Finding Inspiration in Past Generations and Foreign Culture

 Stefano Giovannoni Office, Milan - Monday, June 6th, 2011

All designers and creative thinkers alike draw inspirations from the environment around them. When we met Stefano Giovannoni, a prominent figure in the story of Italian design, he shared with us some of his inspirational outlets.

As in any profession, people look back on history to their predecessors to get insight on how to move forward. Stefano expressed how he was very much influenced by the movement of "radical design" which started with an earlier generation of designers in the 1960s. The main doctrine of the movement was to stray from what was considered "good design" by challenging the form that the product could take on. The Memphis movement lead by Ettore Sottsass, the architectural magazine Casabella when directed by Alessandro Mendini, and the design studio Archizoom founded by Andrea Branzi were all large contributors to Stefano's inspiration.

 Ettore Sottsass - Alessandro Mendini - Andrea Branzi

Murmansk Fruit Bowl - Anna G Cork Screw - Mama O Kettle

Girotondo platter - Girotoondo Bottle Stopper - Mami Pot

The above images show three influential designers, three of their designs, and three of Stefano's designs. The form of Sottsass' fruit basket tray can be seen in Giovannoni's Girotondo plate, the iconic face of Mendini's Anna G. is similar in stature to the Girotondo man, and Branzi's Mama O kettle is reminiscent of Giovannoni's Mami Pot.

Another realm of inspiration for Stefano is culture as he sees design moving towards a more globalized society. As such, in 1999, he traveled to Tokyo and did a lot of research on the differences between Eastern and Western culture. For example, he studied the differences between Asian and North American toys and found that there were noticeable differences in even colour (Western toys are generally solid colours, while Eastern toys use more gradients). Out of these inspirations came the Orientales family and the Mr.Chin family of products.

Orientales family (Bowl - Bottle Stopper - Egg Cup)

Mr. Chin family (Egg Cup - Egg Timer - Bottle Stopper)

Finally, in turn, Stefano wished to send us off with a little bit of inspiration as well by leaving us with some words of wisdom: "It's all about the right moment, the right company, the right project, situation and direction".

Ruby, Xinran, Foong Ling

Keywords: Generations, Influence, Culture