape, light yet rich in volume.

GDN: How can clients draw inspiration from your lamps to create emotional atmospheres in their own spaces?

Catellani & Smith: Our lamps are design objects that can characterise and personalise the spaces in which they are placed, thanks to the lighting effects they create on walls, ceilings and in the environment, and the soft, golden light that generates relaxing and cosy atmospheres. Just think of the evocative play of light on the walls created by models such as the new Gold Moon wall lamp, PostKrisi or Fil de Fer, or the preciousness of lamps covered in gold-coloured leaf, such as Macchina della Luce, Bellatrix or Gold Moon. Or sculptural objects such as Colonna or the Ensō lamp, for table or wall mounting.

The lamps created by Enzo Catellani emit a light that can transform rooms and stir emotions, reflecting the identity of those who choose them for their homes.

GDN: Looking ahead, what are Catellani & Smith’s plans through 2030 for integrating advanced LEDs and sustainable custom installations?

Catellani & Smith: We build our future in the present based on a solid past. Enzo Catellani was among the first in the industry to experiment with LED light sources (as early as the early 2000s), immediately creating customised installations by applying his design method, which he passed on to today’s Catellani & Smith. Our Technical Department is therefore very attentive to technological innovations, carefully selecting every single aspect of our lamps: materials, workmanship, components and, of course, the latest LED light sources in order to guarantee the highest quality standards and product sustainability, which for us is closely linked to durability. Our goal is always the same: to continue to improve by building our identity product after product, as we have been doing for 37 years.