Ora Ito

Included by Wallpaper magazine on its list of the world's 40 most influential young designers, Ora ïto is the brand created by designer Ito Morabito. Born in 1977, French by birth with Italian origins, the young talent is defined as a "design-hacker" thanks to his unique beginnings on the design scene. Just out of the Ecole de Création et de Design in Paris in his early twenties, he passed himself off as a Japanese designer under the pseudonym Ora ïto, creating virtual objects for famous fashion brands without being commissioned for them. The most famous is perhaps the futuristic bag for Louis Vuitton, but he also made virtual objects for Swatch, Nike, Gucci, Levi's and even Apple. They immediately went viral thanks to their diffusion on social networks, attracting the attention of the general public and the brands themselves. Instead of suing him, companies like Adidas, Heineken, Alfa Romeo, Artemide, Evian, Cartier, Cappellini, Cassina, Zanotta commissioned him for other projects.

Ora ïto's works range from fashion to furniture to food to transport. With Marc Simoncini, he designed the smart bike for Angell Bike; the new wireless streetcar for the city of Nice; trains for Marseille's future metro network that will be inaugurated in 2024. Another stimulating project is MAMO from 2013. Ora ïto created the Marseille art center after taking over and renovating the terrace of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse building, renamed the Unité d'Habitation. MAMO, which stands for "Marseille Modulor" and "Marseille Main Ouverte", is a place that symbolically projects the aspirations of art into the future while remaining anchored to the roots of the master of modern architecture.

Some of Ora ïto's prototypes and projects are exhibited in the world's most prestigious museums and galleries. His concept of design can be summarized in a term that he coined - "simplexity". The union of the words simplicity and complexity indicate the fluidity of today's world, in which everything is simple and complex at the same time. Simplicity and complexity is his working method and approach to new challenges, placing the design of a pair of shoes and an urban mobility project on the same level, without distinction. In 2011, he was designated Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

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