Giuseppe Maurizio Scutellà's Shanghai collection

11 July, 2023

A game of lines and playing with inspiration: Giuseppe Maurizio Scutellà's Shanghai collection for Platek develops the visual appeal through the use of lights in clusters.

In June 2023, the showcase of Platek's professional space in Corso Monforte in Milan is dedicated to one of the most rigorous products in the lighting brand's range, with a decorative edge: Shanghai, expression of a wide range of creative and design approaches to the theme of outdoor lighting based on the individual designer’s vision.

Giuseppe Maurizio Scutellà, based in Brescia (Italy) with strong ties to his local area, looks much further afield, however, for inspiration, to the East in this case and the classic game known in Italy as Shanghai (i.e. MIKADO sticks) hence the name of the new collection of lamps. They feature a slender stem to which an equally lightweight, adjustable light fixture is attached. A concentrated beam of light is projected like an ideal extension of the fixture, as if indicating a direction for the light or path.

The designer explains that:

"Shanghai is an outdoor collection with a strong minimalist and functional connotation. Support stems are alternated with illuminating stems that can be freely oriented 180° through an ingenious and invisible mechanism inserted in the body. A light graphic sign of lines that intersect as if they were natural elements, unobtrusive and blending seamlessly into the setting in which they have been placed. Developed in three sizes with a height of 80/120/150 cm that can be combined at will, the lights allow you to create an infinite number of compositions, from ultra-simple and minimalist versions to the most complex and articulated, whilst maintaining an original and elegant appearance.”

Consistency of ideas for a designer who, on the subject of lighting, thinks that lamps should be designed by the light they emit and their details rather than by their shape; and that light has an implicit aspect of change and mutability that is maintained in the finished product. This is the case with the Shanghai light: the user, for example, can create their own style and use by adjusting the angle of the diffuser or by using a series of lights instead of a single one.

The Shanghai lamps, made entirely of metal, in three different heights, give you the freedom to interpret their visual impact by mixing the formats, thus creating a look that recalls the overlapping sticks, waiting to be picked up at the start of the game.