I am a fan of Italian design like most people, but when I was pressed to name a single building or a particular piece of furniture designed by Piero Lissoni, I have to admit I could not do it. I know his name of course. It is associated with manufacturers such as: Alessi, Boffi, Cappellini, Flos, Fritz Hansen, Kartell, and Poltrona Frau, but specific designs of furniture or accessories did not come to mind when I heard his name. Instead of one or two iconic images, I tended to associate his name with high quality and minimal style. At any rate, my anticipation of hearing him speak was rewarded by seeing a humorously self-deprecating individual who shared a perspective on design that few of us in New York get a chance to hear on a regular basis. He spoke at the second installment of the IIDA lecture series, Pioneering Design, at the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca.
Before I arrived, similarities were starting to occur between this evening and the last Pioneers event that featured Maira Kalman and Michael Maharam; it was raining. Getting to this inconvenient location is one thing, but getting there in the rain only exacerbates the situation. I noticed attendance was down and chalked it up to bad weather.
The event began with an acknowledgement to Brynne Johnson from Herman Miller. She has been a vital contributor to the Pioneering Design lecture series for the past eight years. Now she is stepping down to move to Florida and continue working with Herman Miller as a Product Application Specialist. Ms. Johnson played a crucial role during Mr. Lissoni’s lecture – he referred to her as his “mouse”; she advanced the images for his presentation. It was unclear why he could not do it himself, but her participation added a welcome bit of humor and an element of the unexpected to the presentation.
He started his presentation with speaking to us all in his native Italian. This created a congenial atmosphere that transcended any linguistic differences he had with the audience. Mr. Lissoni spoke humorously and eloquently on design and had several lessons to share with the crowd. Drawing parallel connections between how the built environment relates to nature and how a humanistic approach reconciles the relationship between design ideas and people, Mr. Lissoni pointed out that “First we are human, and second we are humanistic. As designers, we have to know and incorporate opposing aspects of qualities into our work, from poetry to technical.” His slide, which paired Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of Vitruvian Man with a typical double helix pattern found in DNA, illustrated that the rational order of design is a matter of scale, proportion and purpose.
Mr. Lissoni explained that his design practice incorporates different approaches and purposes depending on what exactly is being designed. His multi-disciplinary studio, which has 72 employees, focuses on architecture, interior design, graphic and industrial design. Indeed, the level of design specialization that commonly occurs in US design firms is not present in most European design firms.
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