Michael Anastassiades holds an engineering degree from Imperial College — then came design

The credential lands differently in a country that reveres engineering: before any design school, Michael Anastassiades earned a civil engineering degree at Imperial College London — then a master's at the Royal College of Art, and a London studio running since 1994. The Cypriot-born designer makes everything artisanally, in natural finishes without protective lacquers; Flos, B&B Italia, Cassina and Herman Miller manufacture his work, the MoMA collects it, London's V&A too, and the RSA appointed him Royal Designer for Industry.

Through La Mercanti, Indian projects get his hand twice: Mutina ceramics for the floor and the Fantini taps we distribute for the water — engineered calm, delivered to site.