Partly because of plain gallantry and partly out of courteousness, in Milan we tend to consider Maddalena De Padova the lady of design, the queen of the elegant home. I have no intention of disavowing these consolidated customs but I do believe that we must broaden the vision and cast polite clichés aside if we are to understand the reasons behind her 50-year success story, the result of a remarkable capacity to overcome hardship, uncommon intuition and an entrepreneurial and business talent with few rivals on the Italian design scene. Maddalena De Padova is, of course, a metaphorical queen and her status has been attained with talent and obstinacy, not by inheriting a title.

Maddalena De Padova has managed to conquer the world of design with the same weapons with which the eagle holds sway – by flying high and having a piercing longsighted gaze and sharp claws that seize on opportunities and encounters. She has always been headstrong and curious, as she says herself in the long and engrossing interview with Didi Gnocchi at the beginning of the book. Browsing through the various sections of the book, you will realise that her determination was formed facing the challenges of a life as generous as it has been malevolent – her husband’s premature death, having to run a factory, the economic trend in the 1970s and the changing social and business scenario of the following decade.

The book is structured almost chronologically, cross referencing facts, memories, the story of significant encounters in her life, portraits of friends, the discoveries of different worlds as well as of collections and exhibition design. As De Padova herself admits, being 20 years old in an adolescent Italy was an advantage but it would not have sufficed without her great curiosity, her enthusiasm, the courage to take risks and an ability to see ahead. In the music field, the expression “pitch perfect” describes an ability to recognise the tone of a sound with inborn precision. Maddalena De Padova seems to possess something similar: a “perfect eye” with which she separates the beautiful from the ugly without hesitation, sees harmony and invents the rules of a new elegance. It all began with the discovery of Scandinavian design at the 10th Triennale in 1955.

From then on it was a succession of encounters and openness: a chair in a restaurant led her to Willy Fehlbaum’s Vitra, and from there to the discovery of Nelson, Girard and the Eameses, whose planetary success owes much to the courage of Maddalena De Padova. Then came the modular wall systems seen in a German office. In New York, a mere glance through a book’s proofs to recognise the quality of Shaker furniture.

Then came the time when finding was no longer enough and she had to propose. Her first opportunity came when she worked with Dieter Rams, producing what is perhaps the finest modular bookcase system ever designed. Courageously, she sold her company and started from scratch again with a more agile and lighter structure. Edizioni De Padova was established, inspired by Maddalena and to a great degree designed by Vico Magistretti, her partner, designer and friend.

Not just products, a true way of living – for the home, time and life. With the aid of Achille Castiglioni and Pierluigi Cerri she invented sets that transformed the windows of the Corso Venezia showroom, prompting a taste that sums up the style of the new Milanese and Italian bourgeoisie. Her inaugurations have never been events; they are true happenings. The book ends with the present and records her many joint ventures and the discovery of young talent. It is not a book about projects. It is a biography that flows through people and things. It is not a design book but a book on design, or rather the special way the Italians have interpreted this multiform subject – as ordinary as it is extraordinary.