Architecture Awards 2020

81 2020 Architecture Awards BUILD Jun20449 Best Furniture & Lighting Design Specialists - Southern Europe At MOKKI Design, lighting and furniture design is about so much more than creating pieces to furnish a building. For artist and designer Mónica Pinto, who lends a childhood nickname to her brand, it is a way of presenting her passion and pride for the brand’s story, roots and Atlantic influence. Operating from a studio in Sintra, Portugal with her mother by her side, Mónica and her team are giving new life to furniture and lighting design. OKKI Design is a lighting and furniture design company that takes pride in its roots and has a passion for beauty, design, emotion and evolution. With strong Atlantic influences, this brand has been built by open- minded thinkers looking to unify the human spirit with rich artisanal heritages and cutting-edge technology within their pieces. Established by artist and designer Mónica Pinto in 2016 with her mother Nazaré, MOKKI’s central Philosophy is to transmit, at all times, Art and Emotion. The team at MOKKI believes that art is the purest form of human expression, in which questions, doubts and restlessness of the soul and mind become matter. The result for MOKKI is pieces that tell a story and create an environment that is both emotive and beautiful. Each MOKKI collection is conceived, designed and sustainably manufactured in Portugal, and bespoke, tailored projects are also designed in the creative studio in Sintra. Working closely with clients, MOKKI is able to create exceptional pieces that are in line with their high standards of quality and sustainability. Mónica’s own life mantra – ‘each line is the beginning of a story’ – exists at the heart of the MOKKI aesthetic. Stepping out of the mainstream of design trends to focus on the cohesion of humanity and technology within design, the MOKKI team strive to challenge themselves, exploring where their brand identity and chosen aesthetic will take them next within the spectrum of art and design. Home to many great architects and their works, Portugal is the ideal setting for MOKKI, who have recognised the growing importance in Portugal for designing private projects as well as public spaces. This means bringing remarkable exteriors inside and combining them with natural elements and simple lines to create habitable spaces that are both beautiful and comfortable. This is where MOKKI shines, as they seek to create exquisite pieces that utilise technology and centre around the human experience. Mónica brings to the company her own unique aesthetic that has been encapsulated within the MOKKI pieces. The duality of her Portuguese and Spanish heritage is always present in her work, and her skills that she cultivated through her education at the Ricardo Espírito Santo Foundation and at the School of Restoration and Recovery Heritage and Drawing at the National M Society of Fine Arts has distilled these influences into something beautiful and unique. In her own words; “Design is the translation of art through a conscient thinking of everything which makes our environment more special”. MOKKI’s latest piece is the perfect epitome of the brand’s central ethos of beauty, technology and humanity. The PIU lamp is a suspension light made up of wooden minimalist lines, that have been crafted from a combination of modern and traditional Portuguese carving techniques, the latter being used most distinctly for the unique and conceptual element of the piece, the Bird. The LED technology used in the luminous fixture recreates the dynamic colours that are adapted to the circadian rhythm of humans, in a stunning cohesion of intelligent technology and nature. The entire piece both represents and pays homage to our environment, the human impact and the ecological and sustainable repercussions and visual culture and the impact of design and art in our daily lives. As MOKKI continues to produce unique and remarkable pieces, the company has clear ambitions to continue growing in terms of design, knowledge, sustainability and credibility. With an eye on existing in the international markets as a reliable and strong design brand in the near future, there is no doubt that the path ahead for MOKKI Design is an exciting one. Company: MOKKI Design Contact: Nazaré Kahler Web Address: www.mokkidesign.eu