Magistretti the great – simple appearance and shape like the improvised stroke of a pen or pencil. Design is a desire of the hand, transparency a necessity of the eye. Edited by Laura Bossi. Photography by Paolo Imperatori, Alberto Narduzzi.

The rough concept

“I don’t know why Fiam approached me asking for a table. Actually I don’t really like glass. I only like it if it’s a bit opaque. But I do love things produced by moulding, and that’s the technique Fiam works with. I had a lot of fun making this piece because we made the tabletop and legs with the same mould. So with one mould (which means half the cost), two pieces are made that are fixed together to make up the table... I don’t draw very well but I always try to draw what an object could become. I do these quite ‘refined’ sketches because in the end I find that drawing only has to express a concept, actually quite a ‘rough’ concept. The producers just have to make a bit more effort to put it into practice, because if the concept is good, usually it works. I don’t have much faith in beautiful drawings. I’ve known people who draw everything amazingly, from the neck of a bottle to a beautiful naked woman. Well, I’ve never seen their women but I’ve seen the objects they’ve made: really awful. Anyway, even Ernesto Nathan Rogers, culturally a very important person who was also a friend of mine, drew really badly. It’s not the design in itself – to use a rude word – but the concept that makes the design useful or important.”

Excerpt from a conversation with Vico Magistretti, Milan, 8th March 2006

(Paolo Imperatori took part in the design process)