What’s the secret of a successful design product?
When it comes to industrial design, I think quality goes hand in hand with the product success on the market. This point of view gave me sort of a cynical yet exact approach as my target is always creating a best-seller piece, plus it helped me further understand the market. In this way I managed to produce many projects that have scored a record in sales within their respective fields, such as the Girotondo and Mami collections, the Bombo stool and the Bathroom designed for Alessi.

Many of your design products have been designed for renowned brands such as Alessi, for which you also designed domestic appliances. What’s the main challenge when it comes to those items?
The steel/plastic appliances I designed for Alessi had to wait for a long time before getting produced as they were too expensive to be manufactured in Italy, which would have resulted in a product way above market price. When production was moved to China, prices became competitive but we still had to figure out the outcome quality. Some products were immediately manufactured the way they were supposed to, others took many years to reach the quality we wanted.

Is it hard to be innovative within the current design scenario?
Italian firms can get out of the crisis only by being innovative and most importantly global. We all know that internet is going to turn the market upside down, however none of our design enterprises can effectively exploit this new market potential, for instance by looking at the e-commerce which has been gaining more and more importance in the last years. By now, they are unable to fulfill the European market as well as the Asian one.
I am currently working on promoting start-ups, partnerships e joint ventures between Italian and Chinese firms.
I believe that a successful company shall rely on three key factors for the future: a solid quality of the product; the largest possible distribution; competitive prices based on the market target.

How new technologies changed the design field?
Internet introduced transparency and this factor will revolutionize the market.

How important is the handcrafted side of design?
The production within the emerging countries, first of all China, brought back the importance of craftsmanship. The Orientales I designed for Alessi, as well as the Fratelli Campana’s projects, would have never been manufactured in Italy.

Which are the design’s unexplored boundaries?
Microchips and miniaturization marked the latest electronic revolution: I think new generation rechargeable batteries will be the key feature for the future electric mobility.

What would you recommend emerging designers to do?
My advice is loud and clear: think big! And do not work for a specific company. Most of young designers start working for small companies right after their graduation, because in this way they can get their projects produced. This is actually quite dangerous as they risk to be kind of trapped in a low profile environment which will soon erase their imaginative potential. Young designers must create extraordinary items, they have very powerful ideas but they need to avoid compromises.

Which are your favorite materials?
Electronic changed the product nature by making the objects smart and performing. I am currently dealing with electric mobility projects, scooters and bicycles in particular, and I’d love to design small electric cars soon. I believe these products are crucial for the next future.

INFO: www.stefanogiovannoni.it

PHOTO COURTESY: Studio Giovannoni Design