We certainly didn’t imagine that designer Inga Sempé has a soft spot for gas stations and autos.

This year, French designer Inga Sempé once again had us raving, for example with her one or two-seat winged settee called “Beau Fixe” for Ligne Roset, or the small-hat-like, vivacious luminaire “w153” for Wästberg. Sempé is forever managing to give her designs wit, zip – and a poetic touch into the bargain. So we were all the more surprised to see what articles Inga Sempé chose. Gas stations and concept cars, now they we certainly would not have expected. “I’ve always been interested in signs and advertising billboards – especially those abroad always seem more unusual than those at home,” Inga Sempé explains. “And it is great to consider concept cars after a certain time has lapsed.” And her work, of course, links her to Giulio Cappellini. It was he, Sempé comments, who discovered her first luminaire, “Progetto Oggetto”, in Paris and resolved to produce it. Incidentally, she does not seem to be a particular fan of Christmas or New Year’s parties – all the more gratifying for us then that she found our digital Christmas card five years ago highly amusing. (AS)