Vittorio Passaro

Vittorio Passaro artist and designer, born in Montella (AV), attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan where he graduated in 1988 in Sculpture with Alix Cavaliere. He made his debut in 1992 with a group exhibition at the Spazio Via Farini 35 in Milan, and then continued his career with the Diecidue gallery in Milan and with Marco Noire in Turin. His artistic work has focused above all on the themes of proximity between the body and the norm and the otherness between the self and the other with an interdisciplinary approach that crossed different languages from the installation to the video. The 1995 video POSITIVE made in Los Angeles and the 1994 NO REVERSE video are significant.

The passion for the project has always accompanied the artistic work to such an extent that in 2002 he began collaborating with Patricia Urquiola's studio as a designer and model maker, mainly dealing with product development for a large part of the design laboratory. The peculiarity of his role has allowed him to work with a large number of companies such as: Alessi, Andreu World, Baccarat, B & B Italia, Cassina, Driade, Hansgroe-Axor, Kartell, Laufen, Louis Vuitton, Moroso, Rosenthale and Swarowsky.

In 2009 he opened his own studio in Milan, also developing personal projects, while maintaining the collaboration with the Urquiola studio.

His most significant project is PAPYRUS, the porcelain tableware collection made by the Rosenthal company awarded various prizes including the special mention of the Design Report at the Salone Satellite in 2016, the Good Design Award in 2011 which was followed by a exhibition at the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. Furthermore, he was selected for The New Italian Design exhibition curated by Andrea Branzi at the Milan Triennale and later at the Gwangju Design Korea Biennale. Finally, in 2014, the project was proposed by the Rosenthal company to represent his image in the world in the Handmade traveling exhibition.

In 2014 he made self-productions with his own design brand called PASSARO EDIZIONI with the intention of tackling the project not from a formal point of view, but rather reflecting on design areas in which an ethical idea of Design could emerge. A more personal and poetic design idea therefore emerges, made more of statements than of forms from which many projects will then arise.

Speaking by hands

With this project you have tackled the theme of the legacy of craftsmanship from which three participations in the Fuori Salone in Milan Lambrate have arisen with furnishing objects made exclusively of wood.

Participatory space

A work that wants to reconsider the materials of the game in childhood education making them more sustainable. From this moment a strong exchange of consultation-collaboration begins with the Reggio Children education center for childhood, whose philosophy will characterize most of the projects developed on this theme. The most significant is Landscape with Figures.

Near the scrap

Instead, it explores the vast and complex concept of the use of resources interpreted by the designer as the focus around which to develop the entire product. The "curtain system" project in recycled bottle glass is born.

In 2015 he was invited by the Brera Academy of Fine Arts to hold a design workshop with the students of the design course on the theme Anonymous design and everyday figures.

In 2017 he was called by the Preziosissimo Sangue di Monza Artistic High School as a laboratory technician to hold a modeling and design course.

Currently he continues his collaboration with the Urquiola studio and the activity of his own studio with personal projects.