The differences between abroad and Italy and the need to create conditions for designing freely

You were born in Italy and, after studying and gaining your first work experience, you moved abroad where you founded your studio in Stockholm. What was the main reason for your move abroad and what differences have you found in the design profession compared to Italy?

My path hasn't been linear; after graduating in Italy and spending two years at Studio Camuffo in Venice (even as a student), I first went to Nepal, and then moved to Sweden more by chance than intention. But I knew I was seeking something "more" professionally and personally. Two more years followed in Nepal and Central Asia, before returning to study and work in Sweden. Here, I found the ideal pedagogical environment to creatively flourish, with a strong MFA program based on feminist methodology that encouraged the development of a distinct visual voice — unlike my previous student experiences in Italy. Ten years later, I owe much to both Sweden and Italy. Regarding graphic design, the professional field is currently struggling everywhere, and similar issues can be found in Italy as well as in the Nordic countries. The substantial difference is that in Sweden, we find many more women in decision-making positions, and less prejudice towards female professionals, which has allowed me to sustain my studio and receive commissions in design, as well as in teaching and research. And although Sweden doesn't have a graphic design tradition comparable to Italy's, some of the most interesting professionals in Europe are now found here, expanding the profession's perspectives. This has allowed me to join a community that is addressing some of the most crucial discussions for the future of visual communication.

As an active designer in the community, you have participated in events both in Italy and abroad. Do you believe that there is still a gender disparity in the field of design? If so, what actions do you think can be taken to address this situation, and what are you personally doing about it?

It's not a matter of belief, but of acknowledging and acting for a necessary and urgent change. Discrimination against women, as in all fields, is limiting the graphic field in the way it systematically discourages and excludes female professionals, whose immense contributions are lost. Anyone who claims to care about justice, impartiality, and excellence should have this at the forefront of their concerns. Despite design students being mostly women, most of them leave the professional field shortly after graduation due to a myriad of obstacles, primarily prejudice and lack of confidence, which result in an epidemic of unemployment. This is true even in Sweden, where most of my colleagues have had to leave the profession and either become subordinates in established agencies, or turn to teaching or research. The actions to be taken are systemic; it's the negative bias against women that we need to evolve beyond. Female solidarity is the first step, discussing and building a language is the second, and then there are many others that I couldn't cover in this limited space. Personally, what I do is work, build solidarity, and testify every day to what female designers can achieve. But I would prefer not to have to deal with this, not having to testify to anything, and just being able to focus on my work, as my male colleagues do. This is what I wish for my colleagues of future generations — the opportunity to work without having to create the conditions for it.

Looking at your website and the projects you have published, there seems to be the application of a specific method in your design practice, with a strong focus on research. Besides the aesthetic aspect of your projects, what is your main goal as a designer?

Design is an act of care, anticipation of needs, and construction of beauty. Design enhances the quality of life, breaks free from alienation (in the words of Ettore Sottsass), and brings us back to an awareness of who we are. This is what I love about design, compared to art or engineering, and this is my goal through my professional and aesthetic choices. Lately, I have found the courage to celebrate my love for aesthetics, which especially in the field of graphic design in the last 30-50 years has been relegated to a frivolous whim. On the contrary, I am more aware than ever that nothing matters more than aesthetics as the interface between our sensory bodies, the world we inhabit, and every single one of our daily choices.

What are your prospects for the evolution of your design practice in the future, and how do you imagine your studio growing as a result?

My goal over the next 10 years is to focus increasingly on the ornamental aspects of design, on a certain craftsmanship of beauty with particular attention to aesthetics and know-how.

You participate in many conferences and events to disseminate methods and research. How do you envision the evolution of the role of this profession in the coming years, considering the significant changes that are happening (e.g., Artificial Intelligence), and that have occurred in past years?

I believe that graphic design, even more than other design disciplines, is in a state of profound crisis, perhaps the worst since its inception as a professional field, and at the same time it is entering a period of great opportunity. We are at a turning point, taking a deep breath before the wave unfolds again. It's, I would say, an adolescent crisis, one that hurts but is necessary for maturity. While critical analysis of graphic design has fallen silent, commissioning remains limited and generally ignorant, and economic prospects remain confined to widespread precariousness, I also see a great opportunity for growth and awakening. We are having some of the most important discussions the field has ever faced, centered on inclusion, the role of aesthetics, the expansion of the canon, and the relationship with ornamentation. We are waking up after decades of limited vision and re-examining our meaning. A new generation with precise expectations of sustainability (ecological, personal, financial, emotional, social) is entering the professional field, bringing with it a new breath and work. I am not worried about artificial intelligence, as long as we are intelligent enough to formulate a language about the incalculable value that the designing hand brings to the world; but I am also disillusioned that, in the current economic system, creativity is under continuous automation attempts. And while creativity or craftsmanship can never be automated, mediocre or different work can be done. What I fear is our human capacity to get used to mediocre work (as in Sweden where I live, where they love badly made ice cream because the conditions to make good ice cream no longer exist). As I said, design (like well-made ice cream) is an act of care and empathy—both things that cannot be simulated, copied, or programmed, only done. Our professional field is the most pervasive in the world, and it is necessary to defend and celebrate it, to create a proud and conscious collective voice. I expect our industry organizations to invest time in creating the right conditions for dialogue with clients, rather than just among ourselves. I expect pedagogy to change radically, opening up to more inclusive and dynamic approaches, and establishing well-funded and practice-based academic research. The "craft" must return to the center with the conditions to not remain a niche operation, but a daily collective celebration of our raison d'être. I smile when I see those who live in the illusion or hope that we no longer work, and I think of my students, myself, and my colleagues, and those who contribute to the practice of artistic care with us, feeling grateful to those who work not only because they have to, but above all because they can.

How do you see the world of design education in Italy?

The education system for design in Italy suffers from a combination of Italian-specific issues (primarily a significant problem of stagnation, nepotism, lack of a merit culture, over-celebration of tradition, and sexism) and a more general problem experienced internationally, where schools teaching a craft (such as design) are becoming more "academic," transforming into institutions whose raison d'être is not to teach a craft, but to provide a job to those who can—or think they can—teach. The trend prioritizes formal merits, leading to inexperienced teachers and an over-celebration of "interdisciplinarity" (which often becomes a pretext for not teaching anything specific), ultimately resulting in students' professional failure.

Italy also greatly needs educational spaces suitable for artistic training, with workshops and facilities following the model, still too rare, of the University of Bolzano (or Konstfack in Stockholm, or the University of Bergen in Norway).

It's clearly a problem of resources, still too scarce, and a general reluctance to recognize the creative sector as fundamental and worthy of adequate investments. There is an urgent need to establish an inclusive pedagogy of graphic design in both content and methodologies, making room for practical teachers, female teachers and administrators, non-violent criticism and tutoring methodologies, an interpretation of graphic design as part of global visual culture, and content in line with the pressing demands of society. Given these conditions, students emerge strengthened, prepared, and creatively self-sufficient.

I see good work currently happening in Southern Italy and in independent student initiatives, which naturally have lost confidence in the institutions they inhabit. I find merit in the Swedish model of a 10-year term for professors of visual communication, to ensure turnover, but these strategies must be supported by a firm vision and willingness to innovate and keep pedagogy connected to life and the professional field.

How do you see the role of young graphic designers in Italy?

It's a role that requires complete dedication, professional skills, flexibility, and great intelligence if one wants to excel in the profession because you have to become experts in a range of skills that go far beyond graphic design. As I mentioned in a previous response, the professional field is in deep crisis.

I hope that the generation entering the profession can find strong industry organizations and a well-formed clientele, but there is still a long way to go.

What advice would you give to young graphic designers entering the workforce in Italy today?

I've learned that in the creative field, talent is important, but determination is even more crucial. We must act not out of fear but out of faith and accept an incremental path, even in the act of design — I find it more useful to think of graphic design as sculpture, which improves gradually. It's essential to find your unique visual voice and exercise it.

To young female graphic designers entering the professional field, I would say: find a place where you can rebuild your strength; find alliances and build a network of solidarity; cultivate your individual approach to making a contribution to the world, and ensure that your individual journey can be a collective one.