10 — 11
Raffaella Mangiarotti focusses on detail
in objects and creates detailed objects
to help people. Her approach to design
has detail as its origin and its final purpose.
In this sense, she has a decidedly
feminine approach to design. “I always
thinks about how object will be used”,
explains the designer. Focussing more
on sensory aesthetics than simple
style, Raffaella Mangiarotti does not
seek the surprise effect that an unusual
form can create, and she focusses her
attention on the relationship established
between object and user, so that it is
immediate and intuitive. She designed
Palù for Pianca, a bedroom set consisting
of a bench seat and bedside table that
first opens towards the user, then towards
the room. The bedside table normally
stands parallel to the bed and faces out.
Palù is instead turned towards the bed.
It gets you to use it before communicating
how. Slender forms, whose surface
follows the rhythm of vertical wooden
rods that recall bamboo canes.
A designer
of detail
— Q&A
— What makes you happy as a designer?
When an object I’ve designed acquires
a greater value than being a simple
response to a need because it helps
change the path of a brand in cultural
history.
— What essential qualities must a good
object possess?
It has to be functional and light. I’m
interested in objects that flow with
time, that accompany us discreetly
and endure over time.
— Is there a designer who you admire?
If there is a designer I refer to, it would
be Visco Magistretti. I admire his sense
of proportion and how the weights of
the objects he has designed are always
calibrated.
— If you hadn’t become a designer,
what would you have done in life?
I would have wanted to be a doctor
because I like looking after people.
PROGETTI DI DESIGN 04
