Interview by Lucia Panozzo

Martí Guixé is one the ambassadors of Spain's new design in the world. Occupied more with "designing ideas" than the nth trendy chair, taking risks by proposing experimental, playful and conceptual design that weaves together with art, graphics, publishing, fashion and cuisine, he is the author of very varied designs that include sales outlets and shopping bags, eccentric bars and futurist tapas, books to make and not to read, traditional and new objects reinvented in their form and suggested use.

We met him in Torino, where he had come to set up the Book Design Space, an area inside the International Book Fair conceived by Corraini Editore to talk about book design through debates, workshops and exhibitions.

Q. Had you been to Torino before this occasion?

A. Yes, I came for the first time in the mid 1980s. I have friends here, and every so often I come back to see them. The aspects of the city I know best are the alternative bars and clubs along the Po and that mysterious and slightly worrying facet linked to its "diabolic" reputation. In my case, however, Torino has always represented an important design centre, even if limited to the very specific field of car design. On the international level, I believe that the city began to be talked about from another perspective at the time of the inauguration of Renzo Piano's Lingotto complex, although intimately linked to Fiat as its historic car factory!

Q. Do you find the city has changed over the years?

A. Probably yes, but I do not know it well enough to say where. There is a new climate, a desire to hit the international stage. During the recent Furniture Fair I felt the rivalry between the two cities, and this made me think that Torino is probably trying to undermine Milan's leadership in the sector.

Q. Let's talk about you. What was your education? How did you start out in the world of design?

A. My development was very straightforward. I studied interior design in Barcelona and then came to Milan for a Master at the Politecnico in product design. Back in Barcelona, I opened a design studio with a friend, which I left after the heady times of the 1992 Olympics. The Olympic effect was explosive for the city, but also for its citizens. A lot of people would have liked to leave. I chose Berlin to recharge. I liked the city a lot and so decided to commute between these two cities. I enjoy this "bi-polar" existence greatly. I could not live only in Barcelona. Berlin is a city in constant evolution, young and dynamic, which gives you great freedom because economic pressure is not exaggerated; it is perfect for artists and entrepreneurs. In contrast, Barcelona has become very expensive and is therefore impossible for people with limited financial means to launch a new enterprise.

Q. And why not Milan?

A. I like Milan. I come often for professional reasons and I have fond memories of the two years I spent there as a student. However, I don't know what living there as a professional rather than a student would be like. I don't know everyday life there and I don't know if I would like the rhythms the city forces on you.

Q. Industry has always been the Achilles' heel of Spanish design. Perhaps this is why the designers of recent generations have abandoned more traditional design to devote themselves to designing ideas and are more well-known for their innovative, imaginative and fun design, not apparently very interested in turning these ideas into objects to be used. Do you recognise yourself in this definition?

A. I had never thought of such a cause-effect process. In effect, there are few companies in Spain that produce design and this has perhaps meant that designers, free of the pressure linked to productivity, have given vent to their creativity, but it has also driven many professionals to move abroad. But what could have represented a problem until a few years ago is no longer so in a society that I would define as ex-industrial. Production has lost the strategic importance it had in the past. It is irrelevant where you produce nowadays. My priority interlocutor must be a brand, in other words a company that outsources the manufacturing of its products but is bound to the complexity of the consumer world. As a designer, I feel that I have much more freedom of action when I work for a brand than for a manufacturer, because in the first case great importance is given to ideas, creativity becomes the vehicle of communication with the consumer, creating interesting synergies and stimulating new habits. I am convinced that the future of design lies in this interaction between culture and commerce. I am not interested in designing objects in a classical fashion with almost engineering-like precision, but working around the idea that I want to convey with my product.

Q. Is this why you were one of the first to tackle food design?

A. Yes, it seemed an interesting idea that, using the same design parameters as industrial design, foodstuffs could become ergonomic, functional, communicative and interactive edible products.

When I began, the entire design world criticised me harshly because the topic was considered futile. In reality, my proposal was anything but futile, but the caste of well-established designers is very closed and conservative, unwilling to accept destabilising intrusions. The starting point was, in fact, very rigorous research on mass production, which led me to identify food as the mass product par excellence. I realised, however, that in no case was food treated as an industrial product: chefs work like craftsmen, with traditional, manual techniques; the food industry does use industrial methods but without a basic design, and thus making it appear that the final product is made with craft methods. My work consisted in designing with food objects to be produced by industrialising the process. In the end, my designs stopped at the academic and experimental level. They had few practical repercussions and this, I believe, was because of the difficulty of consumers to accept innovations. On the other hand, food design has become very fashionable!

Q. This year you are in Torino with two projects, created for the occasion of Torino 2008 World Design Capital: the Book Design Space at the International Book Fair and the PFIC Bar for the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo show Living Spaces. Can you tell us something about these projects?

A. Pietro Corraini commissioned me to design a space out of context and rather radical to be located in the book fair area to host an exhibition, a book show and a series of debates and workshops sharing the theme of "publishing and design". Fruitful collaboration began with the publisher some time ago and continues today: two very unusual books have already come out, Blank Book and Toy Weapons, and others will follow soon.

The PFIC Bar (Public Fountain Ice Cube Bar) for the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebauengo exhibition (planned from 5 June to 5 July 2008) is a private business proposal that exploits a public monument on the Food Facility model, that I designed some time ago. In this case, the idea is of a bar that rents a public fountain and transforms it, at some times of the day, into a machine to make ice to be served with champagne.

I am also taking part in two other events linked to the events in Torino. In the framework of Torino Geodesign I worked on the bowls clubs, redesigning for Saporiti bowls with new graphics and more contrasting with the game area. In July I will be busy in a workshop organised for the International Summer School at the Gastronomic Science University of Pollenzo.

Q. The doors have just closed on Italy's most important design fair, the Furniture Fair of Milan. How did it seem to you? Did you see anything interesting?

A. Unfortunately, I was able to see very little. My superficial impression is that this fair continues to be purely market-oriented while I am convinced that above all the Fuori Salone initiatives should be directed more towards design culture, to become places for experimentation. It is a shame that Milan does not take advantage of its consolidated role to risk something more innovative. I hope that Torino benefits from this.

- Torino Geodesign
- Bocciofila Mossetto
- Living Spaces
- www.guixe.com