SALON: How do you think Moscow is covered?

- My first visits to Moscow refer to the period of perestroika. Then the lighting was almost absent, but now it is felt that the city is well lit.

S: Karim Rashidwhose portfolio also includes works for ARTEMIDEoften in Moscow and never misses an opportunity to criticize her for conservatism.

- And I like it here. In general, I am inclined to discover new things, not to criticize. I'm just interested in this combination of old and new, that is, a kind of difference that takes me out of the circle of familiar things.

S: What is it?

- This is an ethnic difference. These are differences in architecture. But first of all I have to say about the scale. The first thing that catches your eye here is wide streets, tall houses and endless landscapes. It seems to me that in Moscow even the sky is somehow wider and taller than ours.

S: What is your greatest creative success and project, the most successful from a commercial point of view?

- The most famous work for the company ARTEMIDE became the Tolomeo table lamp. Today it is the best-selling lamp in the world. And it is her most imitated. This fact makes me happy even more than sales growth. So my ideas still inspire someone.

S: Listing catalogs ARTEMIDE, it is impossible not to notice your interest in rounded shapes. - Last but not least, this is due to the love of the curves of the female body.

S: You designed both home lamps and lanterns designed for open spaces. What is more interesting to work?

- From the point of view of creative interest between them there is no difference. The world of lamps is inexhaustible. I make floor lamps, wall lamps, wall and hanging lamps, that is, a full range of lamps necessary for life. Perhaps in the future they will all work on LEDs. But the technology is in its infancy, so you need to wait some time to get it to our design ideas. (For clarity, Michele is armed with a felt-tip pen and instead of an autograph displays the lamp drawings on a white folder. - A.E.

S: A whole group of psychologists, doctors, technicians and designers worked on the My White Light line, to which today's action is devoted.

- Yes, it was fascinating. As the light and its intensity change during the day, control over them becomes important both for health and for creating a comfortable living space.

S: So, you didn’t just design, but delved into the scientific component?

- Not only in science, but also in technology. Take a look at the lamps that are hanging there. It seems that they shine differently, but actually radiate white light, whiter than this folder.

S: Now you prefer concise solutions, but you started off with the Sinerpica serpentine lamp, the Kristall table, which looks like a donkey, and other crazy things.

- The problem of design is to be modern. For me the main thing is to understand what the soul of the time in which I live is expressed in. Maybe in the future I will find a multi-colored soul of time, of a completely different size, more or less - it does not matter. And today is the style (Michele points to my gutted jeans. - A.E.). This is the style of matter. Therefore, architects and designers in their work rely on matter.

S: And you rely on architects and designers. On your own design team?

- Yes, I have my own studio in Milan, about 40 people. And two more studios - in Rome and Berlin.

S: Are these your like-minded people? Or can a kramolnik enter the team with an original look at the design?

- Still, these are people in tune with me. In fact, we strive to achieve the same goal, but the ways are not always the same.

S: How important is design in the privacy of Michele de Lucca? There are designers who can live in a cave and design ingenious lamps with uneven torchlight.

- For me, design is life. Design ideas flow from everyday life.

S: Your beard and the objects you create are an amazing contrast.

- The task of design is to find the most modern objects, while the main goal remains a combination of the usual and the unusual. And the beard will always be with me.