Lisa Cadamuro
Copywriter

Henry Timi is the mind behind one of the most enigmatic yet influential brands in the Italian creative scene: the eponymous HENRYTIMI. Artist and craftsman with a radical style, he is a devotee of raw materials and a lover of beauty. He divides his time between Milan, Rome, and the Marche countryside – his homeland and the location of the Manifattura, where all his functional artifacts, as unique as works of art, are created.

Right now, you are in the Marche region, at your Manifattura. What is it exactly?

Manifattura is an iconic place within the HENRYTIMI world, to which I have dedicated great passion over the past years. Architecturally speaking, it is a minimal, pure, and essential container. Inside, it houses the artistic woodworking shop, the marble workshop, the metalworking space, and rooms for treatments, painting, and drying, as well as several material libraries. This is where we transform natural wood, stone, metals, clay, and fabrics into what I call functional artworks. There is also a gallery space where we exhibit prototypes and works, in line with my galleries in Milan and Rome. I like to think of Manifattura as a place of gathering and well-being, surrounded by nature. Next to it, there is also the stable with my horses – another great passion of mine.

You chose to call your space ‘Manifattura’ – Italian for manufacture – a term that evokes tangible, ancient craftsmanship. How important is the human touch in your creative process?

Manifattura is my beating heart, the driving force of my work. It represents its tangible side, but at the same time, it is what gives me enthusiasm. I chose this name precisely to emphasize the act of making – with the hands, the mind, and the heart. I believe it is crucial to give our hands material to work with, to teach them ancient crafts that have been lost – woodworking, marble cutting, metalworking, tailoring. Manifattura was also born with this mission.

Manifattura is located in the Marche region because it is your homeland. Do you ever reflect on how this place has influenced your vision of the world and design?

Yes, more and more often. This landscape, its ancient villages, the sea, and the mountains have had a significant influence. I also consider nature to be the greatest source of inspiration and beauty we have been given. And in this sense, the Marche region is a wonderful place – just like all of Italy, after all.

It seems like you are strongly connected to your homeland.

Yes, I was born here, and my family still lives here. Corridonia is a place that gives me great serenity, which is why, a few years ago, I decided to establish Manifattura here, to do everything in this historic inland town, between the Adriatic Sea and the Sibillini Mountains. It is also a way to give value to the land and the people of the region, as I involve young local artisans in my project. I spent many years away, building my brand and career in Milan, and while I feel deeply connected to the city, this is where I chose to establish the heart and soul of HENRYTIMI.

What is HENRYTIMI, how and when did this project start?

It was born in 2011 with the opening of the gallery in Milan and the idea of creating functional artworks that went beyond industrial design, beyond trends, leaving a lasting mark. At first, it was difficult to explain and make people understand what I was doing – working with essential shapes, natural or untreated materials, sometimes raw and seemingly unfinished. But it has been a steady growth, and today, with references worldwide, we are proud of this project. We have created a stylistic line that did not exist before: the concept of art interior. If you look at the entire collection –seating, upholstered furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, accessories – you can see the journey we have taken. Extreme, perhaps, but authentic and coherent. And the market recognizes, follows, and respects that.

It is interesting that you see yourself as being an outsider of the design world, yet you are held in high regard. How did you build this unique position, and how do you maintain this balance?

I have always told myself, and I remind myself daily, that if you want to create something that leaves a deep mark and is authentic, you need passion and determination. You need to make sacrifices, study, work hard – but also have a lot of patience. Our stylistic movement is highly recognisable precisely because it is founded on passion, determination, and sacrifice, but most importantly, on coherence and a singular mission: to leave a mark by cultivating beauty every day, by creating something unexpected. I often think that in many areas of Made in Italy and Italian excellence, everything looks the same – boring. I am somewhat outside the system, yet I am part of it, because I do not love boredom. I love making beautiful things, doing them authentically, and trying to communicate and convey that. I aim to inspire, to influence, but above all, to convert those who can truly understand this stylistic and functional language.

Regarding storytelling, I remember that in the first interview I did with you, a few years ago, you initially responded in written form, almost like verses. Even in person, you have a very vivid and metaphorical way of speaking. Would you say this reflects your way of thinking?

Yes, absolutely. I do not like arrogance, nor do I like the rules of marketing or commercial strategies based on shallow approaches. I have had the patience to wait for our potential clients and our partners in design, fashion, and food to take the time to understand us.

Your showrooms are also unique; they are art galleries that reflect your philosophy. What inspired you in their creation?

Yes, they are true art galleries – I call them “galleries of functional art”. I have used this concept for a long time and have entirely removed the word ‘showroom’ from my vocabulary. In these galleries, we highlight ancient crafts and showcase finished pieces that can either be simply admired or, most importantly, used. The first gallery opened in Milan, on Foro Bonaparte in Brera, and a few years ago, we also chose to open in via Margutta, Rome – the most beautiful city in the world, which lends itself perfectly to expressing our vision.

Your pieces are very tangible and deeply connected to raw materials. Which one resonates with you the most?

I’m torn over this. I cannot choose between wood and stone. My story is a fusion of the two, with the addition of metals. Wood, stone, metals. Stone, wood, metals. Metals, wood, stone. I don’t know. What is certain is that my project is about blending these three raw materials, always keeping them monochrome or tone-on-tone, in accordance with my fundamental principle: elegance.

In Italian you talk about ‘materia’ rather than ‘materiale’ to highlight the distinction between raw materials (‘matter’) and artificial ones (‘material’). Do you see a conceptual difference between the two?

Yes. Today, the world is full of artificial materials, which I respect because they are sometimes brilliant creations. But if I have to choose my path, I say that natural stone and natural wood are unparalleled and must be respected for what they are, for their origin. I deeply believe in the concept of the original.

Your work deals with space and matter, but also with time. What is your relationship with time, both in design and in life?

I try to honor time by living it to the fullest. Sometimes, I wish for more time, but then I realize we can only live in the moment. As for design, I believe in creating works that can stand the test of time.


How do you spend your time when you are not working on one of your pieces?

I really enjoy sharing my time and my silence with animals. With my dog, whom I consider an extraordinary being, and with horses. Whenever I can, I go to the stables to take care of them, go for a walk in nature, or simply watch them run free. I prefer being among my horses rather than among people; horses give you only what they are. I believe this is a great remedy for my soul, one that I would recommend to everyone, because being surrounded by animals is something extraordinary.


My family history.
The home I grew up in, the games I have played, all the lengths of my skirts.
Things that went well, things yet to happen.
My dreams, my hopes, my goals.
All the moments still waiting to unfold.
My loved ones.
Who I am.
All in me.

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Our actions, thoughts, and choices we make every day are intertwined with memory, desire, and collective culture, revealing the many identities that live within us.
All in me, the new FOPE campaign, shows how many versions of us can exist even in the same day. Such is the case for the campaign’s protagonist, who is both one and many: simple yet sophisticated, sometimes curious and introspective, serious in certain situations, and playful in others. Her jewellery also expresses her multifaceted personality, like stories that are intertwined into a single narrative: memories, promises, achievements, successes, and bonds. Everything inside her – All in Me.

A portrait of Elisa Ossino in her Milan studio, suspended between two cities: the 20th-century city of trade fairs, and the contemporary metropolis, towered over by the new City Life skyscrapers. Between architectural stratifications and cultural contaminations.

When did your career begin? 

I opened the studio in 2006, but started out long before then. Straight after graduating I worked in the Architecture Faculty of the Politecnico, in a multimedia lab where we carried out research and experimentation on how to communicate using different languages. The interesting thing is that we invited artists, philosophers, personalities from the literary world … this multidisciplinary approach was really formative, and I like to highlight it as the beginning of my career, because that was my work experience. 

Did this influence your practice, too? 

Absolutely. It influenced my practice in a big way. For instance, in my studio today there are designers who work on interior projects, people from fine art academies who work on the visual side, but also people who write, who have a humanities background. This multidisciplinary approach is extremely important to me, because I put a lot of work into the conceptual side of my projects, and their in-depth storytelling and communication is part and parcel of that process.

Do you have the same multidisciplinary approach to finding inspiration?

Yes. One of my main sources of inspiration is art, which is a world that I’m especially fond of. But I believe that to do this job, it’s fundamental that you pay great attention to everything around you, to all the elements that make up the present times we’re living in. Reading a book, going to a gig to see how music is evolving, seeing exhibitions and theatre shows. These are all signs that give you a vision, a cultural baggage that then translates into your projects in a very instinctive way.

Have you come across anything recently that resonated? 

A book that I just started reading, called Inclusions: Aesthetics of the Capitalocene by Nicolas Bourriaud [2022, ed.]. It talks about the importance of art in contemporary society, arguing that in the future, we will increasingly need figures belonging to different worlds with visions that converge into the construction of possible scenarios. Up to now, we’ve been reasoning a bit too much based on watertight compartments, with specialisations that have prevented us from having an in-depth panorama of reality. 

Perhaps because when languages become overly specialised, they rot …

Exactly, they become sterile, they self-replicate because there is no exchange, which is what brings cultural enrichment. It’s something I always try to do, on every project I work with a writer who can bring a certain intellectual content, an artist who can contribute through artwork, an expert in materials … not to mention the whole world of interactivity and digital technology. The world is increasingly complex and by creating a synergy between the different sectors of knowledge, you get far more interesting projects.

This sounds like what happened with Officina Temporanea, one of your personal projects. How important is it, for your creativity, that you have these moments of free research? 

I’d say they are fundamental, they are moments of pure research. I founded Officina Temporanea in 2010 with two other curators. The idea was to put together an in-depth study of social and cultural reality, divided into chapters, so we would suggest a topic and invite artists and designers to grapple with it. It goes back to what I was talking about before: I’m really interested in this pluralistic vision, this view of the same theme from different perspectives. For example, the first chapter in this experiment was called “Erasure”: we had street artists and rap crews painting a series of symbols on a wall, such as the one for atomic power, and then erasing them. Other artists reflected upon the erasure of money, in a performance in which they produced fake notes and then threw them into the air and finally swept them away. Others talked about the erasure of history. What emerged were a series of interpretations of the same theme that produced a multi-faceted understanding of it, according to the people’s background, culture and place of origin. Naturally, this personal research also influences my professional work—it’s hugely enriching. It’s also an opportunity for me to work with lots of artists and explore themes with them that have always been a part of my personal research, since my very first job at the Politecnico multimedia lab. I met some incredible people there—I’m thinking of Derrick De Kerkhove, a sociologist at the McLuhan Institute, but there were many others.

Performance is a recurrent theme, both in your own research and in your job as a set designer. 

Yes, very much so. I like the element of transforming reality, because sometimes reality as it is can be extremely boring. In interiors too, I work on the search for abstraction. 

Speaking of interiors, your studio is in this beautiful building, a 1930s block in a hyper-contemporary neighbourhood in the city—you can see the skyscrapers from your window. Why did you choose it, what was it that attracted you to it?  

Actually, I was here before the skyscrapers were built, many years ago. I chose this area because I found it somehow metaphysical. Piazza Giulio Cesare, with this big fountain in the middle, seems almost like an archaeology of the past. It was also a badly connected neighbourhood, so it felt like being outside of the city, in a suspended zone. It’s a dimension that I seek out a lot, both in the spaces of my private life and in my projects. 

Did the skyscrapers ruin that atmosphere for you? 

In a way, yes, but it’s also true that they brought a really interesting aspect of contemporaneity. I’m glad it happened right here, that these two realities are touching and coexisting. Milan, and Italy in general, was almost paralysed in terms of architecture in the past century, there was a long period of total stagnation. Seeing new buildings rise up, designed by important architects, is really interesting, because the city needs to evolve. 

How did you come up with the interiors of your studio? 

It’s an extremely simple space. There’s lots of white, lots of light and few objects, because in order to work I need to be in an empty space, a sort of a blank canvas that allows me to imagine other spaces, to let my thoughts flow. 

Could it also be that it’s easier this way, to fill it with the projects you’re working on at any given moment? 

Yes, and then I empty it all out and fill it up again. It’s a way to stay open, receptive to change. By avoiding connoting a space too much, you stay open to transformation. 

Do you have the same approach to your home? 

Yes, absolutely. 

After the past two years, do you think it’s still important to have a space dedicated exclusively to work?   

I really enjoy having a space dedicated to work, even though I believe the future is going in a different direction. In the sense that the places of work and the places of life are increasingly mixing together, it’s already happening, and it’s a need that we as designers have to take into account. As far as I’m concerned, I really like having a place to work in because it’s a meeting place. Yes, you can work remotely, but for instance, I’m really glad you came here today, instead of sending me an interview that I could have just as well have replied to via email. But it wouldn’t have been the same, because now we’re meeting, looking each other in the eye, unfolding a thought process, there’s an intelligence sitting in front of you. But then, yes, I think we could work in a much more intelligent way, avoiding excessive commuting, flying all over the place like we were used to … I certainly can’t imagine living like that in the future. In fact, I think we will need to be careful and impose on ourselves that we don’t do it, because it’s easy taking a low-cost flight, but it also causes huge damage to the environment.

As with many things, that seem democratic to start with, but then … 

Exactly, it’s an illusion. There’s the other side of the coin which has a huge price. 

You were talking about how you designed your home like your studio. 

Yes. What I do in a space is try to create a sort of empty box and then generate some signs. I like to make all functional objects disappear, so hide them as much as possible. And then in this slightly abstract box, I create signs that turn it into an environment. So for example, at home, I wrote sentences along the moulding that I wanted to remember, I painted them at the meeting point between the vertical and the horizontal surfaces. I try to design interiors that are like three-dimensional paintings. I like to use the space as if it were a canvas. 

I imagine that all appliances in your kitchen are hidden, as they are functional items. 

That depends. There are appliances like the ones by V-ZUG that I find really interesting. They have this approach, which is similar to mine, to simplify the project to the extreme and tend to hide all functional elements, such as all the controls that used to be visible on the oven door have now disappeared. It’s a design approach that I find really clever. It’s extraordinary that an object that is so intelligent is hidden behind such a simple interface. I’m really intrigued by this aspect of simplicity and complexity coexisting in an object, even from the technological point of view, seeing as all of their technology is built around steam, water, and if you think about it that’s the foundations of the universe, of life. 

Yes, and it’s not by chance that this technology was born in Switzerland, a country that is rich in water resources and sensitive to environmental questions. It’s as if it were written in their DNA. Is this the same for you, do you also feel like being Sicilian influences your work? 

Absolutely. Sicily emerges a lot in my projects, sometimes in a hidden way, in the sense that perhaps it’s often not so evident for those who don’t know it well. Sicily is my cultural background, it shaped me, it influences my imagination and it’s therefore very present in my projects, starting from my use of patterns with Arabic influences, or a certain idea of majesticness, which comes from the Greek temples. When I was little I spent hours observing them. But I’m also thinking of my works with marble, I’ve used a lot of inlay because I saw so much of that in Sicily as a child. They are memories that resurface and translate into contemporary visions.

Could it be that, at a deeper level, the theme of the intersection between different things, which keeps returning so often in your work, is also owed to Sicily? 

That’s so true, it could be. It’s the cultural stratification that has shaped my imagination since I was little and has become my experiential baggage. 

 

Le arti ci aiutano a interpretare la realtà in cui viviamo.

Il Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci di Prato è la prima istituzione italiana progettata da zero con l’obiettivo di presentare, collezionare, documentare e supportare le ricerche artistiche di arti visive e performative, cinema, musica, architettura, design, moda e letteratura. Tutte espressioni del contemporaneo che avvicinano le persone ai grandi temi della vita e della nostra società.

Dall’apertura nel 1988 a oggi abbiamo prodotto e ospitato mostre e progetti espositivi, organizzato eventi speciali e promosso iniziative didattiche per studenti e adulti. Abbiamo anche raccolto nella nostra collezione oltre mille opere che mappano le tendenze artistiche dagli anni Sessanta in poi.

Il complesso che ci ospita, progettato dall’architetto razionalista Italo Gamberini e ampliato nel 2016 da Maurice Nio, è una città nella città: al suo interno ci sono 3.000 mq di sale espositive, un archivio, i 60.000 volumi della biblioteca specializzata CID/Arti Visive, l’auditorium-cinema, un bookshop, un ristorante, un bistrot e un teatro all’aperto.

Jean-Michel Wilmotte is one of the top 100 architects in the world.
After graduating at the École Camondo in Paris, he created his own firm in 1975 and achieved recognition as an influential interior designer after working for the Louvre, where he designed the temporary exhibition spaces, bookshop, and restaurants beneath the Ieoh Ming Pei pyramid.
Though he is fond of designing museums and cultural spaces, as well as refurbishing architectural heritage, throughout his career Jean-Michel Wilmotte has branched out from furniture and industrial design to large-scale projects like the Greater Moscow.
Lightness and transparency are key concepts of his design, together with the ability to find a balance between past and present, the environment and contemporary needs. Among his latest projects are the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice, the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris, the Ferrari Sporting Management Center in Maranello and the refurbishment of the Halle Freyssinet into the Station F start-up campus in Paris, together with the renovation of Hotel Lutetia – which is the topic of this conversation. Far from a simple makeover, his work on the hotel achieved the delicate task of breathing new life into the building while respecting its roots and identity, which were so precisely narrated in the novel Lutetia by French writer Pierre Assouline.

L.C. — What is it that you find most fascinating about Hotel Lutetia?

J.M.W. — Everything is fascinating, from the building’s dimensions to its exceptional location, on the rive gauche, or its monumental façade, which opens up on Rue de Sèvres, Boulevard Raspail and Place Alphonse Deville: it’s incredible to have such a building on the Left Bank.

It’s also interesting that this hotel was imagined by the former owner of Le Bon Marché, Madame Boucicaut. When she opened her department store she said: “I would like the clients to stay longer in Paris to buy in my department store: I should build a hotel”. Unfortunately, she never had the chance to see it because she died before it opened.

Last but not least, a very fascinating aspect is art. The hotel was built in 1910, a period when art and architecture were transitioning from Art Nouveau to Art Deco. The façade has windows and balusters decorated with impressive angels, trellises and grapes, while the walls of the ground floor feature high quality frescoes, friezes and bas-reliefs.

L.C. — What is the main concept behind the new Hotel Lutetia?

J.M.W. — Our goal was to recreate the atmosphere of the original Lutetia for today’s requirements. We didn’t want to do a pastiche, nor a copy of what the Lutetia was before: it was more about our interpretation. Our challenge was to create a dialogue between the existing building and the refurbishment we had in mind, balancing contemporary elements with classical ones and cleaning up everything that was out of memory.

L.C. — How did you transform a hotel from the 1910s into a hotel for 2019?

J.M.W. — We realized almost immediately that the existing building already contained the vocabulary for the new building. Therefore, we borrowed some details and developed them. For instance, the overlapping circles that were featured on the tympanum of the main building were replicated on the floor of the bathrooms. We also completely remodelled the layout by creating larger rooms and reducing their number: all the bathrooms now have a window and are lit by natural light. We took all the partitions out because of their bad quality, upgrading the hotel’s acoustics, electricity, air conditioning, etc. And finally, we added a 17-meters-long swimming pool and a SPA.

L.C. — How did you redesign the ground floor?

J.M.W. — One of the most important things we created on the ground floor is the patio. What was previously a windowless salon, with a low ceiling and heavy curtains, is now an open-air garden that brings daylight everywhere! Further, there is an axis that didn’t exist before: now, from the Orangerie you can see the entrance on Boulevard Raspail. Then we completely reorganized the spaces. Salon Saint-Germain was too small to host a bar, so we decided to move the bar on the Boulevard Raspail side, while Café Saint-Germain is now a restaurant with a new skylight by contemporary artist Fabrice Hyber, that brings happiness in with its colours. The library, Salon Ernest – which is an engaging room for book lovers – also opens onto the garden.

L.C. — How has the past remained visible?

J.M.W. — I must say that when we arrived we couldn’t see any original decor or furniture, which had totally disappeared during the successive refurbishments in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s. We only chose to maintain the sculptures of Cesar and Hiquily. I would rather say that we uncovered the past, that is now visible again. Under layers of paint, we came across original frescoes that we brought back to life.

L.C. — What was Poliform’s contribution to the overall project?

J.M.W. — Poliform Contract was contracted for the public areas. It made the Conciergerie, the lobby, the entire jazz bar – with the countertop in curved bronzed mirror, the “lustre” and the furnishings, the salon Saint-Germain, the Orangerie, the library, the Brasserie, the bathrooms and all the details of the ground floor.

We designed things that were very difficult to produce and it always found the appropriate solution. The piece I am most proud of is the masterful “lustre” (19,5 meters long !) of Bar Joséphine, made by Poliform. It is particularly interesting as it reflects the space, the frescoes and the light, and constitutes an extraordinary contemporary object on the ceiling.

L.C. — How do you imagine life in this new hotel?

J.M.W. — Life at the Lutetia is a unique experience. Let yourself be guided to your room, eat in Saint-Germain, relax on the patio or, if it’s cold outside, near the chimneys in the library. Smoke a cigar, then go down to relax in the SPA or in the swimming pool before having dinner and listening to jazz in the bar or joining a party in Salon Cristal. The Lutetia is really the best place to live the Left Bank way of life.

Leggila sul libro.

Da Incalmi, tutto diventa uno.

Fondiamo fra di loro materiali diversi, in un processo sperimentale che ci spinge a superare continuamente i nostri limiti.

 

Reinventiamo il lusso attraverso l’artigianalità.

Ci prendiamo il tempo necessario per creare, giovandoci di un patrimonio di conoscenze dalla tradizione millenaria. 

 

Lavoriamo fianco a fianco con i nostri clienti.

Il successo di chi collabora con noi è anche il nostro. Per questo portiamo avanti ogni progetto come una squadra indivisibile.

 

Alimentiamo la creatività con la ricerca.

Studiamo meticolosamente gli oggetti, i materiali che li compongono e le funzioni che svolgono, per poi reinventarli completamente.

 

Facciamo cultura con gli oggetti e oggetti con la cultura.

Incalmi. Objects of culture.

 

Leggi anche i testi del sito e il payoff.

Power to the colors. 

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Flowy lines and cozy fabrics: finally a lingerie that makes you smile. 

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Fall in two words: new coat.

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For all the summer lovers over there: be brave and stay warm.

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*No fluffy teddy bears were harmed during this shooting.

Leggi anche gli altri.

 

TESTO A (COPERTINA) 

Se è vero che come trascorriamo il tempo diventa, senza che ce ne accorgiamo, come trascorriamo l’esistenza, quanto sono importanti i luoghi in cui viviamo? La città dove abitiamo, gli uffici o gli studi in cui lavoriamo, gli spazi che scegliamo per incontrare altre persone, acquistare ciò che è necessario e ciò che non lo è, divertirci, stare bene… la casa. La nostra casa. Il posto in cui possiamo essere davvero noi stessi, l’isola a cui tornare per cercare un po’ di senso e di quiete in mezzo al caos.

La casa è il luogo che plasma la nostra vita, lo scenario dei ricordi che porteremo con noi. A casa trascorriamo la maggior parte del tempo, quello delle gioie più grandi e quello delle piccole cose – aprire la porta d’ingresso e riconoscere il profumo di casa nostra, unico al mondo, camminare e ballare a piedi nudi, leggere un libro senza riuscire a smettere, cucinare il nostro piatto preferito, tenerci stretti alle persone che amiamo, dormire, sognare. Nella nostra testa, lo spazio domestico non mostra ma evoca, come una sinestesia. Una sinestesia dell’esistenza. 

TESTO B (PAGINA II) 

Profile

Dal 1974 MD House accompagna con i suoi prodotti le evoluzioni dell’abitare contemporaneo. L’idea del design come ricerca del bello ispira la progettazione di sistemi componibili e modulari per le zone giorno e notte. Sistemi che con linee essenziali, materiali di qualità e combinazioni selezionate di colori e finiture interpretano i nuovi modi del vivere. E se lo stile è internazionale, la produzione è completamente italiana, tra dettagli dal sapore artigianale e saper fare made in Italy. 

 

TESTO C (PAGINA III) 

Concept 1: Alberto Lievore and Jeannette Altherr of Lievore + Altherr Désile Park 

«In quest’epoca segnata dall’urbanizzazione siamo tutti alla ricerca di spazi da chiamare nostri. Più di metà della popolazione mondiale vive in un contesto urbano, e i numeri sono in costante aumento. La richiesta di alloggi ne ha aumentato il prezzo e il costo della vita è salito in misura inversamente proporzionale ai metri quadri a nostra disposizione. Ma non per questo abbiamo rinunciato alla qualità degli spazi: anzi, abbiamo iniziato a riconoscerne l’importanza, plasmandoli a nostra immagine. E dentro case che oggi più che mai sono i nostri santuari, i luoghi in cui si svolge il rituale della nostra esistenza, siamo stati anche capaci di ripensare gli spazi comuni, condividendoli. Dai giardini alle lavanderie, abbiamo iniziato a chiamare nostro solo ciò che ha valore e ci appartiene davvero – la nostra camera da letto, il nostro salotto».   

Leggi anche tutti gli altri.

Il senso del paesaggio 

Billiani riporta la natura al centro e lo fa riflettendo sul paesaggio. Un paesaggio vicino come quello del Tagliamento, ultimo fiume d’Europa libero di scorrere nel suo letto originale. Un paesaggio fatto di terra, d’aria e d’acqua ma anche delle comunità che lo animano con attività produttive condotte in modo sostenibile, nel rispetto dell’ambiente e dei materiali: come Billiani, che lavora il legno, e Torri Lana, storico lanificio bergamasco che da cinque secoli tesse fibre naturali per creare prodotti di grande qualità, selezionati da Billiani per la propria cartella tessuti.  Tra loro è nata una sintonia speciale. E poiché spesso i movimenti nello spazio sono anche spostamenti nel tempo, Billiani e Torri Lana hanno recuperato nel presente una dinamica del passato – l’intima collaborazione tra mobilieri e produttori di tessuto. Il risultato è una collezione innovativa di tessuti in filati naturali, disegnata da Cristina Celestino e prodotta in esclusiva per le sedute Billiani, che sulla perfetta interazione tra i materiali e l’accuratezza delle lavorazioni fondano la loro unicità. 

Billiani, Torri Lana e ritorno

Billiani ha sede a Manzano, in una strada che porta nel nome la storia di questi luoghi. Si chiama via della roggia, una parola che in alcune regioni dell’Italia settentrionale indica i canali artificiali usati fin dall’antichità per portare acqua ai mulini e ai campi. Situata tra il fiume Natisone e il torrente Torre, all’inizio del secolo Manzano era una piccola città di confine a vocazione agricola, diventata rapidamente famosa in tutto il mondo per essere il cuore del distretto friulano della sedia. Torri Lana si trova invece nella Val Gandino, nel bergamasco, zona di lanifici e setifici dalla tradizione millenaria. La sede è stata costruita nel 1885, come ricorda l’iscrizione sul muro di mattoni: all’epoca la forza motrice dei macchinari e dei telai era l’acqua di un torrente che ancora scorre nei pressi dell’edificio. Il design entra nella storia di Torri Lana quando l’azienda inizia a specializzarsi nella produzione di tessuti per l’arredamento, negli anni Settanta, collaborando con alcune tra le maggiori aziende del settore. Più o meno nello stesso periodo, Billiani vive il passaggio alla terza generazione: dopo aver prodotto per più di mezzo secolo sedie in legno curvate e impagliate, si dedica dapprima alle grandi commesse, quindi intraprende la strada del design. L’evoluzione, in entrambi i casi, è sinonimo di crescita. Una crescita basata su visioni e valori precisi: né Billiani né Torri Lana scenderanno mai a compromessi quanto alla qualità della propria materia prima – legno in un caso, filati naturali dall’altro – all’insegna della sostenibilità più autentica di chi semplicemente conosce un solo modo di fare le cose: farle bene, nel rispetto della natura e delle persone. È così che, in un momento storico in cui più che mai è importante progettare il futuro con lungimiranza e attenzione alla comunità, Billiani trova in Torri Lana l’interlocutore ideale per la nuova collezione di tessuti disegnata dall’art director dell’azienda, Cristina Celestino: un’esplorazione in un ambito nuovo e diverso, ma affine per cultura, tradizione e know-how – tra canali che sembrano radici, colori che richiamano la natura e fili che si intrecciano.

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A volte abbiamo la sensazione che il tempo scorra velocissimo. Altre volte sembra non passare mai. Allora vorremmo farlo scorrere velocemente, accelerarlo al punto che le situazioni difficili durino pochi fotogrammi. Oppure rallentarlo per gustare più a lungo un momento speciale. Ma il tempo scorre, inesorabilmente. Veloce come un ruscello di montagna o lento come un fiume che si avvicina al mare.  Scorre inarrestabile. Come il sangue nelle vene, l’energia che alimenta ogni muscolo del corpo, un brivido lungo la schiena che ci fa sentire vivi. Tutto scorre. Qualcosa scorre lungo un percorso più avventuroso di quanto potremmo immaginare. Perché come la natura insegna, nulla si crea e nulla si distrugge, ma tutto si trasforma, offrendoci spunti e opportunità per fare il nostro lavoro nel migliore dei modi. Siamo qui per continuare ad esserci. Perché se il tempo non lo possiamo ancora fermare, sappiamo che non dobbiamo sprecarlo. E conosciamo solo un modo per farlo: condividerlo!

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Everyday, companies design products and services to improve their customer’s lives. But 72% of new products and service innovations fail to deliver on expectations. This means that customers don’t care about 7 out of 10 new products introduced to the market. It doesn’t have to be this way. 

Just like you create value for your business with the Business Model Canvas, there is in fact a tool to intentionally visualize, design and test how you create value for customers. It’s called the Value Proposition Canvas.

The Value Proposition Canvas is composed of two parts: the Customer Profile and the Value Map. With The Customer Profile you describe the jobs your customer try to get done. Jobs can be functional (like getting from A to B), social (like impressing friends and colleagues), or emotional (like gaining peace of mind). You highlight your customer’s pains which annoy customers while trying to get a job done. Pains and negative outcomes that customers hope to avoid like dissatisfactions with existing solutions, challenges, frustrations, risks or obstacles related to performing a job.  And you outline customer gains which describe how customers measure the success for a job well done; gains are positive outcomes that customers try to achieve like concrete results, benefits and even  aspirations. Use the Customer Profile to visualize, test and track your understanding of the people or companies you intend to create value for. It’s a map that becomes clearer the more you learn about your customers. 

The second part of the Canvas is the Value Map. With it you list the Products and Services your value proposition builds on. You describe in which way these products, services and features are Pain relievers, how they eliminate, reduce or minimize pains customers care about, making their life easier. And you outline in which way they are Gain creators, how they produce, increase or maximize outcomes and benefits that your customer expects, desires or would be surprised by.  The Value Map makes explicit how your products and services relieve pains and create gains. Use it to design, test and iterate your value proposition until you figure out what resonates with customers.

You achieve Fit by creating a clear connection between what matters to customers and your products services and features ease pains and create gains .

Great Value Propositions target essential customer jobs, pains and gains and do so extremely well. Your customer profile may contain countless jobs, pains and gains but your Value Map highlights which ones you intend to focus on. Don’t forget. An outstanding value proposition can still fail if your business model is broken. Successful companies embed outstanding Value Propositions and scalable and profitable Business Models.

 Use the Value Proposition Canvas to create products and services that customers want. Get started on strategyzer.com

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