Design in the time of social networks

Domus talks with DORODESIGN the young Turin office that designed Lucciola, now being sponsored on the Natevo website.

Apart from the specific characteristics of its products and processes and the quality of a manufacturer like Flou, since its inauguration last year, Natevo has been distinguished by somewhat viral dynamics to the point that it seems like the channels used to promote the brand were as much (or more) social networks than press releases and institutional communications.

Founded in Turin in 2009 by Dario Olivero and Stefano Ollino, DORODESIGN is one of those firms whose young designers found out about Natevo through Twitter and Facebook rather than official company sources or its web site. “We did some key-word searches and came across this project that referenced crowdfunding. It came as a surprise to discover that it was a large Italian company. It also scared us; looking at the catalogue with names like Carlo Colombo, we thought: here we go again. This is for the select few.”

That could have been the first, and perhaps standard, psychological obstacle posed by a large company and everything that gravitates around it; except for the fact that the two young designers understood that the formula promised a different kind of openness. “We realized that we could approach them despite the fact that we are emerging designers.”

Olivero and Ollino studied product and car design at IED in Turin, but with a passion for architecture (Olivero is a quantity surveyor) and the domestic environment.

Like many in the generation globalized since birth, their answer to the question about whether or not they have masters that they look up to is, “Is it bad if we say no?” Of course not. On the other hand, Mendini used to say the same thing, citing – at most – Italian futurism along with some other weak references (paradoxically, we sanctioned the young designers’ answer by citing a distinguished maestro).

The fact of the matter is that their references are basically immersed in the web’s eternal present rather than established historic hierarchies. “We live in the globalized world. Internet gives us easy access to information by following blogs and reading a lot. We get inspiration from different sources: today from an architect, tomorrow from a sneaker…” Everything ends up in their virtual notebook, a blog found at dorodesign.wordpress.com.

Another virtue (or necessity) is self-promotion. Olivero says, “I am fascinated by the business world. I look at sites like Fast Company that observe design from the point of view of commercial strategies and marketing. I am attracted by these things because they help us get a grip on reality and there are no better masters than that.”

Their reality check takes them to the orient, to China. “After three years at the IED, I did an internship in Xiamen,” Ollino tells us, “in a local faucet company. After my return to Italy, we started DORODESIGN but we maintained our contacts in China and offered our services there. We started with a small project and the relationships grew. Today we have numerous clients in the country’s south: Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xiamen. A local agent has been helping us for four months now, finding contacts and overcoming the most important problem which is the language barrier.” Their relationships with Chinese businesses seem excellent. “We like it there because we can experiment with risky ideas that, in a mature context like Italy, would be more difficult to realize especially by young and little-known designers.”

This is one of the reasons why Natevo is a precious resource, even if, in DoroDesign’s case, they are not well known, notwithstanding the fact they have earned important honors, the most recent of which is the Red Dot Design Award 2013 (Singapore) for an ingenious folding chair that can become two-dimensional to be hung on walls. “We thought of a horizontal bar on the wall – like Shaker interiors – that we could use to suspend the chair with a hook integrated into the chair back. It doesn’t take up space but is nearby when it’s closed and still decorates the room. It is named Sedia3 because it is the third chair that we have designed independently.”

And then there is Lucciola for Natevo, the first project carried out in collaboration with an important and historic Italian brand, “Compared to our standard self-sufficient process of seeking out and selecting single craftspeople, this production process was rapid and precise. We sent them the project and spoke on the phone to clarify a few details and get some advice. The object was produced in twenty days. Then we went to Meda to understand how to improve and perfect it from a commercial standpoint. In any case, even if it was a prototype, it was almost like the finished project. It would have taken us months to do all that and there still might have been some unresolved details.”

DORODESIGN, Sunrise for Solux — DORODESIGN, rubinetto Sunrise for Solux

The project. “In truth, it had been on the back burners as a concept on paper. We had some 3D sketches, but we wanted to complete the line with clothes hooks, shoe storage and an umbrella stand. In relationship to the competition requirements, we perfected it for Natevo by adding the lighting at the ends of the branches.”

The lighting is fully visible when the object is empty but progressively disappears when hats and coats are hung on it.

“It’s true. Lucciola was conceived as a signal, a small beacon that can guide you through space at certain moments of darkness or penumbra. It’s almost like the light used to help a child fall asleep. When you’re not using it, it illuminates and attracts but when you use it, you conceal the light source and you don’t need it anymore…and then you do something else.”

Today, for DORODESIGN, that something else is crowdfunding for Lucciola, while Natevo continues to be the carrier of its luminous “virus:” among the famous, less famous and (hopefully) excellent unknowns.

Design in the time of social networks

Domus talks with DORODESIGN the young Turin office that designed Lucciola, now being sponsored on the Natevo website.

Latest on Design

Latest on Domus