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Friday Five with Elena Manferdini

Elena Manferdini is an architect whose practice embraces all topologies from fashion and fabrics to home and ultimately architecture. Her approach, reflected in remarkable new projects such as her Blossom fruit bowl for Alessi, often leverages laser cutting to explore new techniques and production with seams and perforations. Based in LA, Manferdini graduated from the University of Civil Engineering (Bologna, Italy) and later from the University of California Los Angeles (Master of Architecture and Urban Design). In 2004, she founded Atelier Manferdini.

Currently the firm is designing a single family villa in Switzerland, a 250,000sft master plan in Italy including 80 apartments, a museum and an open theater. Atelier Manferdini has been selected to design a 150,000sft residential tower in China along with other 10 leading design firms from all around the world. Other clients include MTV, Fiat, Nike, Guzzini, Ottaviani, and Valentino.

In addition to leading her design practice, in the past 7 years Elena Manferdini has been teaching at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-arc).

Five things I can’t live without:

1. Alessi espresso coffee machine with grinder
As any Italian living abroad, you need to be creative when it comes to breakfast in the USA. 9090 by Richard Sapper

2. Any technology that would accelerate the output process, given my impatient input!
Hard drives, processors, more and more ram and whatever comes to mind to customize a Dell…

3. Pasticceria la Caramella
There is something to be said about the best pastries in Italy….definitely worth the tripto Bologna

4. George Gina and Lucy
Here we go, I have not been able to depart myself from my neo punk superleggera bag. I washed it in the laundry machine and it came out pristine!

5. A view of the ocean…
This is what makes Los Angeles the city where I live.

Elena Manferdini portrait by Lisa Wyatt.

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.