When he explains an installation, however well organised and effective, it is clear that it is a pretext to narrate part of the company’s history. This occurs in Palazzo Litta with the new re-branding project for Linvisibile and, most importantly, that for Artigo which revisits its history in Neverending Evolution, a ribbon of samples occupying the central staircase. It features variations on a material rooted firmly in a, not always familiar, past but one of which to be more than proud. In fact, the company has featured famous names that are the stuff of legend: the floors in the Milan underground by Albini, an unsurpassed masterpiece of intelligent public space, and one Ettore Sottsass’s last projects in which he played with those rubber bubbles, slotting inserts in wood and other materials together.

Another feature of Ragni’s work approach is that of creating virtuous circles with his lifetime design partners. This applies to his friendship with Giulio Iacchetti with whom he has won two Compasso d’Oro awards (in 2001 for Moscardino, biodegradable cutlery for Pandora; and in 2014 with the Montini manhole covers). His company, InternoItaliano, has re-issued a wooden box containing a mini portable office. It is the evolution of a project commenced a few years ago with Alpi for Caran d’Ache, exploring an educational box that could contain and activate new learning paths.

Another circular project is that for Essential. What have a tag, a bag and a bookcase got in common? Everything when the raw materials generate new applications. As Matteo tells us, the company in Carpi started out producing product tags for garments and then from cellulose fibres went on to make special bread bags that go in the washing machine. It was but a short leap to a cardboard bookcase, especially with a simple and functional assembly system reminiscent of Mari in his early days, the 1960s when people were starting to experiment with these things.

As an attentive observer of reality, Ragni knows that the folds of experience can hide the secret of a design that will work. Indeed, his washbasin for Azzurra Ceramiche seems the fruit of the purest and simplest thoughts on daily life. It may be an old type but its use is very contemporary: no longer just a utility object to be hidden away in an ancillary bathroom but a multifunctional object where you can hand-wash underwear or allow those working in an office to clean their teeth without having to always store the necessary elsewhere. His is an old-fashioned washbasin with a built-in washtub, to which are added two side levels with a drain; the concept of this integrated ceramic shelving has rubbed off onto a coordinated mirror complete with shelves, all in one ceramic piece.