This year we’ve tasked our jurors with envisioning the future of product design. Each one of them had their own ideas to share with us and we’ve decided to collect their thoughts in a series of interviews called “Talking to Jurors”. We’ve asked all of them what they’re looking for in an entry and what they’re going to reward. Among all of their predictions and opinions, one stood out – design must be human and provide solutions that meet people’s needs. What is truly unforgettable is the product’s ability to improve the lives of everyone.
Here’s what the Italian Architect Marco Piva thinks of contemporary Product Design and its key role in solving the problems of our world.
What are you looking forward to finding in our entries and which features are you going to reward?
I am very delighted to have been nominated member of such a prestigious Award, the Archiproducts Design Awards 2019.
I am an attentive follower of the Archiportale activities and I really appreciate the deep research that is carried out and their systematic approach to organize “design discoveries” around specific themes.
I am really looking forward to see new design approaches and possibly new “ideas” even if they are not aimed towards mass production.
My fields of interest are interior design in general, the lighting design and hi-tech design. But what I am really looking for are innovative approaches to design using new advanced materials that aim to reduce the use of energy for production, reduce the impact on the environment, and possibly the recycling of materials at the end of the product’s life cycle.
Which role do you think a Design Award should have nowadays?
There are quite a number of Design Awards around the world but very few of them are truly meaningful.
It depends on the “reasons and aims” that these Awards want to focus on and the quality of the Jury.
Archiproducts is based, as I said, on an intense and dynamic research of products that express real qualities in terms of aesthetics, functions, usage and finally their overall value.
I do believe that a design Award nowadays has a sense in recognizing and prizing the contribution given to a specific “product” by the chain of the design and manufacturing process that sometime could be fully automated or otherwise crafted by designers and artisans.
In which direction should contemporary Product Design go and how should it evolve to answer people’s needs?
Nowadays there are several so-called “design directions”, broad or specific with all the tendencies in the middle.
Generally speaking I believe that “industrial design” should specifically develop further to manufacture products aimed at reducing their footprints in terms of energy consumption needed for the production, or utilize less different materials to manufacture each single product, or using as much as possible less materials that are difficult to be recycled later on.
One of the main issues is “material design”, in the sense that new materials could give high-standard performances with less impact on the ecosystem both for Architecture and Product Design.
I also focus on new production systems like 3D printing or multiple axis machines that could shape out completely finished products in a single manufacturing process.
The World is becoming more complex every day and Design is the answer to this Complexity – as I frequently say.
Marco Piva, “FengTai – China” sketch
Marco Piva, “FengTai – China” masterplan
FengTai by Marco Piva, China (render)
About Marco Piva
Exciting, fluid, functional, this is the language that distinguishes Marco Piva’s architectural creations, product design and interior design. The effort in material research and technology, the value of differentiation, the design innovation, lead the establishment of Studio Marco Piva, whose production becomes one of the most representative of the italian design.
Studio Marco Piva works ranges from Masterplan to architecture, interior design and industrial design.
Marco Piva, a traveller and a designer, an innovator who is dedicated to create design solutions pervaded by stylistic freedom.
In Japan, in Osaka, the Studio has participated in the design and construction of the innovative complex Next 21, in the UAE designed for the hotel and residential complexes of Oceana and Tiara on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Studio Marco Piva has also designed the Laguna Palace in Mestre, the Port Palace in Monte Carlo, the Hotel Mirage in Kazan, the Una Hotel in Boulogne , the THotel in Cagliari, the DoubleTree by Hilton in Mogliano Veneto and the multifunctional complex Le Terrazze in Treviso, awarded as one of the best projects dedicated to recovering industrial architecture. Recent projects are the Feng Tai Business Cluster, the Yuhang cultural Center, the Dianshan Lake Master Plan in Shanghai. In Italy has realized the prestigious Excelsior Hotel Gallia in Milan that won several architecture and design international prices.
He also designed the Concept Design for Bulgari worldwide windows and the Casa Alitalia lounges for Alitalia..
Currently, Studio Marco Piva is engaged in the development of urban/residential complex and prestigious private houses in China, United States, India, Montecarlo, Italy and Albania, and in the creation of design furniture and complements for the main companies in this field.
Marco Piva Atelier Design has designed for: A Project, Altreforme, Alma Design, Arflex, Arpa Industriale, Bbb, Bencore, Bross, Cabas, Caleido, Casalgrande Padana, Casamilano, CCM, Ceramica Cielo, Citco, Confalonieri, Colombo Design, Corinto, De Majo, Deko, Ege, Estro, Etro Home, Euromobil, Frati, Gaggiolini, Gattoni Rubinetteria, Glamora, Gervasoni, Jab Anstoetz, Jacuzzi, Kreoo, Kvadrat, i Guzzini Illuminazione, L’Abbate, La Murrina, Lamm, Lapis, Leucos, Lithea, Lualdi, Mandelli1953, Marioni, Meritalia, MisuraEmme, Moroso, Nito, Novello, Oak, Oikos, Okite, Omnitex, Penta, Pierantonio Bonacina, Poliform, Poltrona Frau, Potocco, Rapsel, Reflex, Rever, Riva1920, Rubelli Casa, Schonhuber Franchi, Sahrai, Serralunga, Sicis, Sirrah, So Far So Near, Stella Rubinetterie, Tisettanta, Unopiù, Up Group, Valpra, Vitaera, VDA, Visionnaire, W52, Zonca