What are the 3 things you would put as a bench mark of the last forty years of design in Italy, in the world, in Europe?
In the last forty years there have basically been three fundamental situations through which I transited. The first - which rotates around the 60's, where Italian design was at the peak of its marvel - is was the stage of the so-called 'beautiful design', progressively absorbed by consumerism, with its dangers and the progressively negative aspects associated with it. The reaction to this negativity has given rise to radical design, which then led to postmodernism, with a reprise of feeling and emotion of the object, which had become too functionalist. Today there is the great novelty of virtual design: the tools have changed completely.

Some noticeable difference with Europe and with the rest of the world.
Italy remains a fundamental centre for world culture and design. In the beginning Italian design coincided with Milan, then with Italy and then it became International 'place'. Foreign designers who arrive in Italy yield a special design, owing to the load of aesthetic features of Italian design. Where the Japanese one is more of miniaturisation, the German more rationalistic and the American is distinguished by a realistic practicality, in Italy design is characterised by a high artistic gradient.

According to you, does Italian design remain number 1 in the world or is that something that belongs in the past?
Cultures have become much creolised, with great cultural mirages, also because here in Milan the greatest designers in the world converge. We are are always at the centre of the world of design if nothing else as a geographical place, but in the meantime designers and very important attitudes in nations like France and Holland have come in.

What point are we at in the history of design, according to you?Are we evolving or regressing?
Design is not dead, even if everything changes. Whereas for a certain time - corresponding to left and right in politics - there has been a remarked difference between the manuality of craftsmanship and seriality of industry, these conflicts do not exist anymore, there is a parallelism that accepts the handmade project and the great serialised one. Whereas in the first stage of what we have defined as the Italian 'beautiful design' there were great imbalances among very mediocre products, provincial and very kitsch and peaks of high quality, today the diffusion of design schools, the greater sensibility of the very small businesses and the continual relationship there is between craftsmanship and industry, have created a general better quality of objects. Today creations are perhaps less beautiful but of reasonable quality.

How are your creations born? How is the relationship with the large companies you collaborate with - for example Alessi?
There are things I am personally interested in and others as a professional group. My personal ideas are very theoretical, conceptual, and I try to develop my 'artistic' fantasy world. My conceptuality then has a backdrop on the professional point of view, even in the interaction with the group I collaborate with, directed by my brother Francesco, an architect. In our job there is a lot of skipping among disciplines: from the experimental prototypes for the industry - like the Swatch projects - to the product-design, to furnishing, to architecture, to decorating, ... some collaborators are specialised for this, whereas my job is essentially projecting - visual direction and of 'orchestration' of all the projects. The Alessi case is one of the most interesting collaborations. I have contributed to the aesthetic set-up of this 'design factory' and various projects, I have been involved and I have myself proposed projects of an essentially experimental nature, rather than destined to become things you sell, things that 'try' certain directions and have a real backdrop in the 'catalogue' of life. There have also been products born of them, some have become best-sellers - like the famous 'Anna G.' bottle opener, which was born 'on the sly' and then became famous because it is ... nice.

What are the objects which represent you better?
There are basically three things, even if my world is made up, on the whole, also of things that have 'not come out as well', I don't discriminate. The first thing is the famous Proust armchair, decorated with the pointillism technique, then there is the Groningen museum in Holland and and this bottle opener, Anna G. Three very different 'creations'.

What are, generally speaking, your stages?
There were two special moments. The first characterised by the management of the magazines: for 15 years I was the editor of Casabella, Modo and Domus. Then there was a kind of divorce, and tear, and it is a job I would not undertake again.
At a certain point I have wanted to really design, and I opened this studio, which is characterised by a series of projects and jobs which are very different among them, very eclectic, with some strong points, starting with the collaboration with Swatch -for whom I was Art-director in the past. At this moment the nature of things drives us more towards architecture, there are two or three important projects; where fate has it that exhibitions continue on our work, exhibitions that have become work for us too, there those who produce them and create them. Every exhibition concretises and transmits a message of contents, we do not just do philology on the past, every exhibition is an exposition and spatial work hypothesis. For the Cartier foundation we are preparing - for next year - a very complex exhibition from the communicative point of view, expressive and organisational, with objects made of complex materials.

How do you judge those who write or talk about design?
I judge them well, being aware of the difficulties of doing this job, which in this moment it is very difficult for a design magazine, because of all the parameters involved. The magazines are a little thin from a contents point of view because they sail at a distance. In any case they have the admitted capability to provide a great deal of information.

You said once that 'they have no soul'....
Yes, little soul because they don't know where to end up and they are highly influenced by marketing logic. It is basically a complicate stage, for soul-searching, a difficult goal because it is a moment of social violence, of wars, within which design is often seen as a 'privilege'. At the same time there is also a search for self by the individual, in a more anthropological, new-age, slightly psychological sense, which leads to the rediscovery of certain archaic values. This is reflected in a better body and mind care, and it translates into a different way to furnish your home, conceiving the kitchen or the living room as a meeting place. The result is a house which is more mental than functional, with a disarticulation of the rooms in a concept which is more loft than flat.

Your objects seems to possess a soul
In my objects I find inspiration in flowers, their colours and scents, the emotions they transmit: they are for me concentrates of energy, positive or aggressive. They are a little anthropomorphous, so they establish a slightly ritual dialogue with who enjoys them. As the Anna G. bottle opener, which looks into the eyes and suggests a dance with its movement. Romanticism whilst relating to the object is very important to me, and I have developed a slightly 'orientalistic' approach: the cerimony, the slowness, the mental emptiness bring you to collaborate with objects in order to become more serene and meditative .

There is an entire collection of Anna G.
This is simply because it was an object that achieved a great success. The name was proposed by Alberto Alessi, who recognised in the objects silhouette a resemblance with Anna Gili, a designer I esteem greatly. Anna, after reflecting on it, agreed. This object is configured as design portrait. Anthropomorphism, which has always existed in culture, and is part of history, is, according to me, an interesting way to interact with the object.

In an interview you said that the greatest disgrace would have been the end of the world. What do you think, will it be daytime or night-time?
As it is such a tragic fact it will certainly occur at night, and I truly hope I'll be sleeping when it happens!