Designers at home

In the last days we asked the protagonists of the design community how they are spending their time and what they can recommend to people.
The call have been weel received and the feedback have been positive. Here's some interesting answers.
 

Paola Marella

I try to read a lot during these days. From books to interior design magazines. I try to turn the TV on just a little bit, and if I do, I watch only TV shows that I can get passionate about and get my head blown off for a while. I've decided to watch only the evening news to try to stay positive as much as possible during the day. It's not easy, these are complicated times for everyone. But my good morning would like to remain a positive corner of our days, both for me and for you! ❤️ So let's try to smile, because smile and positivity are fortunately contagious, in this case, even if we are far apart! Have a good day everyone
 

Designbygemini

For the first time since we've been working together, we find ourselves separated, each in our own home. The operative aspects of our work are stuck, but creativity doesn't stop! In this difficult times we have to focus on the positive aspects and on the true meaning of our work. We can't physically realize our projects, but we can go deeper into the details in order to make them even more special and think of new ideas for when all this will be over ❤️
Our advice is SAY STRONG, STAY SAFE & DON'T STOP CREATING
 

Camilla Bellini

I'm Camilla, an interior and product designer. I've been in quarantine for 15 days already, at home alone in my Siena. Every day I choose to put my idea of beauty on something different. I try to find a meaning to each new day, rediscovering past friendships, getting passionate about new themes, designing things that I hadn't even imagined before. I move away from my comfort zone to return enriched. And that's what I invite all of you to: open your limits, even if you are confined. We have never had so much opportunity to communicate and to inform each other. Let's do it, more often and better. And when all this will be over, it will be a new beginning for everyone.
 

Valentina Guidi Ottobri

I live the house as a place to experiment and study. I like to immerse myself in readings that open me up to visions or ideas on what I generally transform into a theme for my exhibitions.The house is also a regenerative place for me. Incense and candles can never be missing.

My new house in South of France is a mas, a traditional rural property in the Provence. Set in the celebrated landscape of Grasse, this stones house building has been transformed into a charming home that embodies the traditional style of the region. The area in front of the kitchen, where the flagstones have been edged with pebbles inlaid in concrete, offers a shaded place to relax away from the heat of the summer sun.
 

Alessandro di FORO Studio

Right now we all have time to have time. I finally read those books that have been waiting to be opened for months.
 

Salvatore di FORO Studio

Expectation vs. reality. Let's wear all our quarantined video-call outfits: shirt, boxers and indecency.
 

Riccardo e Stefano di GNAMBOX

In these difficult and strange times we are trying to set up a new daily routine. For us it's very important to start the day with a good breakfast, workout, shower and then start to work. People right now are cooking a lot and they also have to be able to do it with the ingredients they have at home, that's why on our website www.gnambox.com and on instagram we are publishing very easy recipes and also suggesting alternatives of ingredients too. A thought also goes of course to all the people who are in the front line trying to get this through as quickly as possible. Our commitment is just to stay at home and be as responsible as possible.
 

Simple Flair

As an attitude we always try to find the good part of situations and people. Right now it's not easy, but we certainly have to learn how to do it. New rhythms are created, we are somehow deprived of our freedom but we are conscious of how important this is for the common good, for all of us. So remember to STAY AT HOME, it's not difficult. Let's use the time we have to carry on with our work; having a strong digital nature many of our activities have not stopped but have certainly changed according to the new needs. In addition we are finally making a whole series of things that were on those famous "things to do" lists. At the same time we are, like everyone else, remembering that we must be conscious that there is a hierarchy of values in life and we must dedicate the maximum of our attention to what really matters to make us happy.
 

Maykol di Basil Green Pencil

In this quarantine period we are living with a slower schedule, in a more intimate atmosphere. The time we have gained, before maybe spent in traffic, gives us the opportunity to read, learn, and maybe visit online that museum in Moscow that we have been dreaming of discovering for years...

As designers, our work continues, perhaps facilitated by an already smart work where sharing is fundamental. Let's analyze the whole situation thinking strongly about the whole network linked to small production and craftsmanship that, after this emergency, will need support and will have to be transformed thanks to us.
I think that it's important not to let ourselves go into depression, it's temporary. Let's continue to give value to everything: from preparing ourselves in the morning, to the glass of wine with friends in the evening ( absolutely by video call), our old habits are mixed with a new daily routine.
When I wash my hands I often remember Bruno Munari and his 'Supplemento al dizionario italiano', perhaps in 2020 his photograph of our unwritten language would have included 'the rotating friction of the left thumb tight in the right palm and vice versa'.
It's going to be all right.
 

Chiara di Basil Green Pencil

In this quarantine, I feel lucky, I have spent the last two years in a very slow time, making my house my urban oasis, I open the door every morning and all I see is green and blue. I love having time, the wealthy of our time are those who have plenty of it, and today I use it to read even more, I love the essays of mysticism, and philosophy, they enrich my soul, a richness that then shows itself in what I create. In the end, we can only give to the world what it already has.
 

Francesco Franchi

CREATIVE LEISURE NOW, MARSHALL DESIGN LATER

Stay at home, store references, get ideas. They'll help us design the economic miracle of the post-coronavirus. Let's think postwar. The consequences of the Second World War not only changed the order of the world, but also changed its shape and changed the nature of the things the everyday universe was populated with. The cultural status of the object of daily use changed even more radically than its technical body. And in this different perspective lies the deep reason for the turning point impressed by the war on our history. The IX Milan Triennale of 1951, in fact, imposed new design themes and sanctioned the centrality of the form of the useful and its social articulations.
What I expect from the upcoming Salone and Fuorisalone is a Marshall Plan of Italian design, where we apply ourselves more and more on health design and where, once again, we can demonstrate how much our creativity is a common heritage.


© photo: Adriano Mujelli
 

Clara Bona

In these days at home I found the time to look at hundreds of beautiful art, architecture and design books that I have always bought but without taking a closer look. Today I find a thousand ideas and inspirations perfect for a moment of distraction, and to start again with more creativity when the time will come.
 

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