Detail: the tables on which the objects are displayed are made of cathedral glass, exactly like those that complete the windows and rose window of the church, an invitation to lightness, but also to brightness.

Two essential elements which here dialogue almost by contrast with the architecture of the place: its grandeur is exalted, perhaps also its sacredness, certainly its importance with respect to human objects, for man , so smaller, lower, more airy than those of the sacred.

And the choice is not at all random because the curator wanted «a different place for a different design», he explains.

Different from what? Different from disposable design, from maxi globalized industrial production, different from an aesthetic accepted on a planetary level.

«There are also different designers on display, the generations to which they belong, the materials they have chosen and the production and processing methods. Finally, there are various collaborations between designers and companies or artisans, all almost always outside the marketing that makes an object (or a designer) known to everyone", continues Sandigliano.

Which then leads me in front of each piece on display to show me, in concrete terms, the differences it talks about. There are eleven designers selected, for three different generations, from the emerging Matteo Di Ciommo to the now well-known Damiani and Faccin.

It begins with a light wooden seat, held together by butterfly screws that decorate its essentiality, together with a leather strap that secures the cushion, resting on the fabric. It is Manico Chair, a contemporary version of the Sicilian peasant chair reinterpreted by Giuseppe Arezzi who transmits its tradition, just like Francesco Faccin with its Nervosa chair: a typical seat from the Trentino mountain huts that has arrived in the city.

And even simpler: no screws, just joints and an extraordinarily smooth and clean finish that makes it similar to a sculpture, as if it had been extracted from a block of wood.

The tables in expanded recycled cork by Maddalena Casadei (under the name of Accanta) also underline the local and traditional provenance, quoting those of the Sardinian farmers.

Here too, no other material completes the object: 100 per 100 cork in all its beauty.

The Zanellato Bortotto couple presents themselves with Specola, a lamp that appears to be made of ceramic but is instead made of copper enamelled with glass powder whose color and gradient depends on the temperature and cooking time, recovering an ancient technique and creating pieces that are never the same.

Tipstudio also does this with Secondo Fuoco, a floor lamp that adopts the lost wax casting technique for bronze: no piece can be same as the previous one.

Isato Prugger shows himself with a series of lamps (Studio Lamp) in different wood essences that combine his two cultures, Japanese and the Ladin one of the Italian mountains. The collection is 100 pieces, all handmade by the designer and local artisans (and if the one you purchased breaks, he will take care of fixing it).

Maddalena Selvini offers a portable felt seat called Lady Back 310°. He recalls the sea, the beach, when you sit down by placing a piece of wood under your head to have a makeshift pillow, but also the mountain of the Biella felt factory, Japan and something temporary to perform an eternal function.

The seat stands firmly on its wooden legs only if someone sits on it...

Lorenzo Damiani presents his new Bench Foglio, with a marble made incredibly elastic thanks to a particular treatment that allows its flexibility (only in one towards however... be careful!) and makes it a bench of extraordinary lightness (especially if, as happens here, it is placed in dialogue with the large marble altar...).

Francesco Forcellini presents his furniture piece in hammered bronze Sculpt, a very simple sideboard but so special in the three-dimensional workmanship of the exterior that it won the Archiproducts 2022 award.

Finally, Matteo Di Ciommo closes the journey with his trays - landscapes, useful sculptures that recall the work of the artisans of Valsesia, to bring a coffee among the wooden trees and the metaphysical architecture - who knows, maybe of some square - or of a completely dreamlike world. Modular though: the elements are interlocking, they move and can also be added to enrich your vision.

Is this the Italian design of today?

«This is my vision» Sandigliano continues, «of a design done well. That is, capable of telling a story, of going beyond the stereotyped ideas linked to materials (here for example marble becomes light) and with the work of multiple hands and multiple experiences that come together in a research to be translated in the visible product. Done well also implies value".

That is?

«You fall in love with these objects and you only need one to make your home. Of course, the cost is certainly higher than that of disposable design because it involves particular materials, specific machinery (and the relative energy to make it work), labor... all elements that come together in the price of an object that is destined to last over time."

Is it also an ecological question?

"Surely. The processing of materials, often without screws or other elements, takes pollution into account to overcome even the idea of recycling plastic materials which still remain objects destined to pollute. And if the object has a long life it will be less easy to throw it away and increase the volumes of rubbish we produce".

The production, however, is almost artisanal or supported by small companies, an element that modifies the concept of industrial production of useful and beautiful objects.

«Yes, this is also new and is also a response to ecological issues. Because production is at the customer's request, responding to market needs, with a view to avoiding overproduction."

So what is design?

«For me, design is everything that can be designed and a tool for understanding reality. If it is done well, that is, it takes into account every aspect of making, from conception to production to sale, then it allows us to grasp the potential of the sector and of that single product.

Of course, the risk is designing for designers and architects, remaining in a bubble... but if the object has a story to tell, the general public grasps it.

Maybe he falls in love with it and his private space will be characterized and defined by that object for a long time", which in the meantime will take on other stories, to be told over the generations.

So here is the thing done well: an object made on purpose, ecological, artisanal, long-lasting, unique, traditional in its contemporaneity and imbued with knowledge. In fact, when you enter San Celso you can almost hear the buzz of people talking to each other as they move through the space... it's the objects. And who said that these are inanimate things?

Done well. An exhibition to appreciate good design, curated by Teo Sandigliano, set up by Flawting Studio, Ebe Collective and Scia's Tessuti Division, Basilica di San Celso, Corso Italia 37, Milan, until 8 October from 11am to 7pm.