STUDIO
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A Design-Studio founded on Research
Ate Rote works across product design, furniture, installations and experimental systems. It brings together professional practice, independent research and academic inquiry to explore how design can respond to a changing world.
ABOUT
Profile
Identity, approach and organisation of the studio.
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Research and Professional Practice
Each project begins by examining its wider context: emerging behaviours, technologies, materials, production processes and forms of life.
Research and data analysis are combined with human judgement, intuition and material experimentation. This exchange allows design to move from evidence to interpretation, and from interpretation to tangible form.
The studio is informed by Roberto Rota’s research at the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, focused on how AI, data science and generative tools can advance creative and technical design processes.
Academic inquiry and professional practice remain distinct but mutually reinforcing: research expands the methods of design, while real projects provide contexts in which they can be tested, questioned and transformed.
Fields of Inquiry
Ate Rote investigates how cultural, technological, material and social transformations reshape products, systems and everyday life.
Rather than applying a predetermined language, the studio develops each project from the forces, relationships and possibilities emerging within its specific context.
From Research to Artefacts
Research is translated into analytical maps, datasets, custom tools, scenarios, concepts and prototypes.
Through virtual development, material experimentation and physical making, these outcomes become products, systems and installations for companies, institutions and society.
Advanced Design Process
AI, data science, computational design and advanced 3D tools expand the studio’s capacity to analyse information, generate alternatives and explore complex formal and technical possibilities.
These technologies do not replace the designer. They enter into dialogue with human experience, critical judgement and heuristic deviation, extending the design process while preserving its cultural and intentional dimension.
Direction
Founder, Organization and Collaborators.
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Organisation
Ate Rote operates as an independent and distributed practice, connecting its research base in Syros with development and prototyping capabilities near Bergamo.
A consistent design direction is combined with networks of researchers, engineers, manufacturers, craftspeople and specialist partners, creating the configuration of knowledge required by each project.
Founder & Design Director
With more than fifteen years of professional experience across Europe and China, Roberto Rota is the founder and Design Director of Ate Rote, defining the studio’s cultural, research and design direction, designing concepts and connecting product development, technological experimentation and critical inquiry.
His background includes six years as Executive Design Director at Artop Design Group and an ongoing PhD at the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean. His research focuses on how AI, data science and generative tools can advance creative and technical design processes. Academic research, professional practice and teaching continuously inform his approach, bringing together theoretical investigation and tangible design development.
See Roberto Rota Profile at DPSDD-University of the Aegean→
Past and Present Collaborators
Ate Rote develops its projects through changing configurations of designers, researchers, engineers, manufacturers, craftspeople and cultural practitioners. Past and present collaborators contribute specialised knowledge and different perspectives while working within the studio’s consistent research and design direction.
Fabio Valle
Gozde Gur
Leonardo Bistaffa
Felipe Duarte
Cristian Bonanomi
Aggeliki Panagiotopoulou
Sara Vavassori
Patrizio Lodetti
Network
Industrial, academic and cultural connections.
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Ate Rote operates through an international network connecting design practice, academic research, cultural institutions, advanced manufacturing and specialist production.
Rather than relying on a fixed disciplinary structure, the studio builds specific configurations of knowledge and technical capability around each project.
Design and Industry
Ate Rote’s industrial network connects product design, engineering, advanced manufacturing and specialist production across Europe and China.
Through Roberto Rota’s six-year experience at Artop Design Group, this network extends to projects developed for major Chinese technology companies and brands, including Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, Skyworth, Fotorgear and DJI.
These collaborations provided direct experience of large-scale product development, complex manufacturing ecosystems and rapidly evolving technological markets.
Artop Design Group
AL2
Fujian Bamboo Research Institute
Fujian Hotels Association
egg — Business Accelerator, Athens, Greece
Bergamo Chamber of Commerce
Bergamo Sviluppo
Academic and Research Institutions
University of the Aegean
Université Paris 8 Vincennes–Saint-Denis
Politecnico di Milano
GSSI — Gran Sasso Science Institute
IUAV University of Venice
Vardakeios School of Ermoupoli
Cultural Institutions and Design Platforms
D-Bay Design Museum
Shenzhen Bay Culture Square
Nilufar Gallery
Shenzhen Design Week
Thessaloniki Design Week
Design Without Borders
European Festivals Association
Open Design Italia
Ventura Projects
Recognition
Collections, exhibitions, awards and publications.
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Ate Rote’s work has been presented, collected and published across international museums, galleries, design institutions and cultural platforms. These contexts trace the evolution of the studio’s practice through furniture, interactive installations, experimental products and material research.
Permanent Collections
2025 — D-Bay Design Museum, Shenzhen, China
Bamboo Product Series — Permanent Collection
A selection of patented bamboo prototypes developed by Ate Rote in collaboration with Artop Design Shenzhen was acquired by Shenzhen Bay Culture Square and entered the permanent collection of the D-Bay Design Museum.
2023 — Fujian Bamboo Institute, Fujian Province, China
Advanced Bamboo Applications — Permanent Exhibition
A permanent exhibition presents product concepts developed through Ate Rote’s ongoing collaboration with Artop Design Shenzhen. The projects explore how traditional bamboo knowledge can be translated into contemporary product typologies, advanced manufacturing processes and reversible construction systems.
Exhibitions and Design Events
2023 — Shenzhen Design Week, Shenzhen
From Overproduction to Regeneration: New Uses for Bamboo
Installation and product exhibition presenting bamboo-based systems for fitness and pet care, developed by Ate Rote in collaboration with Artop Design Shenzhen.
2022 — Salone del Mobile, Milan
Nihil–Kahal Collection
Furniture collection presented at Fiera Milano.
2021 — Salone del Mobile, Milan
Tessera Tables
Presentation of the Tessera furniture collection.
2019 — Design Without Borders, Budapest
Ate Rote Selected to Represent Italy, within the international programme supported by the European Festivals Association.
2019 — Thessaloniki Design Week, Thessaloniki
Free Cage and Prisma Table
An interactive IoT installation exploring relationships between sound, light, movement, furniture and human presence.
2018 — Salone del Mobile, Milan
Wood-oo Collection
Presentation of a furniture collection investigating material identity, surfaces and contemporary decoration.
2018 — Nilufar Gallery, Milan
So Long!
Exhibition of the modular, ultra-lightweight and fully disassemblable seating system.
2017 — Ventura Lambrate, Milan Design Week
Open Puzzle
Presentation of a reconfigurable sound-absorbing system based on movable magnetic elements.
2016 — Open Design Italia, Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza
So Long!
The modular seating system was selected for the international exhibition.
2016 — Ventura Lambrate, Milan Design Week
So Long!
First public presentation of the modular and disassemblable seating system.
Awards & Publications
During his six years at Artop Design Group, Roberto Rota contributed to international product design and development programmes whose outcomes received Red Dot and iF Design Awards.
Alongside this professional experience, his independent work and Ate Rote’s projects have received awards and selections across furniture, product design and experimental practice:
2019 — Architonic Selection
Wood-oo sideboard and W-Moon tables.
2017 — Artigianato & Design Award, CNA Bergamo
First Prize for the Infinit.oo knife.
2016 — Ventura Projects Selection
Open Puzzle selected for presentation during Milan Design Week.
2016 — Open Design Napoli
So Long! selected as a winning project.
Ate Rote’s work has also been published by international design, architecture and lifestyle platforms, including A Casa, Archello, Design Street and Architonic. These publications have presented the studio’s work across furniture, product design, material experimentation and independent research.
Teaching
Courses, lectures and knowledge transfer.
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Alongside his professional and research practice, Roberto Rota has taught design methods, tools and processes across universities and educational institutions. His teaching connects academic research with professional experience, transferring knowledge developed through product design, technological experimentation and international industry.
Teaching Roles & Knowledge Transfer
2026–present — University of the Aegean and Université Paris 8
Programme Development Team, MSc in Digital Transformation: Design and Management
Contribution to the development of the international dual Master’s programme connecting design, digital technologies and organisational transformation.
2025 — Vardakeios Foundation, Ermoupoli
Generative AI for Concept Creation
Course on the use of generative AI within creative design processes, combining practical experimentation with methods developed through research at the University of the Aegean.
2024–2025 — University of the Aegean, Syros
Teaching Assistant, Product Design Studio 5 and 6
Support for advanced product design studios at the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering.
2024–2025 — University of the Aegean, Syros
Lecturer, TRIZ Methodology for Product Design
Seminar series on systematic innovation methods and their application to product design.
2014–2019 — Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila
Visiting Lecturer
Teaching on design tools and theories for urban studies.
2016 — IUAV University of Venice
Guest Lecturer
Lesson on visual and editorial tools for contemporary geographical studies.
2011–2012 — Politecnico di Milano
Teaching Assistant
Technology and Project for Contemporary Housing; Architectural Construction Studio 1.
2010–2012 — Politecnico di Milano
Lecturer
Tools and procedures for architectural design.
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