The theme of this edition of the Superdesign Show (15 – 21 April 2024), “THINKING DIFFERENT – everything, everywhere, everyone”, is an invitation to extend its range of action to unusual spheres, thinking of different types of users, contaminating the local DNA of the various countries with the global desires of world citizens, imagining new domestic, urban and social scenarios.
With the participation of 11 nations, the involvement of 3 continents, the participation of more than 80 companies and the presentation of almost 40 avant-garde projects, Superdesign Show aims to explore the latest trends and future visions of design between revisited traditions, virtual worlds, humanized technologies, respect for nature, regenerated materials, inclusive choices, ethics and aesthetics.
There are many events not to be missed: from Hideki Yoshimoto and Marjan van Aubel’s interactive installation Luexus, to sculptor Michele D’Agostino’s site-specific intervention NichelcromLab in which a forest of oak trees is reflected to infinity thanks to the eco-sustainable and zero environmental impact mirroring steel surrounding them, to Designblok with the best of Czech glass, and Mara Bagnolo’s project on diversity and inclusion of furnishings for autistic children. Gisella Borioli, who is the creator of Superstudio, recounts here her vision of the world of design and culture.
The first question is perhaps the most important one: what value does culture have in contemporary society according to Gisella Borioli?
This question suggests another one: ‘What do we mean by culture today? History, museums, travel, film, architecture, theatre, art, history, philosophy, and so on? If these were expressions of culture, it would be enough to have a mobile phone in our hands to pass for highly cultured. Instead, for me, culture today is ‘deepening’ of our interests, our passions, our world, our desires. How we acculturate is not important; what is fundamental is the commitment to make the topics that are closest to us something intrinsic to ourselves, giving value to our person. Without culture you are nobody, or rather, one of many.
What is the “Superstudio system” today?
Superstudio Group is the mother entity that has generated in forty years a “system” of satellites that together aim at growing its mission: “Spaces Services and Ideas at the Top for Creativity-Communication-Innovation”. Today we are many connected companies and divisions always in progress, united by the name Superstudio, which we tend to represent in its complexity with the original logo designed by Flavio Lucchini in 1983 coupled with a red square as a symbol of all that it contains.
What is the role in Superstudio of your nephew Tommaso Borioli?
Tommaso, son of my younger sister Giulia, grew up on bread and Superstudio. Today he is a talented, courageous young manager, capable of very ambitious visions, and of realising them. We share every project in a fruitful exchange between generations: his is above all the management and business area of events, mine the strategic, creative and communication area of the group. His projects include the Superstudio Village at Bovisa, currently under renovation, and a Superstudio in New York, in the not too distant future.
What has Superstudio meant over time?
When, with my husband, at the beginning of the 1980s, as editors of fashion magazines we thought of opening Superstudio 13, the citadel of image in the Tortona area, the desire was to fill a void and create what was not there. This desire was at the basis of every other choice: the cultural-commercial hub Superstudio Più, the big Superstudio Maxi for small fairs and “passion days”, the Superstudio Academy with training courses to bridge the gap between university and work.
But also the FLA FlavioLucchiniArt Museum, a spectacular “business museum” of fashion-art that sums up all our values, the MyOwnGallery, concept gallery for the contamination of art languages. And the Superdesign Show, the highlight event of the Milan Design Week that kicked off, right from Superstudio and its locations, the great design festival that today is diffused in the city’s Design Districts. Lately Superstudio Group has become a Benefit Company that integrates in its activity non-profit and charity initiatives, supporting fragile categories, as it has always done but now officially and even more so.
Can you tell us the future of Superstudio and that of Gisella Borioli?
Destiny will decide that! The business and development aspect is firmly in the hands of Tommaso with the control of the founders’ family: Flavio, myself and our daughter Gaia. Where it goes will depend on encounters, opportunities, visions. As for me, I have thought many times of stopping working and enjoying ‘grandmotherhood’, but I like work too much, it amuses me, it satisfies me, it stimulates me, it makes me happy. When will I stop? Maybe never.
Finally, what do you think is needed in the design world today?
More ethics than aesthetics, thinking about the problems of the environment, people’s diversity and disability, education in beauty, quality rather than quantity, collaboration between competitors, constant and constructive dialogue between juniors and seniors, the virtual world where the dematerialised object will dominate, which we seniors will not see but which will be the usual habitat for juniors.
Photo © Ambra Alessi
