Milan-based art director, educator and illustrator Daniele Morganti makes work that is decorative, fun and rooted in street art and comics. His work is part of People of Print’s open call exhibition in partnership with Hahnemühle, opening at Department Store & Co in Derby on 15 October 2026.
Daniele Morganti came to illustration after more than a decade working on digital products. The shift sharpened his thinking about what an image is actually for. Where commercial work asks illustration to carry a client’s message, selling prints has pushed him to make images that exist on their own terms: things people genuinely want to hang on a wall, not vehicles for something else. “It’s inspiring me to see illustration as a product more than a vehicle for a client’s message,” he says. “I think this helps me also with more commercial jobs, because it forces me to produce images that people really want to hang on a wall or save in their libraries.”
That change in framing shows in the work. Morganti’s illustrations are lighthearted, decorative and often ironic, mixing techniques and materials in a style rooted in street art and comics. Some describe it as kawaii, though he is still deciding whether the term fits. The work is available through illustration.it in Italy, where he is based.
His connection to Hahnemühle is new — he works primarily with Italian papercrafters and comes to the brand with genuine curiosity rather than an established practice. What draws him is a conviction that paper is not incidental to the work. “Paper, textures, and format are an essential part of the artwork,” he says. “It’s contiguous to the message.” His collectors seem to agree: those who follow his process or buy his work respond to the surface as much as the image itself.
Morganti will follow the opening from Milan.
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🌐 danielemorgantidesign.com 📷 @daniele_morganti_illustrator
Hahnemühle Fine Art Showcase, in partnership with People of Print. Department Store & Co, 55 Sadler Gate, Derby DE1 3NQ. Opening 15 October 2026.
