IN A NUTSHELL:
- IED Milano
- Industrial Design - 2006
- Freelance Designer
YOU NOW:
I currently work as a freelance designer and as a design manager for two Italian brands, Viceversa and Excélsa. One of my latest projects is called Ai Mari, a dedication to Enzo Mari and to the seas (the “mari”). The vases are floating bottles, like those crowding our seas. Made by 3d printing recycled materials like reused Pet or Plasmix (a compound of mixed residual plastics), the vases rehab it the form of a bottle, the industrial waste they originate from, and engage in a different mission, that of protecting what is more delicate, a flower. With the recycled material I recreated the original form and gave it a different meaning. With Ai Mari, I want to talk about the potential and reuses of waste materials: the floating bottle capture curiosity and drives reflection on our impact on the environment.
CREATIVITY:
For me, IED has meant a constant exchange between professionals and companies; a constant exchange between the different cultures of the students… This creates curiosity and creativity which is then translated and finalized into good projects. I think the curiosity for the different disciplines that satellite around the world of design was fundamental for my training.
AiMari vases
IED LOCATIONS:
I chose Milan because I had already done a year of Architecture at the Politecnico. It was already the reference city for the world of design and this choice was fundamental for my training. It’s a city contaminated by all kinds of creative expression, photography, art, history, cinema and music. Milan is the city where I still live and work today.
MEMORIES:
I remember very well all the design courses of the first year. My teacher was Giulio Iacchetti, I learned many things from him, including the importance of always expressing what you think and the importance of moving forward even in the difficult moments of life and consequently in the difficult moments of a project. A funny moment was when I fell asleep during a design lesson. I was pleasantly woken up by the professor. In those days of deliveries, I was awake until 3 AM to finish the design tables... and a nap was justifiable.
CHALLENGES OF OUR TIMES:
In these difficult moments, you realize how precarious everything you have built over so many years can be. You have to create solid foundations to resist and sometimes awareness is one of those foundations. In the last year, I have had more personal time in which I have discovered illustration, a discipline that awakens more intimate sides and reassures me.
Shy
ADVICE:
It will seem trivial but the advice is to try to make a few compromises: to be like “sponges” and try to absorb ideas from other disciplines as well. Contamination must be part of professional growth to find our true direction.
MORE ABOUT YOU: let us have links to web pages where students can discover more about you and your work.
You can follow my Instagram profile (https://www.instagram.com/paolometaldi/) and my site (www.paolometaldi.com).
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
Certainly one of the most important training activities was the relaunch of the brand I work with, Viceversa. We have collaborated with great designers and young promises. in 3 years we have produced more than 40 products and In two years we have won many awards, including 1 Compasso d’Oro, 1 honourable mention at the Compasso d'Oro, 2 Good Design Awards 2 Red Dot Design Award and participation in the ADI Index plus other minor international awards. Great satisfaction and a great stimulus. The thesis project was to create a product that contained a new technology that would replace Bluetooth; the technology was called "ZigBee" and to the company that owned this technology we proposed to create a portable object that could revolutionize the waiting system in public places such as post offices, banks etc. The idea was truly revolutionary for 2006 and allowed users to reserve a “seat” in the queue but allowed, thanks to the technology used, to be able to move away until the acoustic call signalled their turn. It is incredible if I think that today this technology is even present in fast food restaurants.