The aesthetic of designer Inga Semp© is a bit hard to pin down. In fact, she characterizes herself rather humbly: "I like working on daily mundane household objects and might come up with a new clever and useful solution."

1. Ruche Bed for Ligne Roset.

While Semp© seems to prize pragmatism and utility above all, she often ventures into innovative aesthetic terrain. Particularly with lighting, Semp©’s creations ably address a functional need while also establishing a compelling new look.

2. Hanging Lamp System for Wästberg

The Clamp and Vaporetto Lamps demonstrate this happy consilience. The former makes use of the classic form while adding a simple round base, thus morphing it into a clamp/table/wall lamp.

3. Clamp Lamp for Wästberg

A dead ringer for a half-inflated hot air balloon, Vaporetto employs the mechanical structure of pleats to achieve its singular look-"large self-supporting volumes that filter the light with a soft color effect."

4. Vaporetto Lamp for Moustache

Semp©’s textiles also evince a technician's eye and hand. The latest, Tara, is made of interconnecting and broken dashes and lines, evoking the ancient mysteries of cryptography, Seurat's Neo-Impressionist Pointillism, and the language of computers and math.

5. Tara Textile for Alcantara

She can also be strictly minimalist. Her Österlen Table and Chair for Swedish firm Gärsnäs is quintessentially Scandinavian-clean, slim lines and attention to detail highlight the purity and beauty inherent in unadorned wood.

6. Österlen Table and Chair for Gärsnäs

Then there's the Ruch© Armchair for Ligne Roset. The piece reveals Semp©’s sometime penchant for humor and whimsy: the asynchronous form topped with its languorous, lazing cushion accommodates various bodily positions as well as aesthetic preferences.

7. Ruch© Armchair for Ligne Roset

Inga Semp© has worked with many of the world's premier manufacturers, including Cappellini, Edra, Ligne Roset, Luceplan, and Moustache. Her work has been exhibited at the Design Museum in Holon, Israel; the London Design Museum; the Design Center of Madrid; and the Centre Georges Pompidou. She lives and works in Paris.

For additional information see Inga Semp©.