10 design gifts for less than 100 euros, between Enzo Mari and Kraftwerk

Our selection of true icons and hidden gems to bring beauty, usefulness, even new sounds, to the spaces we live in.

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Aldo Rossi, La Cupola espresso coffee maker, Alessi, 1988

La Cupola is part of an intense creative exchange between Aldo Rossi and Alessi, specifically originating from that chapter that began in 1979, upon invitation by Alessandro Mendini, with the Tea and Coffee Piazza: a city of small table architectures inside a temple-shaped, which generated the Conica coffee maker in 1984. With La Cupola, Rossi wanted to make such architectures accessible to a wider public, thus creating an object that has become almost proverbial, recognizable in every home or showroom worldwide. (image via alessi.com)

€52 the 3-cup coffee maker

Konstantin Grcic, Mayday lamp, Flos, 1999

Made entirely of injection-moulded polypropylene, this lamp escapes all categories and yet belongs to all of them. Table lamp, suspension lamp, work lamp, portable lamp: Mayday is functional in every use and situation, with an unmistakable design that in 20 years has made it a contemporary classic. (image via flos.com)

€95

Vico Magistretti, Teti lamp, Artemide, 1970

Working around the principle of the utmost simplicity — while claiming to have been inspired by 18th century silver plate inkwells — Magistretti created this moulded polycarbonate wall or ceiling lamp, designed to house an opaline globe, which has been in the Artemide catalogue for more than 50 years. It is now available with a white, orange, anthracite or transparent body. (image via artemide.com)

€40

Sabine Marcelis, Varmblixt mirror lamp, Ikea, 2023

In the pandemic years we have spent in our homes, the Dutch designer has worked on the ability of light to transform our domestic ecosystem: the result is a collection for Ikea, a true instant icon, which, in addition to the now famous arch-shaped and torus-shaped lamps, includes this bronze-toned disc, which integrates a diffused LED light and a tinted mirror. (image courtesy Ikea)

80€

Enzo Mari, Mariolina chair, Magis, 2002

The Mariolina is a stacking chair made of chrome-plated tubular steel, with a polypropylene seat and back, which once again brings to the domestic space the simplicity of form and process that used to be fundamental to all of Enzo Mari's work. It is available in orange, anthracite and white. (image via magisdesign.com)

from €91

Issey Miyake X Iittala, clear glass vase

Alongside the world-known production of the Alvar Aalto vases, the Finnish brand has also developed the Iittala X Issey Miyake collection, in collaboration with Miyake Design Studio. This collection, combining the two brands in a common spirit made of minimalism and essentiality, of attention to traditional techniques and technological research, also includes this 18-centimeter-tall mouth-blown glass vase. (image via iittala.com)

€70

Ferruccio Laviani, Take table lamp, Kartell, 2004

This best-seller in table lighting is based on a very simple principle: it is a cast of the typical, quintessential abat-jour, created by combining two symmetrical sheets of transparent polycarbonate (height: 31 cm). Take is easy to spot in a large number of very different spaces, as large is the assortment of colors in which it is available. (image via kartell.it)

from €95

Marc Berthier, Tykho FM radio, Lexon, 1997

Conceived in 1997 by Marc Berthier for the French company Lexon, this silicone-coated ABS radio would land just three years later on the cover of Time Magazine, under the title of “The Rebirth of design”; it was also acquired recently by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York for its permanent collection. The updated release of Tykho can be recharged via USB and features a 3W Bluetooth speaker: stations are selected as the always have been, by rotating the antenna. For €15 more, a limited edition can be bought, created for Saint Laurent Rive Droite. (image via madeindesign.it)

€60

Dieter Rams, Dietrich Lubs, Braun alarm clocks

The table and wall clocks that Rams made with Lubs for Braun in the 1970s and 1980s, while he was head of design at the German company, quickly became true manifestos for his “Less, but better” philosophy, which would inspire generations of designers in subsequent years, as it happened with Jonathan Ive at Apple. The iconic value of these objects had such a high influence that in 2021 Virgil Abloh wanted to create a limited edition of the famous BC02 alarm clock in a new collaboration between Off-White and Braun. (image via de.braun-clocks.com)

from €25

Stylophone S1, Dubrecq

The Stylophone was conceived by Brian Jarvis and launched by Dubrecq in 1967: it was a portable mini-synthesizer that produced a super-basic range of sounds by touching or swiping on its metal keyboard with a stylus. It started out as a toy instrument, still many musicians would add its sound to their productions, including David Bowie, and Kraftwerk (in their Pocket Calculator). Dubrecq relaunched the Stylophone in 2007, and then in 2020 developed an updated retro-version even closer to the original one, which immediately became part of the MoMA design catalogue: it features an analogue oscillator and a three-octave tone selector and, of course, it is powered by AA batteries. (image via store.moma.org)

from €40

True icons of modern and contemporary design: Enzo Mari and Vico Magistretti; watches conceived by Dieter Rams that got Virgil Abloh dreaming; lights imagined by Sabine Marcelis to reshape the perception of our homes; objects that, at some point in time, accompanied David Bowie almost on a daily basis.

Good news: all these presents cost less than 100 euros, a lot less than 100 euros sometimes.

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