"One of the designer's tasks is to rethink the existing," says Odo Fioravanti. Photo: Emanuele Zamponi © Stylepark
Odoardo Fioravanti loves experimenting and is always surprising people with unusual designs. During a visit to his Milan studio Anna Moldenhauer talked to him about his deep attachment to Pedrali, what he wished for design students and why he finds excavators fascinating.
Anna Moldenhauer: Odo, you recently marked the tenth anniversary of your cooperation with Pedrali. How did everything start?
Odo Fioravanti: I began collaborating with Pedrali in 2007 and our first product, the chair “Snow,” came on the market a year later. It was really my lucky break, and we have grown together. Having such a strong bond with a company is unusual and that makes it all the more valuable. Pedrali hadn’t yet gained such prominence and I was an unknown designer, still very young, in the final stages of my studies. My studio was the desk next to my bed. Before my interview I got so worried that I had some friends accompany me and pretend to be my assistants. I even wore a suit jacket, for the first and last time ever (laughs). We took a prototype and my computer along to the interview and my assistants provided support. It was a crazy thing to do. But Pedrali still gave me a chance. They believed in me when I was a nobody, made me feel confident and invested a lot in our first joint steps together. It was a bit crazy. And I’m really grateful to them for what they did. Giuseppe Pedrali and I became friends, we can talk about everything. Such openness is worth a lot in the creative process.
Shortly afterwards you won the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale’s Compasso d’Oro award for the wooden chair “Frida” that you designed for Pedrali.
Odo Fioravanti: Yes, that chair really changed my life. Giuseppe Pedrali said as much at the time, but I didn’t believe him. He turned out to be right. I was really lucky that Pedrali was looking for precisely that kind of design. I had to wait a month until they had decided which chair they wanted to build. But in the end, they chose me and then everything happened really quickly.
Half the "Frida": The designer's archive contains numerous prototypes of the design that won the Compasso d'Oro Prize. Photo: Emanuele Zamponi © Stylepark
Light and robust: for the "Frida" chair, the designer combined a solid oak structure with an ergonomically shaped plywood shell. Photo: Emanuele Zamponi © Stylepark
What was it initially like just after you won the prize?
Odo Fioravanti: It was chaos. There is such immense importance attached to this prize in Italy, so it’s like everything you did before ceases to exist. Awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 2011, period. Only then does your biography begin. It is really strange. Some companies approached me afterwards with unrealistic expectations along the lines of “create another bestseller for us here and now.” As if creating a design is some sort of quick act of wizardry and not a joint process.
Did you manage to become immune to this pressure?
Odo Fioravanti: Not entirely. It goes with the job. Rather than focusing on the design you start worrying. This vision of possible failure accompanies every project, especially when you are young. And it was no different in my case, but with time and experience you learn how to deal with it better. This makes it all the more important to work with the right company. Pedrali was and still is the perfect partner for me because they are not afraid. They just get to work. Moreover, they invest a lot in technology and are constantly advancing the company. That makes them strong. I have learnt a lot at Pedrali, especially from the firm’s experienced tradespeople like the mold builders. I find it important not to distance yourself from this side of things, but to always be involved and to understand every step in the process.
Odo Fioravanti creates a reference to wood with a pleasant feel and striking details. Photo: Emanuele Zamponi © Stylepark
"Dome" for Pedrali changes the perception of polypropylene as a material. Photo: Emanuele Zamponi © Stylepark
How much of an influence did it have on you that your first successful designs were for chairs?
Odo Fioravanti: Well, because of the way I began my career I’ve become a kind of chair designer. Every designer has a soft spot for chairs and I soon noticed that I’m the same. Chair design still makes up a large part of my work. Nonetheless, it remains a complex business even after all these years. Designing a good chair is difficult. You have to be familiar with techniques like injection molding as well as the properties of materials. Right now, for example, I am learning a lot about working with aluminum.