Cinquerosso Arte has joined AIPI, the Italian Association of Professional Interior Designers. Nicola Grandolini explains why it is so important to include works of art in interior design projects.
What is your organisation about?
AIPI has existed for over 50 years and is the only one in our country to represent this category. The figure of the interior designer is often confused with that of the interior decorator, but in reality it is a specific profession. We are concerned with the quality of people’s lives, starting with the spaces they live in or visit.
What is the role of the interior designer?
First of all, it must be made clear that it is a figure in its own right, with more specific skills than an architect. A bit like medicine: there is general medicine and then there are specialists. We are the interior specialists. We don’t have site management like architects, but we have the conceptual and creative direction of the interior concept. Our approach, therefore, is based on collaboration with installers, craftsmen, professionals and all the technicians involved in the project. It is necessarily a team effort. Think of a great architect such as Gaudí: he could never have achieved what he did without being able to count on very good collaborators such as cabinetmakers, blacksmiths, etc.
About collaborations, Cinquerosso Arte has just joined your organisation. What do you think about it?
We are happy to have the contribution of Cinquerosso Arte. We need partners, and being able to develop a project together with Cinquerosso Arte means being able to have artists in the team, who have the power to create emotions within other emotions. An interior designer can choose a work of art in tune with the project he has in mind, but the opposite can also happen: you can start from a work of art, from the emotions it expresses, and build the concept of a space around it.
So it is important to take art into account when imagining a piece of furniture?
Certainly. An interior designer has the task of organising environments around the wellbeing of the people who inhabit and frequent them, from the home to the school, from the conference room to the hospital. And it is something that is of great importance in everyone’s life. It is no coincidence that we also have psychotherapists among our staff. A non-harmonious environment is harmful. Covid has forced everyone to reflect on this issue, because so many people have found themselves locked in ‘disjointed’ dwellings, not organised to ensure well-being. Let us think of a house. If we want a person to be able to say ‘I feel really good in this environment’, we have to take into account their habits but also their emotions. That is why it is important to also include art and to do so in an organic way. The entry of Cinquerosso Arte into our association will allow us to have many works of art, many styles and many visions, and to develop collaborations for the benefit of our customers.
How do you carry out your work?
We are the tailors who have to make the right dress for the customer, a dress in which he feels comfortable. We always start with an in-depth dialogue with the customer to understand his needs, preferences and lifestyle. In short, we start with a dialogue with the customer, we collaborate with many professionals, supervising the work of all of them, to ensure people’s well-being.
A house, a hospital, a school, a hotel, an office… in short, any environment is a concert, and we interior designers are the conductors.
What are the tasks of your organisation?
As an association we are active not only in protecting this professional figure, but also in creating collaborations and synergies. For example, we are founding members of POLI.design of the Milan Polytechnic, we collaborate with schools and universities associated with us such as the Iuav in Venice. Our members work in Italy and around the world, and of course we have active collaborations internationally. We have just organised, for example, a convention in Florence with Ifi (International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers) and Ecia (European Council of Interior Architects).
We have recently created a technical-scientific committee for the development and qualification of the figure of the interior designer at European level. Another novelty in recent times is our registration with Mise, at the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, following which we have also taken an active role in training. Now we have to build in-depth and up-to-date courses, and we can also do this thanks to the universities that are starting to offer degree courses in interior design.
