Lorenzo Truant was born in the far
northeastern province of Italy, however,
found his true home in the adopted city
of Venice where he studied architecture
at university. It was while living in student
accommodation that Truant first began to
experiment with makeshift lighting fixtures,
born out of student essential items such
as graters, cutlery, colanders and even car
parts. Quite often, anything that could
be turned into a lamp would be modified
without much manipulation and transformed
into “ready made lighting”. It was during
this phase that Truant began to nurture his
passion for lighting design, telling darc that
light is “the most impalpable of substances
but damn intriguing.”
After completing his architectural
undergraduate degree, Truant pursued a
Masters Degree in Product Design, spendinga semester at the research centre of a
historic furniture and lighting company
where he designed some of his first
commissioned light fixtures on behalf of the
owner. This experience catalysed Truant’s
resolve to pursue lighting design, gaining
a position as Art Director for an emerging
Venetian lighting company - exposing him
to all aspects of product lamp design,
marketing, as well as exhibition stand
design. Truant’s initial immersion into the
world of art and design acted as a launch
pad for what would become an illustrious
career in lighting design. In addition to this,
he tells darc, this was the point where he
“started to collaborate with artists and
architects from all over the world to develop
the design of some of the National Pavilions
at the Venice Biennale.”
Truant reminisces back to his universitydays, emphasising that “I realised I wanted
to work in the world of lighting when I
discovered that every time I manipulated an
object - like an object trouvé - it became a
lamp inexorably.”
However, lighting design was not the career
path that Truant initially embarked on.
“During my university studies, I worked a
lot at a large town planning firm that was
managing the Venice airport Master Plan.
This experience led me to the theme of my
degree thesis - the design of an airport. This
kind of experience made me realise that
while I thought I could do everything, my
preferred sector is lighting design.”
Inventive and original design concepts are
not born from a vacuum and Truant testifies
to this, citing many inspirational design
figures that galvanised some of his early
works. “I love Igno Maurer’s work, and ICrafting Corporeal Dreams
One of Italy's most innovative and orginal designers, Lorenzo Truant, sits down with
Oliver Leigh to discuss his journey from inquisitve student to master lighting designer,
as well as the inpisration that is embued into all of his projects.038 INTERVIEW