ITALIAN DESIGN AS A METHOD

“Italian design did not emerge as a style, but as a way of thinking. One that has always moved between reason and intuition, utility and expression, industry and craft.

In the early twentieth century, figures such as Edoardo Persico, an art critic and essayist, began to frame design as a cultural act rather than a decorative one. Influenced by developments across Europe, Persico believed in the social potential of rational planning, and in the ability of design to make quality, comfort and coherence accessible beyond privilege. His position was not universally shared. Critics like Ugo Ojetti argued that the desire for beauty was inseparable from aspiration, and that function alone could never satisfy the human impulse to imitate, desire and belong. From the outset, Italian design was shaped by this tension.

The outbreak of the Second World War shifted priorities dramatically. Aesthetics were sidelined in favour of utility, and objects were valued almost exclusively for their function. Yet even in this period, some manufacturers resisted a purely utilitarian approach. When Corradino D’Ascanio designed the Vespa for Piaggio in 1946, the result was not only a practical response to mobility, but an object in which function and form regained parity. It became a symbol of freedom, movement and identity, demonstrating that efficiency and expression could coexist.

Unlike much of post-war Europe, where design increasingly aligned itself with assembly lines and pure industrial logic, Italian designers remained deeply connected to the visual arts and to traditions of craftsmanship. This connection, combined with industrial capability, generated objects that were not only functional but culturally resonant. Design became a dialogue between making and meaning.

The rapid growth of household appliances in the post-war period reinforced this approach. New materials and industrial processes allowed for mass production, but also introduced concepts such as modularity, standardisation and adaptability. Rational design emerged not as an aesthetic constraint, but as a system that allowed objects to coexist, interact and evolve within the domestic environment. Kitchens, appliances and furniture became parts of a coherent whole.

Olivetti stands as one of the clearest expressions of this mindset. From its earliest typewriters to its later products, the company treated design as a central value rather than an afterthought. Technology was important, but aesthetics, clarity and cultural responsibility defined its identity. This approach would later be recognised internationally, not as a trend, but as a model.

By the second half of the twentieth century, advances in materials science and manufacturing further expanded the possibilities of Italian design. New polymers enabled mass production without abandoning formal experimentation. Over time, “Made in Italy” came to signify not just origin, but a particular balance between innovation, quality and cultural awareness.

Today, Italian design is often celebrated for its outcomes. What matters more is the method behind them. A continuous negotiation between opposites. Between rational systems and human desire. Between industry and craft. Between function and beauty.

This is the lineage in which my work sits. Not as a style to be replicated, but as an approach to design that values clarity, responsibility and cultural meaning. An understanding that objects are not isolated artefacts, but participants in everyday life. And an idea of design that, at its best, does not seek to resolve contradictions, but to hold them in balance.”

– Mike Simonelli

February 2021