It is considered one of the best designer in circulation, a true talent belonging to the new generation. Marco Zito is an architect, he has been since childhood, when a friend of his father's let him attend his studio inarchitecture and he was passionate about models and sketches on paper. Today, his creativity and desire to keep up with the times have led him to collaborations with the best Italian and European companies. The design lines he follows draw inspiration from the places he has lived, the places he has frequented and the people he has met. His mentors, his teachers, those who 'anticipated' him before he was the one to mentor his students. Marco Zito is also a teacher; associate professor of Industrial Design at the IUAV University of Venice, he is also a lecturer at the Centre for Industrial Design in Montevideo, Uruguay.
A life dedicated to the pursuit of elegance through critical thinking, his is a constant quest for innovation (a much abused word for him ed) with the aim of keeping objects alive.
Architect, where does your passion for design come from?
"Ever since I was a child, thanks to an encounter with an architect, a friend of my father's, attending his studio I was fascinated by the models of architecture, by the drawings on tracing paper, with the colours in transparency, a magical world that enraptured me immediately. Then the passion for design, from art school, where I started to design and build small things.
At the University of Architecture in Venice I was then lucky enough to have Gino Valle as a teacher, his work for Solari was wonderful, and Vittorio Gregotti, with whom I graduated. And also Giuseppe Davanzo, Arrigo Rudi, Umberto Riva. After graduating I spent five years as Alberto Meda's assistant; from him I think I learnt many things, especially the great ability to transmit and transform professional experience into pedagogical values".
How much do you consider Venice as a source of inspiration for your projects?
"Much, it is impossible to ignore and remain indifferent to the inspirational power of the city. Walking through the calli of Venice, the suggestions are infinite, multifaceted, fluid, intercepting every design thought. And they can be transformed into absolutely contemporary, ultra-modern forms. The fog of the lagoon is the Caiigo lamp (in Venetian dialect, nebbia) for Foscarini, or the Shades of Venice screens for Saba Italia, use the coloured weaves of nautical tops, inspired by the colours of the islands and Sestieri. Nappe, designed for Masiero Group, is a lighting system inspired by the tassels that adorn the opulent draperies of Venetian palaces, Vaporetto and Taxi are the first two models of a Venetian fleet made of wood salvaged from the lagoon for the Company Pieces of Venice".
Tell us about your latest work for Arlexitalia.
"A collaboration that started this year, in the field there are ambitious projects belonging to several cross-collections. Three storage cabinets and a line of accessories, the project for Arlex that I am most fond of is LAY: a metal grid, a kind of bookcase that allows you to compose on Layout (hence the contraction of the name). Or Yumi Smart, designed for young people, the storage unit plays on the horizontal offset of top and bottom,
creating useful storage space. Yumi is equipped with wireless phone charging technology, the mirror has hidden speakers for Bluetooth listening. There are many examples.
Class Aitch is a storage unit with essential shapes equipped with a "material inlay" with accessories for sockets. The horizontal closure of the inlay allows easy access to the pull-out compartments for maintenance, thanks to the folding of the shelf. The chest of drawers is equipped with an open compartment in the "foreground" in which to store cosmetics for daily use, a small display, a personal showcase, dedicated to our vanity. Finally, the Aitch series of accessories, a system generated by an asymmetric 'H' section. The eight centimetres depth of the section allows the system to be flexibly configured: long mirror holder shelves, bar with shelf and towel holder for a possible extension of functions and sizes".
What is the secret of innovation in design?
"It is such an overused word that it sounds like an aphonic slogan. I find it a term that should be respected and taken seriously, which is why there is not just one secret but several. There are many industries, companies, brands, technologies, materials, commercial networks, communication, every project is different and requires an ability to read contexts that goes beyond a static strategy. In this regard, I find Dieter Rams' ten rules of good design so contemporary, and I ask my students to learn them by heart and use them intelligently in order to 'test' the goodness of their projects".
Innovation and tradition. The latter began its adventure with Murano glass.
"Here is an interesting combination, especially in Italy where there is a very high manufacturing culture. Yes, the adventure began in Murano, with the Salviati glassworks. I discovered the magic of glass, a fickle, fast material. A material that comes from the sea, and which I believe has a quality that many see as a defect: its fragility. As with the lamp designed for Foscarini, the opportunity to 'equip' glass with technology represents a principle of innovation and the possibility of growth generated by an exchange. The designs for Falmec espouse this principle: Bellaria is an ioniser, equipped with complex technology that is tamed by a blown glass envelope that can light up, creating empathy with the environment and people.
The latest project for Falmec is a Brio Icon wall-mounted ioniser, a perfect figure, the circle constructed from natural materials, wood is the frame for the back-acidated glass disc. An iconic shape that conveys the purity to which the product is devoted, the circle communicates the fluid air purification cycle of the small 'machine' equipped with a complex and innovative yet disguised technology".
Apart from technique, what are the values you teach your students?
"My professional experiences, returned through a long process of translation into didactic and pedagogical principles. A good designer is not always a good teacher and vice versa. However, I believe that, in order to transmit the values of design, it is necessary to have direct experience of it, the ideal teacher in Product Design courses is the bridge between production and research, between reality and academia".
How have experiences with other realities enriched you?
"I remember the Olivetti FaxLab, we are talking about the year 2009. I had to manage such a complex project for a brand that made design in Italy and the world. And then working for companies such as Lavazza, Agape, Viabizzuno, Frezza, De Castelli, Danieli or small, highly intelligent companies such as Bosa Ceramiche and Maison203 Bross Italia, the latter a company that works on quality, on high manufacturing resolution. With them we developed a system of seats and accessories for waiting areas 'Wait a Minute': this is the meaning of the acronym 'Wam', which gives the name to the new collection. An articulated project, which proposes lounge chairs, armchairs, benches, poufs and small tables that can be placed in residential environments, but that find their ideal collocation in spaces dedicated to waiting and relaxation: the hall of a hotel, the hall of a museum, or even offices and restaurants. Aesthetically, the elements of the Wam collection are characterised by a metal base in black or brushed bronze finish, with four elongated legs that discreetly accommodate the generous volumes of the shell and upholstered parts. We tried to produce a little innovation with the possibility of combining different fabrics and colours, thanks to the overlapping layer construction of the shells".
