Name: Ilaria Marelli
Vitals: Born in Erba, near Como, Italy, in 1971
Education: Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Architecture
Occupation: Industrial designer and architect
Location: Como, Italy

Selected exhibitions:
D Come Design, Regional Museum of Natural Sciences, Turin, for Turin World Design Capital, 2008
The New Italian Landscape, Triennale di Milano, 2007
MTV Creative Summit, Omotesando Hills, Tokyo, 2006
Domestic Animals installation, Galleria Aus 18 in Milan, 2006; Pinacoteca di Come, 2005
Selected clients: Cappellini, Zanotta, Nemo (Cassina), Tivoli Audio, Lancia, Pitti Immagine, Invicta, World Group Japan, Polidesign

When I grow up, I want to be...
My parents wanted me to get a steady administrative job, but I wanted to be an artist. Enrolling in the architecture faculty of the Politecnico di Milano seemed a perfect compromise, especially when you consider that my mentor was Ezio Manzini. His thinking on sustainability gave a whole new meaning to design, and thanks to his theoretical approach I fell in love with concepts that stem from innovative ideas rather than mere styling.

What if?
I do not follow a specific design process. Rather, I keep a close look at the world of arts, and at people’s behaviours and habits. So, in a way, they are the influencing factors in my work. I also tend to question things, incessantly. I could be asking myself, for instance: is it feasible to create a table with two legs? Logic says no. But the heart says, let’s try it. And when you challenge the status quo, a lot more is possible than you imagine: a two-legged table like Cannot for Cappellini; a bedside table with a floating drawer, such as Segreto for Zanotta; a task lamp that looks like a jewel, as does Chain for Nemo.

First encounters...
If someone had told me years ago that I would be working for Cappellini after leaving university I would have laughed. Yet it really did happen. The Cappellini product manager came to the faculty to select candidates for the position of product development assistant, and I got the job. I had to bring projects into production, which was hard work – long hours, weekends – but worth it: I was being exposed to design and learning an incredible amount about materials and manufacturing technologies. And when the person who originally employed me left, my position evolved almost naturally, and I was suddenly managing the entire product development group. I was only 28, and I was thrilled..

...and consequent opportunities
Working at Cappellini was strange, in a sense. I was in a “design temple,” and I used my design skills, yet I was not officially a designer. I knew this was not, in the long term, what I really wanted. So I started working on my own ideas in the little spare time I had, hoping to get a chance to show Giulio Cappellini my thoughts. And the chance came in 1999, when he realized we needed a low table in the collection. I had the Cannot concept [conceived with Michela Catalano] ready. He loved it, and put it into production.

Turning point
The satisfaction of seeing my ideas become real products [Cannot was the first in a series] made me realize that I really needed to focus on designing rather than managing. Leaving Cappellini was a tough decision, but I knew I needed a thinking break, and so I took it in 2003. But nothing ever goes as planned, and I actually had no time whatsoever to think in the year that followed. Instead, I worked flat out with designer Diana Eugeni on a series of identity projects. The real turning point in my career occurred when Nemo approached me. The Ara lamp series that I designed for them in 2003 was my first product to be manufactured in large quantities, excellent news for me, both in terms of royalties – since I didn’t have a steady job anymore – and recognition. For the first time, I thought I really was a designer, and I could definitely stand on my own two feet.

Preparation is all
There is no recipe for success, of course, but surely preparation and forward thinking matter. The only time I proactively approached a company was with Zanotta. I thought that a Plexiglas bedside table I had designed with Diana Eugeni would suit their catalogue – although they did not work with Plexiglas the way I did. So I turned up at Zanotta with a prototype already made, and with a supplier lined up for production. It entered the company catalogue in 2005. 

What's next?
When I look at the kind of companies I work for – at the last Salone, I had new products in the Cappellini, Fiam and Moroso catalogues – and consider that I opened my studio only four years ago, I feel I have achieved a great deal in a very short time. But perhaps things did move a little too fast, and now I sometimes find myself conjuring up images of a little hideout where I can be alone: a tree house surrounded by nature, where my sabbatical intentions would not fail as they previously did, and where no e-mail or cellphone could disturb my daydreams. After all, everyone needs to be offline at times. That is, perhaps, one of the most important keys to creative success. 

By Laura Traldi