The “Alternative synergies” exhibition helps one understand the needs of the enterprises and the importance of the role played by design within the same enterprises.

Through “Alternative energies”, Alberto and Natalia wish to talk about themselves and the way they work, explicitly avoiding to discuss formal, aesthetic and compositional choices: "Are the projects beautiful? Are they functional? It’s up to those who use them to make this judgement”.

The display layout of the exhibition reflects the narrative approach of the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni: in the courtyard, the outdoor projects accompany visitors to the entrance, where the L001 floor lamp lights up the windows of the shop containing items that the companies featured in the exhibition have donated to the cause of the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni.

Upon entering the Castiglioni firm, on the right along the hallway, the products that exemplify each collaboration between the designers and the respective companies meet the visitors: each item provides the cue for telling a story through the people and events that made it special.

L001 and Colette for Pedrali, Cornetto and Ribaltino for Diemmebi, Luxit with Top Ten and Top Four, Didi for YDF, Smarty for Outlook Design Italia, Monza for Mamà design Italia: a long snake-like trail of finished projects that seem ready to come out of the office where they were first created and enter the real world.

The products designed for Bonomi Caffè are laid on the table in Achille Castiglioni’s personal office.

The drafting machines room is dedicated to architecture and to Alberto and Natalia’s experience; here, one can see how the work method does not change when the main players are a construction company and a design engineer.

In the same room, above the Passepartout table system by Diemmebi, surrounded by some of the chairs designed by the architects over the past 15 years, the graphic projects are on display: catalogues, photographs and press releases represent another crucial phase of the creative process concerning the product and its communication to the final user.

Because, “a design project needs to be told, described and explained so that it can be fully understood by its potential user, who has yet to use it or who has no way of seeing it with their own eyes. Dealing with this aspect on behalf the companies we collaborate with means putting the finishing touches on a completed project, and providing a proper vision of what we designed”.

Lastly, the prototypes room, the heart of the Foundation, contains tests, maquettes and the Boox system by Rexite, which reflect the passion with which we reach the desired solution. To Alberto and Natalia “the prototype represents the designer’s creative angst, as a proper balance must be maintained between opposing forces, between – as stated by Achille Castiglioni – technical, industrial, commercial an aesthetic skils”.