INTERNOITALIANO: DESIGN AND SURPRISES ... - design@large

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INTERNOITALIANO: DESIGN AND SURPRISES. (This article is the English version of the Italian original, published on. Desig
INTERNOITALIANO: DESIGN AND SURPRISES (This article is the English version of the Italian original, published on Design@Large by Laura Traldi)

Design can add qualities to a “tired” product segment. And to do so without turning into loud decors and bizarre shapes. This is precisely what springs to mind when looking at the Pula brush and the Noci bedside table that internoitaliano is presenting today at Maison&Objet, the Parisian home fair. Noci is made of a single wood board supported by a three-legged structure in solid walnut and divided in two volumes. The first one opens by lifting the top part to reveal a “secret” cavity with base in corian or stone, both very unexpected materials to be used in the “cozy” context of the bedroom. «We wanted to create something different from the usual rectangle with a drawer, an object with personality, unusual and slightly mysterious that could be used also in other environments, for instance the living room», say LucidiPevere, Noci's designers. Who also explain why it is important that the functional and material “surprise” corresponds to a design with no formal artifice – that is to say without decors or aesthetic choices that suggest, at a glance, why the product is special. «Their absence makes the design message clearer», say the two designers. «By getting rid of useless signs what is left behind is the essence of the object, the idea».

It's the same “essential quality” (deprived of cold minimalism, though) that we find also in the Pula brush, by Giulio Iacchetti (the creator of the internoitaliano brand). Made of beech wood and sorghum, it features a handle that connects to the stick with a dual ending, inspired by that of traditional agricultural tools. A functional artifice even prior to being an aesthetic one since the single vertical cut leverages on the natural elasticity of wood and makes it possible for the head of the brush to click without adding any extra metallic parts. A product that “looks back” to move forward, that is to say to develop a modern, ecological approach (same material means easier recycling) and an increased functionality (easy to click, and possibly also to manufacture since it solely requires one skill, that of the woodworker). It is a pleasure for me to talk about objects such as these because, in line with the philosophy of the internoitaliano brand that promotes the “diffused factory” - a partnership between designers and small local craftsmen – they represent a very Italian way of doing design. A way that taps into the maestri's teaching without mimicking their forms or aesthetic solutions but by re-staging their way of tackling projects. As LucidiPevere explain: «Castiglioni, Munari, Magistretti used to propose alternative ways of providing functions. Often to such a radical extent that the result were iconic pieces, verging on playfulness. That's what Italian design is all about».