Aldo Cibic

About

Currently working in the field of urban planning and design, Aldo Cibic is a self-taught architect. As a young man in his early twenties, he moved to Milan in 1979 to work under the mentorship of Ettore Sottsass in 1980. They first started working together at ''Sottsass Associati'', and later on in that same year, along with other architects and designers, founded 'Memphis' - a design movement that provoked the daring use of color and elaborated decoration on innovative and unique furniture.

I989 marked a major turning point in his career when he decided to leave Sottsass Associati to establish his own company with his partner Antonella Spiezio called ''Cibic & Partners.' Up to the present time, the company has been doing numerous amount of projects in the field of architecture and design (industrial, interior, and exhibition). He also teaches at the Domus Academy at the Politecnico di Milano, and occasionally teaches at Tongji University in Shanghai where he is an honorary professor.

Interview Ideas

In a recent interview conducted on July 5, 2007 as part of the Italia Field School Study , Aldo Cibic shared to us information about his latest projects where he discussed his process/strategy in design. Moreover, he gave valuable thoughts on important issues with regards to education, sustainability and other concerns pertaining to the world of design in Milan.

Current Project: Urban Development

'Microrealities' is one of his latest urban design projects which focuses on building a sustainable community rooted on the real life stories of the people using the space. The idea came from his own experience of traveling everyday through the city to and from work via the Metro.
"My strategy on this project is to build conditions and improving those conditions that generate activity from people. The challenge is to show that an idea (on any scale) can become something tangible as long as there is a need that has to be addressed. Forming an idea entails us to look for the next step beyond the usual way of thinking. In the end it is all about taking risks."
Furthermore, in any design project, he says that the idea should not be about pleasing the client or focusing too much on the marketing side of it. The idea should be built into the product, catering to the real needs of the individual so that they should not have to adapt to it. With reference to one his latest projects, which is a development of a public space - not a shopping center but a new type of piazza in the suburbs with a bank, post office, library, nursery school and a residential area he adds that in order to be able to implement ideas in such projects that are of a larger scale, "the strategy is if you want to make interesting projects, you need to play in a level where the decisions are made."

The Role of Designers

Cibic placed importance on the role of designers in the society, to place themselves in the shoe of others. "We designers are the actors in the society. We are to propose change. We are not to wait for someone to tell us what to do. We should be more active, to be able to make compositions, to be able to read the society, and what's happening economically. We cannot stay there making a designer chair for nobody."
He also emphasizes on "the idea to how to always look for the next step outside the main stream of thinking... it's about taking risks."

Using Scenarios

Cibic's obsession is on the vitality of life.
He emphasizes on the need to know about people's activities and stories using real life scenarios. As an example, his article on the book called, 'The Solid Side', discussed family scenarios to generate ideas on how people could work more effectively together. "...enlarge the family (applying the idea of the family as a small unit to a more societal level) with people that have different points of view working together in a way that their ideas compliment each other.

Sustainability

With the current situation that is commonly happening with the streets of the city - public architectural structures having fake facades and are arranged in a way only to generate more businesses, he shares that "in the way of developing a city, in the way of developing theories, in the way of developing productive areas, in the way of developing design problems, it is interesting to understand what sustainability is with a wide view - from a social point of view to aesthetics..." His reason behind this being it's about the quality of living and the parameters of what happens in reality of the people in all range of society. There is no need to create fake spaces when you can base the development from real life.
On this note he also stated his interest in the destiny of the middle class, whom, in his opinion, had lost their identity, their position in society, and economic power. Adding more to the problem is the increasing polarization between the rich and the poor, leaving the middle class unsatisfied.

Milan: Moving Design Forward Today?

It has been a wrong preconception about the city with regards to it as being the one turning the gears towards the growth of design in Italy, according to Cibic. He discussed about the pattern of factories opening their doors to young designers to attract them to come to the city and in the end it's only about showing.
On the other hand, he finds Torino as a city that is now booming in terms of design. He believes that “they (the people) have developed a design community for themselves,” rendering the city to be more alive.

Education In Italy

First, Cibic pointed out that Italy is not a design school. Reflecting on the past he emphasized, "what we are missing are authors"; with which he meant that there are not enough critiques to perform constructive discourse to facilitate more ideas. "At the best, producing professionals that can work to be draftsmen...this is the biggest tragedy of the Italian instruction system." Furthermore he adds, "what is interesting in the Italian attitude is the idea of discussing, an exchange of ideas which is always very productive in building an idea because we learn from each other."
Second, schools are becoming more and more specialized to the point that there is no expression, and everyone is almost the same, pushing you to have just one identity.
Third, he points out that the various departments in the schools, "are very much closed, they are not crossing the knowledge."

Anyone Up and Coming in Italy?

In his opinion, he doesn't know of any.

Future of Italian Design

"I have no idea," Cibic says. "There is the perfection of nothing." Referring to the Salone del Mobile, he feels that meaning is lost in design. "People have no idea of what they are seeing."

Maestros Passing on the Knowledge

Some of them like Sottsass, Mendini, and Branzi according to Cibic are very generous in passing on the knowledge because because they have become an influence to the young people during that generation. "Unfortunately, others are very selfish and are not willing to share their ideas. As designers, you have to give back to the community. Personally, I want to show that ideas can happen, become real and be true, without being egotistic/having a utopian point of view."

Video/Key Quotes

What We Learned

Aldo Cibic looks at the city as a rich resource for experiences that drive innovation in design. He encourages each of us, as part of the city we live in, to be involved in our own society.

The everyday activities generated by human interaction in the urban city opens up to a vast number of opportunities to learn from real scenarios that can present real needs. As designers, this should inspire us to come up with ideas that are meaningful and relevant. Furthermore, he also emphasizes the value of taking risks, of viewing a problem from different angles and perhaps from even beyond the usual dimensions of how we sense what is around us. They key is awareness and consciously being active to ‘look for stories’ in our society, as he puts it. He also adds that criticisms should not hinder us in any way. In fact, he hopes for it to be revived, this kind of practice that used to live in the past where designers conversed with each other and provided constructive criticisms to one another because it challenges one to come up with better ideas. The initiative should come from ourselves; the willingness to brew up new ideas that can contribute to the growth of the space we live in. On that note, sustainability is another area we should be paying attention to as it is about improving the way we live by using resources more efficiently and applying them towards the goal of quality.

Being a part of a community means engaging yourself in it. Cibic exhibits a perfect paradigm of this as he lets himself be a component of the everyday life of the city by sharing his knowledge and provoking discourse about enlivening a space. Applying this practice back to our own city, we can all bring forth change that can construct a better future.