Launch of our weekly chat with jury members of this year’s Archiproducts Design Awards
Already in its 5th edition, also this year the Archiproducts Design Awards will celebrate the finest in international design. Nominees will be assessed by a prestigious jury made up of over 60 internationally renowned architects, designers, creative directors, editors and photographers. Among this year’s jurors: Studio Formafantasma, Domitilla Dardi and Dimorestudio, the first interlocutors of our weekly chat with ADA 2020 jurors.
In anticipation of the jury’s decisions, Archiproducts will ask jury members about their personal point of view of project culture, their expectations of this year’s nominees and current topics in the world of design.
Formafantasma, “Contemporary Design should not content itself with answering people’s needs but also consider the needs of the planet we live on”.
For this first episode we questioned Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi from Studio Formafantasma, formed in 2009. The name summarizes the magic formula and personal concept of ‘doing design’ embraced by the du relentless research and audacious blending of worlds and influences, from art to self-publishing, which makes them designer-alchemists of the third millennium.
What are you looking forward to finding in our entries and which features are you going to reward?
We are looking for original minds that not only understand the potential of design but somehow manage to challenge it.
Which role do you think a Design Award should have nowadays?
We think that today a design award should inspire designers to work on relevant issues of common interest, such as ecology and social injustice, and promote these ideas so they can make it in an over-commercialized market sector.
In which direction should contemporary product Design go and how should it evolve to answer people’s needs?
In this particular historic moment we shouldn’t stop at thinking of people’s needs but also consider the needs of the planet we live on.
Domitilla Dardi, “True innovation comes from looking at the roots of things”.
We also questioned Domitilla Dardi, curator of the design section of MAXXI museum in Rome and lecturer in history of design. In team with Emilia Petruccelli she also curates the EDIT Napoli, the Naples editorial design fair that promotes collaboration between designers, artisans and companies.
What are you looking forward to finding in our entries and which features are you going to reward?
I hope to see projects that reason about functionality and are attentive to utility rather than to typologies and the shape of objects. I believe that true innovation comes from looking at the roots of things.
Which role do you think a Design Award should have nowadays?
I think that it should award the quality of a design idea for its ability to break new ground and leave its mark on its time.
In which direction should contemporary product Design go and how should it evolve to answer people’s needs?
Design today has to rearrange the living space, bringing many activities we used to do outside the house indoor. At the same time it’s important to offer products with an honest and sustainable price-performance ratio. This doesn’t mean “cheap”. It means thinking of quality as a lasting good. The aim should be a transparent production chain that can be communicated correctly and in a comprehensible way.
Dimorestudio, “We love past references. Now more than ever people are looking for things that make them feel protected’.
Also to share their expectations on this year’s nominations is Dimorestudio, a duo formed by the designers Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran in 2003. Always supporting a constantly evolving ‘contemporary vintage’, Dimorestudio revels in historical design, but without nostalgia. The Dimoregallery, treasuring design classics by masters of the past as well as recycled material and other “customized” objects, is a veritable smorgasbord of visual and tactile memorabilia that blends the iconic, glam rock and the decadent.
What are you looking forward to finding in our entries and which features are you going to reward?
It’s always exciting to see other designer’s approach to projects. I think I’ll be most curious to see the inspiration and process to create the final product. Aesthetics, function and that special spark is what will be getting the high points with me.
Which role do you think a Design Award should have nowadays?
Spur creativity, first and foremost, reward that same creativity and provide a platform for young artists and designers to showcase their creativity.
In which direction should contemporary product Design go and how should it evolve to answer people’s needs?
We at Dimore love contemporary design that nods to past references. Now more than ever, I think, people are looking for things that make them feel protected. For me this is achieved through layering pieces both new and old, which are cohesive. I’m convinced this is what most people are looking for in sourcing good design.