Roberto Lazzeroni, designer by profession

The situation got even worse with the pandemic. This focus on profit at all costs, which is also rather stupid, had to change. I remember years ago, in the 70s in Turin, there was a sort of Expo at which products were presented in an experimental way. The notion of being able to hold something different in tandem with a trade based Salone, where different narrations could be made, already existed.

I’d like to be optimistic and say that we’ve learnt something, but I fear that’s not the case. The pandemic has taught us that it’s not just ourselves that matter. We need to downsize our egos; we all think we’re more important than the next person. However, the pandemic has taught us that we’re all connected, joined together. You can’t solve individuals’ problems without solving the collective problems. The notion that we are above everything is endlessly stupid, even in design.

There’s been a proliferation of outdoor projects, as if we all feel the need to get back to nature, to the countryside, to a less constricted life. Let’s say that there’s been a rediscovery of nature, an element that will force us to reflect on how we design. I live in a house with a garden, it’s hard to tell where the indoors ends and the outdoors begins, where one space finishes and the other starts, so for me the relationship with nature has always been fundamental. Smart working – which I’ve unfortunately had the opportunity to experience – will also lead to changes to our workspaces.

I have a special relationship with the product, with a packed catalogue of forms and familiarity with the past, my relationship is sentimental. My projects are all linked by more than just functionality, more sensitive. The objects can be touched, looked at, they have more feminine characteristics. Sentimentally they draw on things from the past, they could be banal citations, a retrieval, a sentimental attachment to a particular period, to an era. However, there’s nothing nostalgic about them, everything is contemporary.

The world will keep on turning and we will come up with solutions. Although it might seem otherwise, I am deeply optimistic, otherwise I couldn’t do this job with commitment and conviction. Optimism comes from my daily work, over and above nostalgia and sentimentality. I’d call it reasoned optimism, to paraphrase someone. We’re moving forward by taking our work seriously, in pursuit of perfection, precision and good looks.