Alberto Saggia was born in 1978 in Novara, Italy. Valerio Sommella was, in turn, born in 1980 in Cortona, Italy. After graduating from a science-oriented high school, Alberto Saggia enrolled at university where he earned a degree in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano, specializing in lighting design. Valerio Sommella graduated with honors from the Politecnico di Milano in 2004.
From 2004 to 2018, Saggia was Senior Lighting Designer at Metis Lighting, a well-known studio in Milan, where he dealt with lighting design, as well as overseeing the team responsible for product design and custom fixtures. In parallel, he has been running his own consultancy business since 2009. Additionally, Saggia has been Creative Director and co-founder of Anonima Luci since 2018. In recent years he has taught lighting design in several universities as well as being involved with lighting projects and industrial design products as a freelancer.
In 2004, Sommella embarked on his professional career working with Stefano Giovannoni immediately after university. He then moved to Amsterdam to be part of Marcel Wanders’ team until 2009, when he returned to Milan where his studio is currently located. Over the years he has taken on projects with companies such as Alessi, Alcantara, Apple, Moooi, Kundalini, Honda, Falmec, Konica Minolta, Panasonic, Penta and many others. Today he teams up with numerous Italian and international companies in the design of products ranging from lighting to consumer electronics, furniture and home accessories. Besides designing, Sommella also lectures at several Italian universities.