Italian Designers at Home

by Alessandra Burigana

Every day we make use of objects that someone designed to make our lives easier, more comfortable, or nicer. Armchairs, tables, lamps, household appliances, chairs, beds, drinking glasses, all things that form part of our domestic routine. Many of them were created by industrial designers, the protagonists of Italian a unique phenomenon that has been successful worldwide. But where do these "maestros" of design live? And how do they live? Do they make use of the things that they design for others? We decided to pay a call on them and ask them to tell us about their preferences, the way they live, and more. What we discovered was routines, passions, small personal obsessions, and highly original stories. One of them has a wardrobe made to order for his collection of shirts, sewn by hand in London; another does not like emptiness and continues to fill up his personal space with collections of all sorts. Another one places the symbol of a primordial serpent everywhere. Another one has a beautiful kitchen but orders macrobiotic meals delivered to his home. There is one with a fixation on corners, another with a mania for wheels. One even sleeps in a small cubic structure, at the center of a sixteenth-century living room, because it reminds him of the cozy atmosphere of a passenger-train sleeping compartment. This book will take you inside the home of more than twenty celebrities, world-renowned Italian architects and industrial designers. It will show you how they live, through beautiful photographs of their homes, and it will tell you surprising stories in which design plays a leading role.

Hardcover

First published October 5, 2006