What Zanotta means to Calvi Brambilla
For Paolo and Fabio, being art directors of a company means having an overarching vision of that brand - and taking action accordingly. To make it grow and to propel it into the future.??
Zanotta spa’s design approach is worlds away from being “trend-driven.” It consists, and always has done, of an in-depth exploration of form, function, ergonomics, flexibility, sustainability and formal research. At the root of every product lies a genuine reflection on the relationship the objects will strike up with people and with spaces, not just a “simple” - albeit honest - desire to furnish, but a desire to bring emotions and authentic design back into the mainstream.?This has seen the brand navigate its way across almost 70 years of a history marked by iconic furnishing pieces, long sellers and exceptional collaborations. This is perhaps precisely the point: reaching milestones means being forced to look to one’s origins, to acknowledge how things were, how they are now and how we want them to be in the future. This is perhaps what triggers important decisions, such as calling in an external creative director, or rather two,?Fabio Calvi and Paolo Brambilla, to take a new look at Zanotta, and foster a new sense of meaning, without losing sight of legacy and heritage, while always imagining it at “year zero.” We asked them if this was the intention.?
Let’s start with the latest news: creative directors of Zanotta. How did this opportunity come about, what is your manifesto, the aim you set yourselves when you accepted the job?
The opportunity came about after several years of working with the brand. We have been looking after its displays for the Salone del Mobile since 2015 - so a fundamental part of the brand image. This appointment is the crowning achievement of our great journey together. What are we proposing to do? Innovation, a great deal of innovation. Because that’s what Zanotta has always done, it’s part of its DNA. Failure to do so would be a betrayal of the brand. So we are drawing up a three-year plan, and you’ll see some of the ideas at the upcoming Salone: that’s when we will have a pretty clear idea of the road we want to take. We have three mantras, which also happen to be Zanotta’s founding values: Heritage – the amazing catalogue of iconic pieces that are still enjoying currency today; Quality – every single product is the result of care, dedication, passion, and attention to the material and to the durability of the object; Contemporaneity ? Zanotta interprets the spirit of the times. Actually, it does more than that – it throws open windows onto the future.??
Your approach to design also stems from the collective and collaborative nature of your work, although there need to be some differences in order to generate new combinations and alchemies. How are you planning to organise the work with all the Zanotta designers??
Design is something that’s done together – we are absolutely sure of that and often say so. There’s not just the designer, who obviously makes an extraordinary contribution, but they work with a group of people who need to be coordinated. The closest comparison that comes to mind is filmmaking. We can be regarded as the directors, the designers are the actors, the company is the producer and then there are the scenographers, the costumiers and the make-up artists … As art directors, we are the? directors and we are responsible for providing an overarching vision and a direction. The designers are the actors because their projects mean they are in the first row, under the spotlights, on the stage, and the company is the production team that holds everything together. From this perspective, design can only be something that is achieved jointly. We put a lot of stress on this concept because we believe it to be extremely topical, contemporary. People do things collaboratively these days. There may well be discussions and confrontations, but in the end there always has to be someone who pulls things together and comes up with a practical, concrete solution. It’s precisely this dynamic of “differences” within a cohesive group that allows interesting things to be created because it encompasses a multiplicity of points of view.
The role of the creative director has evolved: it’s gone from creating a brand to narrating and interpreting it. What’s the key to doing it as well as possible? What is the greatest responsibility of a creative director today?
In its glory years – the ’60s and? ’70s – Italian design was focused on products: objects spoke for themselves. It’s not that they’re any less powerful – it’s the world that has changed. When Aurelio Zanotta presented Sacco, the armchair immediately narrated a different way of inhabiting the domestic space. There are several reasons why it’s no longer like that: the market has become global, the offering too wide and design, which was “niche” in those days, is now accessible and popular. Society as a whole converges on the image, forcing us to use every tool we have at hand to structure the narrative of an object from many different points of view. Our job, therefore, concerns the catalogue on one hand and the narrative approaches of that catalogue on the other. In terms of products, we will come up with new designs – we will work on upholstereds, on living rooms, dining areas and bedrooms. In terms of communication, we will concentrate on digital, looking for a fresh, lively way of narrating the Zanotta world.
Do objects change the way we view the world?
Objects try to change our view of the world. If we could design objects capable of interpreting what the world desires, or what it needs but hasn’t realised it yet, there would be products capable of changing the world. Sometimes it happens. Take the Sacco armchair, for instance. That chair, dating from 1968, as it happens, refutes sterile, meaningless good manners, declaring that it is no longer necessary to sit formally in a living room. It was one of the great statement objects. Our ambition is to succeed in creating equally powerful objects. More humbly, we are striving to design objects that interpret the demands of the world of today as well as possible and that look optimistically to the future. No easy thing, nor can it be taken for granted at a complex time like this.??
A hint about what we’ll see at the Salone del Mobile.Milano in April??
No spoilers! What we can tell you is that we’re aiming to present a great mix of completely new products – bringing in designers capable of interpreting the world in a fresh and innovative way – along with re-editions – because sometimes extraordinary products fall by the wayside, while still having a great deal to say. We’re also expanding some ranges and revising the catalogue, coming up with original colours and materials for familiar objects. We will be showcasing “homes” – or rather ways of living in private spaces that are not homologated, standardised, that don’t provide a finished or definitive vision or an unequivocal image, but that are ripe with possibilities, intelligence, innovation and the spirit of the times, helping people to build themselves a customised environment, in their own image.