AN INTERVIEW BY BILLIANI WITH EMILIO NANNI

What is the relationship between form and function in your projects?

The founding axiom of design is the combination of Form with Function in which the designer’s work is accomplished by adding his own perception of contemporaneity.

How do you develop a new project? Which is your starting point?

I do not have a pre-established methodological approach, I prefer to follow perceptions, intuition, the overall vision with a tendency to the novel; these elements describe a habit of approaching a new project, which will then be defined through the design, in a way that will allow me to take possession of the idea.

Who is the artist/film director/poet/architect etc. that you would love to meet/have met in person?

Cy Twombly artist / Luis Buñuel director / Montale poet / Mies van der Rohe architect / designer.

Considering the entire history of design, which is the object that you would like to have at home?

La Chaise, an organic chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra.

How do you deal with the concept of limit in a project?

The necessary limit is to know the know-how and storytelling of the manufacturer, knowing that there needs to be a merger of intentions: this active partnership will be fundamental in making the design become a serial product. The limit is however the compatibility and harmony between people.

Please name a book that is unforgettable for you? And say why?

Bel Amì, by Guy de Maupassant, an effective description of the work in progress that is living life.

The most useful technological object that you have at home and the most crafted object?

Refrigerator, chopping board.

What do your projects tell about you?

I would like them to communicate elegance, formal innovation and modernity.

What does it mean for you to sit? What’s your favorite sitting moment?

The importance of sitting depends on what you are doing: sitting in a plane or sitting at table with friends are poles apart: the alpha and omega of the meaning of sitting down and it is clearly the latter that I prefer.

Which childhood episode or memory (or in your life) left an indelible mark on you?

Learning to ride a bike and the idea of religious confession.

The 3 adjectives you would use to describe your personality.

Impulsive, enthusiastic, serene/unstable.

Billiani Magazine, Freshness #2, 2018, pg 9