A designer by training, Paolo Ulian has the ability to combine fragments to make exact, ethical and meaningful objects, whose presence silently questions why these fragments are pieces of ideas, long meditated, and physical experience of materials and forms, which continue to vibrate in their achieved and new finitude. His paths, shared with his brother Giuseppe, get lost in the tortuous folds of design and experimentation and reach their goal in the synthesis and discarding of what is superfluous and non-functional in order to best capture the idea. Hence, perhaps, the absolute lack of hierarchies between the intrinsic and formal elements of everything he does.
He studied at the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts and later enrolled at the ISIA in Florence, where he graduated in industrial design. In 1990 he worked as an assistant in Enzo Mari's studio. He exhibited at the Salone Satellite in 2000 and won the first Design Report Award. In 2009 his first personal exhibition took place at the Fabbrica del Vapore, led by Beppe Finessi. The following year his second individual exhibition "Tra gioco e discarica" is presented. at the Milan Triennale, this time curated by Enzo Mari.
In 2014 and 2015 he designed the decoration for the annual exhibitions of the Magistretti Foundation. In 2016, a large personal exhibition was dedicated to him at the Palazzo Mediceo di Seravezza. Parallel to his work as a designer, he has carried out teaching activities at important universities and design schools.
He has collaborated with Droog Design and with Italian companies such as Driade, Fontana Arte, Danese, Zani&Zani, Azzurra Ceramiche, UpGroup, Zava Luce, Antonio Lupi and Bufalini.