Decorative design is stealing space from the purest and most rigorous one, typical of some historical pieces that we still admire today. What does a young designer like Niccolò Adolini think?

In the direct social media of ‘Icone Talks’, Giulio Cappellini met the young designer Niccolò Adolini with whom they talked about the trends in national design.

Cappellini

I strongly believe in good design and even if at the moment, in my opinion, there is a little too much decoration, today it is a little too fashionable.

Do you think there will be a return to good design, that is to the origins of the Italian design of the 50-60s? We are rediscovering these wonderful products even in times of social networks, those of Magistretti and Zanusos which today, after several decades, still demonstrate great validity.

I would like to know from a young man like you, who loves rigorous design, if you are convinced that we have to grit our teeth beyond the fashions of the moment.

Adolini

Absolutely yes. As rightly said, being a lover of rigorous, almost minimal design, I often find it difficult to interact with companies that have taken completely different paths from mine, namely that of decorative design.

My idea on decorative design is that the problem is to be found in today’s market, it is much weaker than in the past and companies don’t want to take the risks of doing something different than what is already there.

Therefore, decorative design is almost a consequence of this stagnation that has taken place, of the companies’ will to do nothing different, no new project that gives you that ‘Wow’ feeling.

It’s as if they wanted to play it safe, that’s a bit like what happens in Brazil, where they show the product to 200 retailers. Companies in Italy do a little bit of this, instead of showing the product to 200 retailers they limit the designers, they make them do only small decorations that make an object different from what already exists or compared to what is already made by a competitor, that’s all.

So they try to guarantee sales without risking that this object, too different, too minimal, then risks not bearing its fruits, that is, its earnings for both the company and the designer. There is a bit of laziness.

Cappellini

You find me fully in agreement. I think that the ability to be contemporary is fundamental for a company, today and tomorrow, and you cannot be contemporary if you work without innovation. Therefore we must continually insist on research and innovation.

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