Beyond Milan Design Week 2022: a chat with Gabriele Salvatori

That leads on neatly to the second question I wanted to ask you, because we’re obviously talking about trends. What will be the predominant trends of this Design Week? Although, given that you’ve already said that we are not ruled by them, I don’t know if it’s a relevant question!

Exactly, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what the trends are right now. Mainly because we don’t follow fashions, in fact we sometimes come out with products that have nothing to do with a particular period, but the reality is that if something is truly beautiful it is beautiful full stop, and it becomes timeless.
But, if I had to come up with a trend, at least one that perhaps defines our approach, that would be frugality, or thrift to give it another name. Only yesterday I was with the R&D team and we were looking at the batons of wood that are the basis of our collection with Kengo Kuma. They are in oak, and oak often tends to have quite distinctive veining. If we had to reject all the pieces with marked veining, we would end up with a load of discards that would probably become firewood. I made a decision that we would use them regardless, even though the market might question our judgement. But I think all those pieces of oak deserve to be treated with dignity.
After all, we have built our business around natural stone and we understand that when you use a material that is not manmade there will always be “imperfections”. But that doesn’t mean that it should automatically be deemed second rate. We need to embrace these imperfections. Whether it’s stone or wood, simply throwing a natural material away is not thrifty. And now, more than ever when the world is realising just how important and scares some resources are, we need to change the way we think and behave. I hope that at least some parts of the market and some consumers appreciate this cultural shift and join the sea change.
And so, we are happy to do things our way and explain the rationale behind our choices. Those who “get” what we’re about will come on board. It’s not just about a production approach, but a way of living that we cannot ignore or get away from. Sustainability is no longer just a choice. It’s become a must.

This year’s Fuorisalone theme is “Between Space and Time”. How have you interpreted it?

The phrase borrows variables from physics, but they also make us stop and consider the impact of the decisions we make today on the future. The events of the past few months have illustrated the consequences of dwindling resources. And here, design can make a difference. Whether we are talking about small artisanal activities or industrial manufacturing, the design of a product cannot fail to have an impact that goes beyond its immediate usage today.
And that’s why we asked our designers to take a thrifty approach in their choice of material and the way it would be used, so that we if their products become commercially successful, we are already in control of their impact on the planet.
So, adjusting the way we design is not an end in itself, but is something that will play out in years to come. In short, I see “Space and Time” as an invitation to address sustainability. And yes, the world has been talking about this theme for years now, but I feel that now it has become something more personal and has entered into people’s hearts.
As you know, it’s something we’ve been committed to for many years, partly because I feel very strongly about it personally and also because the material we work with is not unlimited, so it makes us be frugal with it. We are very aware of the responsibility that goes with natural stone so we don’t want to use more than is strictly necessary.
And so, this year’s theme definitely resonates with me.