Danese

Interview with Carlotta de Bevilacqua

About

DANESE was instrumental in defining the DNA of Italian design. Since the company’s founding in 1957, Danese's evolution has been dynamic and strongly innovative, a perfect fusion of design culture, creative research and production technique within not only a conceptual framework but also a concretely productive one expressed through simple objects of great quality. Danese's production embraces a range of archetypal objects whose age and style are hard to define.

"When I make something for Danese I take the view that it has to outlive the current design trend...the idea being that something that is relevant today will be relevant in three hundred years' time" says Enzo Mari, who, with Bruno Munari, designs pieces for Danese that create a sphere in which the article's anthropological function takes precedence over its intended use. Since 2000, Carlotta de Bevilacqua, president of Danese, has reasserted the firm's strategic positioning, creating innovation in continuity through a careful study of new generations of product concepts and new technologies with a focus on environmental quality. [Danese is] an absolute union that is supported by innovative, worldwide communication and distribution strategies. The quality of each process is an obligatory priority for a company that is always very sensitive to new scenarios: its headquarters and the showroom in Milan, considered benchmarks in Europe and the West, are now joined by the headquarters in Hong Kong, a privileged point of observation of the Far East. Sharing values is the base code of the formal, original designs that top international designers and architects produce for Danese, creating an experimental workshop where information and ideas help to open new design horizons.

With a catalogue that points in all directions, the whole Danese collection is composed of versatile objects divided into three main themes - LIVING, WORKING, LIGHTING - a modern answer to the relationship between people and their spaces

— excerpt from www.danesemilano.com

Interview Ideas

Company:

Danese: merges research, business, production, and distribution. They provide quality inside small environments. “Take away and give more, always give.” This is evident in a new project/foundation in progress, where different companies share research.
Importance of packaging and delivery: ease, low space, “flat pack”.
Distribute quality: the key goal is to always tell a story.
Why do we need something not dedicated to everybody? Focus on human design, human approach in the project. Try to match cultures, and fight against the world of stars, style and decoration.
Believes in “Lash-up”: meaning against creativity, it is the final attitude for an object. The project becomes the medium between the man and his space, to create a relationship with the body, to follow a person’s needs.
On going project: living, working, lighting collection. “An approach of layers, you can manage simply.”

Main Ideas/Interview:

Design has become a field of financial investments. Weakness is in the vision; strength is in the money. Research stops because we are too busy working on market results, etc. Business and selected market is the focus of design now.
“If this is the space, what are the materials I have to build inside the values?” It begins with values. “Simplicity is not a starting point, but an achievement.”
“Sustainability: to move the less you can.” She has a large network around her of production and suppliers, so she improves her network in order to be sustainable.
If we have to survive our work being copied, we have to release new concepts. “We don’t have to follow shapes, but we have to introduce new ideas.” New ideas are: social observatory, new materials, human attitudes in terms of research.
“Give quality to people. When you investigate this, you are ready to give a simple product to everybody”. There is a lack of the right space to teach in right now. No dividing rooms, separating or moveable desks, open spaces, proper lighting, etc; therefore, everything is always static and the quality of the environment is terrible. She recommends creating your home space everywhere, whether in the airport, at work, etc, which will provide surfaces to organize personal spaces freely. This project concept is important to Danese, to design the environment with simple acts, not with fixed design. Danese states that we have to design objects and products that can help us self-determine a space in accordance with everybody, and also have this practiced everywhere. “The two materials to give new answers is to redesign your space, and to contribute your personal experience to the collective experience.”
”Less perfection, more humanity, more distribution and give quality to the 90% of people who face the problem… We have to offer the quality to everybody, not to reduce the quality, we have to decrease the consumption, but to give happiness to everybody, to give the beauty to everybody.”
“Try to design the best space to house my body… the best comfort and flexibility within the minimum space, cost, weight, so on.” This is what design needs today, not to make a big sofa with flowers and decorations. “You must investigate new materials, maintenance, how your body has to stay and sit, something you can place at the airport or at home… create something that is the hospitality of our body everywhere.”
“Designers (now) are not generous, not giving back because time is money but it is important to give.”

Video/Key Quotes

What We Learned

Carlotta’s long history within the design industry and in connection with Danese has increased her knowledge of what should be done now, and what should be done for the future. Within seconds of asking our first question relating to research, she exploded by commenting on the importance of proper values. By understanding and knowing one’s values, the rest will fall into place, in terms of materials, limits, location, packaging, distribution, etc. Without having values, one is not limitless nor free in one’s creations.

When values are set in place, vision comes into play. When a vision is seen, all that surrounds the creation is seen as well, such as the tools one needs or the products that exist in the same realm. When seeing the surroundings of a product in the making, it is now easy to see what has already been created and for what reason. Values and vision help innovation to happen, especially when paying attention to human attitudes, as we can learn what we need to create new ideas and what people need, such as using new materials, and to start moving in the opposite direction of products that have already been created.

As we focus on these new aspects, we increase the quality of product and life that we are giving to people. As businesses become more obsessed with numbers and statistics, the quality of product decreases. As it is important to pay attention to distribution, money, production, etc, it is also important to never lose sight of what you are creating for people, and how it effects them. We have to change the way we are starting to think of design, in the finance sense, and keep on track with the aspects of creativity, quality, meaning, and giving this to everyone, not just the people who can afford it.

As we start to realize we need to design for the people, in a more technical sense we need to look at humans and their bodies. What do we do with our bodies? How do we house them? We need to design for our bodies, not for decoration. We need to pay attention to space, weight and materials, to ensure the best way of living and comfort for our bodies. This all comes full circle when proper investigation is set out when design values are put into perspective.