Martino Gamper – Electa Design Series

Martino Gamper – The Design Series, a book by  Electa

With its first three titles arriving in bookstores in 2026, Electa launches The Design Series — a new editorial project dedicated to leading figures in European design and Italian designers of international importance: personalities who have profoundly shaped the history and present of the discipline, yet who, in many cases, have never been the subject of a dedicated monograph capable of fully recounting their work and legacy.

The series is edited by Marco Sammicheli, curator and Director of the Italian Design Museum at Triennale Milano, and designed by Studio Pupilla, known for its graphic work in the field of art and culture. Each volume in the series is conceived as a resource for both consultation and in-depth study. Alongside an introductory critical essay by scholars or curators active in international design debate, every book presents a substantial selection of project entries, documented through photographs, drawings and archival materials, and accompanied by tribute-contributions from personalities across different artistic and cultural fields. A bio-bibliographical apparatus, additional research sources and Italian translations of all texts complete each volume.

The first volume — Martino Gamper, authored by Marco Sammicheli — is dedicated to one of the most versatile and formally restless figures on the contemporary design scene. Born in South Tyrol and based between London and the broader European context, Gamper has built a practice that moves fluidly across furniture design, spatial installations, research-driven experiments and collaborative commissions. Internationally recognised for projects such as 100 Chairs in 100 Days (2007), he has consistently worked at the intersection of found objects, typological experimentation and material intelligence. This monograph is the first publication capable of recounting the full scope and legacy of his work.

The graphic design of The Design Series introduces several distinctive features — including a double-flap cover composed of detachable postcards and a recognisable typographic treatment on the spine — that reinforce the idea of the book itself as a designed object, coherent with the contents it presents. The bilingual format (English/Italian), 14×18.5 cm, runs to 480 pages with illustrations.

Thinking with Gamper — a conversation from the archive

To go deeper into the design thinking behind this book, it helps to spend some time with Gamper’s own words. Lampoon sat down with him for an extended conversation on process, materiality and collaboration.

What emerged from that exchange was a portrait of a designer who thinks in subtraction rather than addition, and who treats constraints not as obstacles but as the very engine of creative freedom. “Setting limitations, like making a chair a day, paradoxically frees me,” he said, reflecting on the logic behind 100 Chairs in 100 Days. “It defines my path and allows me to be creative within those boundaries.” The same principle, he explained, extends to his work with raw materials: rocks, found furniture, objects whose histories are unknown or incomplete. “I prefer removing material over adding. When you cut a rock, you may split it into two pieces, creating new objects. Or you might remove what’s unnecessary, opening up new possibilities.” Cutting, in his vocabulary, is never destruction — it is a form of discovery.

That instinct for discovery also shapes how Gamper approaches collaboration, which has been a constant throughout his career. “I like the image of piggybacking,” he told Lampoon. “Collaboration is something I enjoy because it’s more fun working with others than doing everything alone. Conversations become moments of learning.” It is a disposition that runs through the many partnerships — with artists, craftspeople, institutions and fellow designers — that the Electa monograph now maps and contextualises for the first time in a single, comprehensive volume.

/ Publisher: Electa
/ Series: The Design Series, edited by Marco Sammicheli
/ Author: Marco Sammicheli
/ Release: April 2026
/ 14×18.5 cm,
/ 480 pages, illustrated
/ Bilingual English/Italian
/ Graphic design: Studio Pupilla

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