Emiliana Martinelli - The Interview - by Cristina Morozzi

Emiliana Martinelli is a woman with a straightforward and spontaneous attitude, a successful designer and entrepreneur who transmits enthusiasm and desire to do. She is at the helm of Martinelli Luce, the Lucca company, created by his father Elio, who did not really study Design, he was a scenographer. On the death of his father Plinio, he decided to take over the lighting shop in piazza Bernardini in Lucca.

Martinelli Luce's first projects have been documenting Elio's narrative talent, expressed in concise and iconic forms, through the use of innovative materials, such as opal methacrylate. Even the names of the devices are original Cobra, Snake, Bat, etc.

These are lamps from the late sixties, still in production today. Emiliana, who inherited from her father the passion for innovative design, is skilled in making the company's DNA contemporary, without betraying its original imprinting.

 She managed to lead her company to win numerous awards, such as the recent 2020 IF Design Award for three lamps Hush, Elastica and Sistema U, selected from over 7.000 applications.

"I was born in the company", Emiliana says, "and I adopted my father's ideas that would fit me. He passed on his passion to me, and as long as he was alive, I felt protected. He taught me to do what I like and believe in, without worrying too much about marketing. I realize that the entrepreneur and the designer are two roles that do not coincide, and I often think that being also an entrepreneur penalizes my creativity. I always design new lamps, and then I let them “rest” to choose more lucidly, without being carried away by enthusiasm ". Emiliana naturally manages a rich and complex catalogue, with about 130 decorative light fixtures together with an equally sizable technical catalogue. She also tenaciously dedicates herself to the search for new designers to project the company into the future.