Maria Cristina Didero: How did it happen?

Giulio Iacchetti: It didn’t take me long to realise that design was my life. In 1992 I opened my studio and here I am, immersed in an eternal present, putting designs into the oven and waiting for them to bake and then serving them up and so on... Day after day.

Maria Cristina Didero: Why design?

Giulio Iacchetti: For me design is the theory that precipitates something solid, that can be touched. I love theory, ethical thinking, but I also adore objects, that’s why I design.

Maria Cristina Didero: How would you describe Giulio Iacchetti’s approach?

Giulio Iacchetti: I don’t distinguish ethics from aesthetics, not just when I’m designing but also taking care that this harmonious rule is applied to every activity, to the relationship that one has with co-workers, with the manufacturers and all the people who are part of your life.

Maria Cristina Didero: What is the secret of your work?

Giulio Iacchetti: The secret of my work is to have a method, in other words to respect the rules so that then you can break them, banish every bizarre creative jump and proceed according to a road-map made up of small advances, changes of mind, tearing up, restitching, starting again and so on, until the design appears seemingly by chance from among the drawings spread over the table.

Maria Cristina Didero: Are you superstitious?

Giulio Iacchetti: Obviously yes but I forget about it 15 seconds after I’ve walked under a ladder or spilt salt on a Friday or whatever.

Maria Cristina Didero: In another life?

Giulio Iacchetti: I would have liked to be a great double-bass player.

Maria Cristina Didero: Passions outside of design?

Giulio Iacchetti: Films by the Cohen brothers, okonomiyaki (a big Japanese pancake that is a speciality of Osaka), books by Dino Buzzati and Italian light music from the 1970s.

Maria Cristina Didero: What are you presenting at the Furniture Fair this year?

Giulio Iacchetti: For Alessi I have come up with a series of corner clocks, a new variation that stands out from the already much frequented panorama of wall clocks. In my studio I will be hosting the event “Alessi Goes Digital” which is the presentation of work regarding digital printing developed for the company Omegna. The result we came up with is a collection of beautiful pens made from fibreglass using digital printing: six stand-alone pieces that will pave the way to the launch of Alessi in the era of 3D printing.

Maria Cristina Didero: How did the relationship with Alessi begin and what is the concept that led to the making of these designs?

Giulio Iacchetti: Right from when I started doing industrial design, I had working with Alessi as a kind of fantastical goal, beyond any expectation. In 2008 I held an exhibition at the Furniture Fair entitled “20 useless knives” and I met Chiara Alessi and Gloria Barcellini and that's when it all began, with a commission from Alberto Alessi himself to design a set of trays. Thinking of Alessi as a designer manufacturer is a bit reductive. For me it is truly the “dream factory”: I know by heart all the ranges, that represent all manner of product types, expanding in every direction of manufacturing experience. One day I would like one day to create an exhibition choosing, from the endless Alessi production, those perhaps forgotten pieces, such as the fire tongs, garden tools, a hat, a sea sponge that illustrate perfectly the omnivorous and universal approach of my favourite company.

Maria Cristina Didero: Other projects for April?

Giulio Iacchetti: I am also presenting Il Capodoglio for WoodyZoody, a small object in wood inspired by the simple, organic and zoomorphic forms of Antonio Vitali, a Swiss designer of Italian origin that many don’t know about who has done great things for children, designing special toys. Finally for Nousaku, a small and special Japanese artisan firm I have designed a coffee set made in pure tin: the design is based on the drawing of a continuous line that creates the outline of the cup and the shape of the handle emerging from the top (editors note: and the material used, tin, brings out the aroma and keeps it warm).