Founded by Roberto Rota, Ate Rote is an independent design–research studio working across product design, furniture, installations and experimental systems. It transforms research at the expanding frontiers of design into tangible artefacts, connecting professional practice, independent inquiry and academic research.

Research and practice are consubstantial: design emerges from the investigation of cultural, technological, material and social change, while projects, experiments and prototypes test and transform the knowledge produced.

Structure

Ate Rote is organised through three interconnected divisions: Practice, LAB and Transfer.

Practice develops research-led work for companies, institutions and cultural organisations, alongside self-initiated projects. Its outcomes range from industrial products, furniture and limited editions to installations, speculative concepts, experimental systems and physical prototypes. Each work translates inquiry into a specific material, functional and cultural proposition.

LAB is the studio’s transversal research core. It investigates emerging technologies, AI-augmented and data-driven design processes, material and social transformation, more-than-human perspectives, future scenarios and new organisational models for design practice. Human judgement is combined with data analysis, AI, computational design and advanced prototyping to produce datasets, analytical maps, custom tools, concepts, relational systems and tangible experiments.

Transfer makes the knowledge developed through research and practice accessible within educational and collaborative contexts. It currently includes teaching and design education roles at the University of the Aegean, and courses such as ‘Generative AI for Concept Creation’ at the Vardakeios Foundation. It also provides a framework for future forms of knowledge exchange, dissemination and applied learning.

Organisation

Ate Rote operates as a distributed and location-independent practice, connecting on-site research in Syros with design development and prototyping near Bergamo. This model emerges from Roberto Rota’s research into the socio-technical and post-hierarchical transformation of design practice, and combines the continuity of a stable direction with the adaptability of project-specific teams.

International networks of designers, researchers, engineers, manufacturers, craftspeople and cultural institutions are assembled according to the knowledge and capabilities required by each project. On-site inquiry and making therefore remain connected to a flexible, non-co-located design organisation.

People

Roberto Rota is the founder and Design Director of Ate Rote. Former Executive Design Director for Italy at Artop Design Group, he has more than fifteen years of experience in product design and innovation across Europe and China, including the management of international design teams and research into design trends and languages.

He is currently based at the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, where his PhD research investigates data-driven and AI-enhanced design processes, generative-to-parametric workflows and the organisational transformations produced by emerging technologies. His trajectory also includes teaching roles at Politecnico di Milano, the University of the Aegean and the Gran Sasso Science Institute, bringing professional practice, academic inquiry and knowledge transfer into a continuous design direction.

Ate Rote is a network-based system and develops its projects through changing configurations of designers, researchers, engineers, manufacturers, craftspeople and cultural practitioners. Collaborators contribute specialised knowledge and different perspectives while working within the studio’s consistent research and design direction. The studio’s past and present collaborations include Fabio Valle, Gozde Gur, Patrizio Lodetti, Aggeliki Panagiotopoulou, Cristian Bonanomi, Leonardo Bistaffa and Felipe Duarte.

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
Dji

These collaborations provided direct experience of large-scale product development, complex manufacturing ecosystems and rapidly evolving technological markets.

Artop Design Group
Fujian Bamboo Research Institute
Fujian Hotels Association
egg — Business Accelerator, Athens, Greece
POINT — Technological Innovation Hub, Province of Bergamo, Italy
Bergamo Chamber of Commerce
Bergamo Sviluppo
AL2

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

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 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 a 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 in collaboration with Artop Design Shenzhen.

2022 — Salone del Mobile, Milan
Nihil–Kahal Collection
Furniture collection presented for Al2 stand at Fiera Milano.

2021 — Salone del Mobile, Milan
Tessera Table
Furniture collection presented for Al2 stand at Fiera Milano.

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
Furniture collection presented for Al2 stand at Fiera Milano.

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.