Vittorio Bertazzoni0:31
The collaboration with architect Guido Canali dates back about 30 years. That was certainly a very important period for the company, as built-in and built-under appliances were growing strongly. So we asked the architect to interpret these new objects that were becoming very important within the company. It was an extremely fascinating experience because working for industry means refining the product—not settling, meaning filing and deepening until the product seems perfect. Then it goes into production. It also allowed me to work with Smeg's highly skilled workers, people who perfectly know the technique and know everything about metals, so they taught me a lot. One of the most characteristic aspects of this line is certainly the very visible use of steel, a noble material that at the time was not particularly used in home appliances. Products were mostly enameled. I remember when these objects were presented at the Cologne fair in Germany, and the dean of the Faculty of Architecture requested a 60 cm oven and a 90 cm oven from the Guido Canali line, as he then gave a lecture to his students on architecture in the domestic environment, wanting to demonstrate that it was possible to create architecture even in household products.
When you design, you look at that whole world of unknown faces, but they will be the interlocutors of the product. For example, a small piece of the products designed for Smeg is this knob, which has been used many times because it was successful. Today, the classic line designed by architect Canali represents one of the best-selling lines of the company around the world and one of the most sold in various markets. The distinctive elements of this line are certainly the knobs and the handle, elements that have then positively influenced other product categories, such as hoods and refrigerators.
Also refrigerators. There is also a symbolic, semantic aspect. The prominent wing clearly indicates the direction it must be turned, unlike, for example, cylindrical knobs, which are harder to grip and then need graphics to know how to use them.
Beyond the work with architect Canali, Smeg has always collaborated with other architects and other architecture firms: Mario Bellini, Renzo Piano, Marc Newson. From my point of view, the great added value of the work of an architect on products like ours is to be beyond the fashions of the moment, to be timeless objects. Just think that there are products designed by these architects that are still in the catalogue and continue to be sold even 25 years after the first piece came off the assembly line. I believe that the path traced by the modern movement in the 1930s is still the right path today. We must patiently research, refine the product, and work so that it obviously has great quality, the highest possible quality, and does not age quickly, as unfortunately happens today for many architectural works that follow fashion and age with it.
After many years of happy collaboration with architect Canali, it was a simple choice to give him the mandate for the design of the new offices in San Girolamo in Guastalla. The guidelines of this project were also simple. The most important was that this building find its correct place in our environment, the Po Valley. Another very important element is water, we are surrounded by the lakes of Mantua and the great Po River that crosses this region, and also the embankments that are very present in this region. This building is essentially a synthesis of our way of doing architecture. At the base are always the needs—the needs of those who live there must be satisfied in the best way, in a way that gives a feeling of great naturalness to those who live there. And then the elements of nature. This building is like a pretext for the greenery that overwhelms it: ivy, bamboo, trees that grow from inside the building itself, planted specifically, and a great respect for the surroundings. Here we are in the Po Valley, the countryside is still dominant, so it was truly right to build a low building, a building that absolutely does not disturb.
