What is really necessary to design today, in your opinion?

Edward Barber e Jay Osgerby Everything that has longevity and/or contains innovation regarding use and the means of production.

Ronan e Erwan Bouroullec Everything! And design has a fundamental role to play in the productive phase: it can define that ‘correct relationship’ between those who produce and those who use. In fact, the designer by nature is the one who loves both these subjects with a passion: who produces and who uses. This passage is indispensable, to listen to the consumer and at the same time to listen to the producer, trying to find the best balance between the two. Stephen Burks It is impossible to determine what we need: there are so many things we think are ‘needs’ when they are really just ‘desires’… and maybe that is just fine. If there is demand for a product, it will inevitably find a way of existing. Antonio Citterio We need products that are increasingly integrated with architecture: ‘industrial’ kitchens, baths or closets, but of quality, as part of the home; and then lamps, objects that are going through a metamorphosis thanks to the introduction of LEDs. The international market demands this. Today we are struggling to stay credible. There is an economic situation that does not offer the possibility of making big investments in research and development. Design can be the last mirage, the swan song. When the product no longer exists it becomes color, skin, limited editions. But it cannot regenerate the sector. We see a triumph of aesthetic visions, fake technical information, lots of intellectual rationalization. We are looking at an elderly industry. We make products that seem democratic but do not correspond to perceived value. There is a need to redesign a scale of values in which the three factors in play – product + cost + distribution – become clear and comprehensible on a plane of reality. Claesson Koivisto Rune Everything that improves life and elevates our mind and our thinking. Carlo Colombo We need to design products that are intelligent, paying closer attention to the environment and the use of materials and technologies that permit total (or at least partial) recycling; objects that bring emotions but are also useful and functional in everyday life. Odo Fioravanti I’d say honest products, without tricks, that know how to help people in everyday life with a discreet presence. Many people feel a need to get back to building deeper relationships with objects, recouping an affective aspect. So we need a design that can be embraced, not just purchased. Front Everything we use on an everyday basis. And, upon closer thought, also what we do not use every day. The great myth of design is that there are things that are not subject to being designed. Even in the preindustrial era, utensils and furniture were designed. The only difference is that the profession of the designer did not exist back then, so there was no term to indicate that specific activity. Konstantin Grcic Anything: design is a process in continuous evolution. Martí Guixé The structure of the perception of things and of food. Ineke Hans It is important to ‘do’ by thinking ‘how,’ because today we need to be aware that we can no longer afford waste. Many innovations are happening in the world of textiles, lighting, mobility and communication, that will make it interesting to work in these sectors. In particular, I would like to emphasize that the latter two sectors will undoubtedly have a great impact on our social life. Mathieu Lehanneur I ask myself this question every time I sit down to think about a new product. An object born today should not have been invented yesterday: due to the evolution of behaviors, of the world or of the available technologies, what is designed now should correspond to the world of today. Arik Levy There is no need to produce design at all costs. We need to make responsible projects. Lievore Altherr Molina More than products, we need to reformulate our way of living, of using habitat space, seen as interior, exterior, home, work, etc. There are too many ‘tired’ schemes, at this point, which continue to acritically reproduce themselves in different spaces. Can I think of a different way of living in the home? Piero Lissoni Everything. I do not agree with Enzo Mari, who says nothing more should be designed… We can design everything and we should continue to do so, we have endless prairies to design… Ross Lovegrove Everything can be reinvented or reinterpreted. Without exceptions. Jean-Marie Massaud Just for starters: our project of life, societies, the economy, education, companies. Objects and services are just consequences. Ingo Maurer Something that unites peoples and nations; in short, anything that can make people more united and close. Alberto Meda For example, there is that ‘little problem’ of hydric resources, which impacts about one billion people who do not have access to potable water: this is a theme that deserves some attempts to fix it! Paola Navone What is needed. And what those who produce need to produce. Nendo Everything around us. Design exists only to make things better. Luca Nichetto I wonder the same thing myself. I think that at a certain point, with respect to ‘what to design,’ that it becomes more important to look at the process that prompts you to do it, the way of creating something, that does not necessarily have to be an object… One sector in which design has great potential for expression is the social side: but we need to create a chain, which in the design sector is usually designed to make a profit. Though profit can also be achieved in the social sector: honesty and transparency are needed, however. Philippe Nigro ‘Rich’ objects, i.e. objects capable of creating an affective relationship: in this way they also become more lasting in time, because people get attached to them. Reassuring but also courageous objects. Useful for the body and the mind. Patrick Norguet We need to produce less, but with greater intelligence and responsibility. There are fundamental challenges to be met for our future: we designers should be the first to ask ourselves about a mass production that at this point no longer makes sense, to analyze the consequences and to reorganize priorities. Jorge Pensi We have to think about everything that makes life difficult, generating tension. In general, we should design less banal, more useful objects, that do not react to the passing fashions of the moment. Marc Sadler Anything: industrial design should have to do with everything made by industry, from a heart valve to the divan in the living room, combining aesthetic and functional solutions in the best way with needs of affordability and environmental compatibility. Sawaya&Moroni In the distant future only technological products will have a reason for being, the rest will end up in museums. Today, on the other hand, and in the near future, those who think up products will have to already consider their possible recycling to respect the environment, energy savings, natural resources, all the issues connected with renewable energy. There should be less space for frivolous things. Matteo Thun Everything that can simplify everyday life. Tokujin Yoshioka It is important to be aware that whatever era we are talking about, the perfect product cannot exist. Because in design there is always a margin of growth.