Inside Alessi

Alberto Alessi on Italian design

I have found that in my quest for what I see as “fat free design,” I often lose sight of the life and vigor I so enjoy in creative problem solving; I become instead a very function-minded designer with too little respect for the roll that whimsy and feeling can play in my work.

Alessi is the quintessencial antithesis to my tendency toward strict functionalism, and it is refreshing to hear Alberto speak so intelligently about the roll that “poetry” plays in design. I was particularly struck by the idea that “no object” (with the exception of the egg) purely and simply serves only the exact functional purpose to which it aspires. In the area between the strictest-possible functional design of an object and the final manufactured product is the space in which designers do their most important work.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that my lack of respect for what I call “styling” is actually motivated more by fear and insecurity than by real principle. I have somehow convinced myself that engineering is somehow more respectable than pure design, and I therefore work in vain to make the “industrial design” profession look and sound more and more like some form of human-factors engineering, in the hope of being more respected by my peers. The reality is not so simple, nor so easy to explain, and the vanity that motivates my fear of the unquantifiable comes quickly to the fore.

I had a great art teacher once tell me to “stop trying so hard to make ‘art’, and just make ’stuff.’” He is the reason for the title of this, my “make stuff” blog, and this simple corrective sentence changed my view of “art” forever. I am realizing that in my vain struggle toward “good design,” I am falling into the same trap that held me back all those years ago. My desire for success prevents me from attaining it.