SOMETIMES I REALLY THINK THAT PEOPLE SHOULD THINK AS MUCH AS THEY CAN.



Lo scolapasta diventa il simbolo di ogni oggetto e progetto di Enzo Mari, ne illustra la creazione, mai scevra di tormentata e combattuta tensione morale, in un crescente sforzo, quasi sovrumano, che tende alla qualità totale, strettamente legata all’etica e vero obiettivo del suo lavoro.
L’etica, concetto astratto, è applicabile a tutti gli aspetti del progetto: alla natura, utilizzando “solo quello che serve”; al lavoro, liberato dall’alienazione; alle rare abilità dell’artigiano, per preservare un bagaglio culturale prezioso; alla forma, l’unica possibile, contro inutili e volgari ridondanze.
Questo rappresenta e ha sempre rappresentato Enzo Mari, dai suoi primi lavori nel 1950, fino ad oggi, quasi 1800 progetti dopo. Il ruolo che a Mari è sempre stato assegnato, anche dai suoi colleghi, e che Mari ha sempre portato avanti con grande passione, è stato quello che Mendini ha definito «coscienza del design». A differenza di altri, Mari ha sempre voluto raccontare e a volte gridare le ragioni del “buon progetto”, comunicarle ad ogni costo, rendere tutti consapevoli, educare e coinvolgere. Gli unici modi per lui di progredire e migliorarsi.


He started out his talk with a statement: "I don't know what design is."

He showed first a point on the right of the screen. Then, a series of arrows traveling toward that point. "The point is a perfect solution. Quality. A perfect design. Some efforts make it this far, and some make it only this far, and some make it to here." And he drew the corresponding arrows. "This is what people think design is like." He said, referring to the straight paths, "But in reality, this is what design is:" And he drew the squiggle in the lower left hand corner.

His point was that design quality is a constantly moving target, defined by culture, history, fashion, science, technology, and social forces. He said, with great emphasis, "I was lucky to never go to school. In school, you either have students learning the trade of design -- drawing, pattern making, measuring -- or you have students being 'taught how to think'." He called this "Teaching methodology in an obscene way"; It disgusts him to see design reduced to a series of steps which, if followed will result in a superior product, regardless of the problem statement.

Rather than subscribe to this idea of design, when he is working on a project, he asks himself "What is this work" for each design separately. At this point, he admitted that he didn't like to use the word "design" because it carried the connotation of some methodology which is the same for every problem. Instead, he talks about "projects" which need newly discovered methods every time -- "What is this work?" Then he drew this diagram of all the forces acting on each project: