The architect and designer Carlo Colombo discusses with Giulio Cappellini on the live Instagram of ‘Icone Talks’, the periodic appointment in which the art director of Icone talks about issues related to lighting and design with some of the most important architects on the international scene.

Craftsmanship is the basis for creating an industrial process. Everything comes from an idea, from a sign that then gradually becomes a prototype and then a product. Through investments linked to an industrial process, this product can become a piece of design, available to be purchased all over the world.

Our work is done by a supply chain that starts from the shared idea between the designer and the industry, which asks for a specific product for different types of needs. This product is conceived, shared within the company and then a whole process begins not only in the world of furniture, but also in the world of cars or aerospace.

Manual skills and technology in synergy

Everything comes from the ability and manual skills. Once everything was obviously done by hand with very long times, today technology allows us to reset those times. We can obtain fast prototypes with 3D printers that allow the designer and the company to understand the proportions and technical problems, which will then be solved by the designer himself and the technical office, and then move on to an industrial process.

So the craftsmanship, or in any case the ability to still be able to share the feeling of working the material with your hands, is something that for me is synergistic with the industrial part.

There is no project that is born immediately within the industry, with numbers, without first making a transition like the one I have just described.

Then I really love manual skills, craftsmanship, the material. I still spend a lot of time inside the factories with the artisans because seeing a prototype is like seeing a child growing up. When you draw it, you take it by the hand, you make it walk, you modify it, you change its character, you change its shapes until it becomes an object ready to be shared.

The beauty of design

The best thing for us designers is to go around the world in various shops and see our objects being bought.

Our job is linked to the everyday life of our society. Today all of us use objects at any time of the day: I am sitting on a comfortable Cappellini chair, I have a table and chairs in front of me, I have a pencil; then I need the car, to eat I need a fork, a knife and a plate.

We designers design time, we design everyday life, we have a very important role within society, which is to improve the quality of life. Our commitment is not only to think about a functional part of the object, but also to make life pleasant.

Why do I have to sit on the sofa or in an ugly chair when, for the same price, I can have something that makes me happy, because when I open the door of my house or office I can see an object that pleases me.

Our work is wonderful, every day fills me with joy and energy. Carlo Colombo, architect and designer.

Follow Icone Talks on the IGTV of the Instagram channel @icone.luce.