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About Axel Meise_Header

Axel Meise - founder and chief designer of Occhio

With passion for innovation

Success is often the result of consistently questioning already existing answers. This was also the case for Axel Meise, founder of Occhio. In an architecture and design world that considers homogeneous, consistent design to be necessary, he wondered in the early 1990s in his work as a lighting designer about the aesthetic proliferation of the many different light sources and luminaires in private and public spaces.

Today, Axel Meise belongs to the most successful lighting designers in the world. His creations have received over 100 awards. He is Chairman of the advisory board and Chief Designer for Occhio.
About Axel Meise_1

A vision is created

Even as a teenager, Axel Meise built luminaires for his personal use. In the early 80s, he designed his first commercial luminaires while still studying mechanical engineering. He dropped out of his studies, turned his hobby into a profession and founded his first company 'Axel Meise Licht', which manufactured and distributed low-voltage halogen luminaires developed by him and partly together with his co-designer Christoph Kügler.

"In my mind there was a luminaire series that provides the right light for every situation and is consistently designed for all areas of life."
About Axel Meise_2

Road to success

Together with his design partner Christoph Kügler, he brought the product idea to maturity phase in less than a year and named it Occhio (Italian for 'eye'), inspired by the characteristic lens optics. He presented this innovative lighting system under the name "Puro" at the trade fair in Cologne and achieved immediate success with the dealers, who immediately recognised the potential of the modular system. Thanks to the holistic approach with simultaneous consistency in design, lighting quality and functionality, the system had a unique position on the fragmented luminaire market from the very beginning. The system quickly became one of the most successful lighting innovations of its time and Occhio developed into the market leader in the field of designer lighting. Over the next ten years, his creations should conquer the world market beyond Europe: Sento, io, Mito are names that today enjoy international awareness, and not only among experts.

Innovation as a driving force

In 2022, Axel Meise made his dream of the perfect table and reading luminaire come true and presents the Gioia series (Ital. for 'joy'). The arms and head of Gioia can be rotated without a stop, the height-adjustable bodies show no visible mechanics. The lighting technology with separately controllable »up/down fading« and »focus light« enables precise, needs-based adjustment of the light. Beyond its innovations, Meise declares it his mission to create a new culture of light with the Occhio ecosystem and thus enrich people's quality of life.