We’re interested in the last two conferences that the Politecnico di Milano (The Milan Polytechnic) has had at the Salone di Mobile (an annual international design showcase in Milano). They have focused on the relationships between China in terms of manufacturing and relationship to Italy….

We have to turn the problem the other way around, this is my opinion. Everyone here [in Italy] is very worried…about China will cover us with all of their manufacturing and the Italian industry will close but what I think is that we can export [our knowledge]; we have to design function, not waiting for China to design for us. We need to provide creativity and ideas. We have to design for them. It’s a fantastic opportunity, not a threat.

[We need to] have an open approach to the problem, not just a defensive one. That is, I think it is really a mistake to be [defensive].

So the idea is to build relationships between the cultures?

I think that we, Italians, have a lot of quality and creativeness and a concept of beauty, because it’s our history, to give [to others], without being afraid of gaining nothing.

You think you can offer them something, and they will offer something in return?

They need us [now]. We need them in the future. And in the next future, they need us. Because we are different, we are a different story… not that China is a minimalist culture or country, but they have had a very big void during the communist period where everything stopped. And now, they need us.

Do you see any of that kind of relationship happening anywhere in Italy, where that connection is starting to surface?

A lot I think. I don’t know exactly, but I know that a lot of Italian architects are working there [Casamonte, Bagotti, Metrogramma].

Metrogramma told me that a Chinese engineering firm called them because they needed their strong organization, strong structure, strong military-like systems, but they had a lack of ideas. In Italy we are not so strong in organization, but we are strong in ideas.

I think a lot of Italian manufacturers are trying to have relationships with China.

And in the work this team is doing so far, that is already what they’re finding: Italy will have the idea, set of knowledge, that creates the new ideas, the innovation.

We lack something at the moment... I think yes, but, if the schools and university don’t work, it doesn’t work. And now in Italy, school and university are really bad. No one can tell you the opposite, its impossible. School and university are really bad. They don’t work, they produce mediocrity. I think it is really a mistake. I think that a country that has this [kind] of resources: ideas, creativity, and touch, should invest in university, research, study, school, because it’s where you prepare the future [generations].

Interviewer's note: In the past decade, there has been a fundamental shift in how design is taught in Italy. No longer is a designer an architect, an architect a designer. The two fields have been separated, like they are in North America and many other places in the world. Further, as with other educational institutions in the world, the Italian school’s of design are cash strapped, with less resources, and a large base of students who often have difficulty finding work when they graduate. The presence of the great design maestro’s of the past such as Enzo Mari, Castiglioni, and others, is no longer a fixture of design education in Italy, and many surmise this may be a contributor to the current problems associated with the universities.