Ferruccio Laviani speaks with Aurelio Magistà

An evening of conversation traversing four decades of design, architecture, graphics, interior design and many personal anecdotes at .Ettore, the historic shop of the Doimo family, now operating as a concept store.

Last Thursday, the 18^th of June, in Signoressa di Trevignano (Treviso), .Ettore, the concept store where fashion, design, home furnishings and fragrances come together in a complete shopping and lifestyle experience, played host to an engaging conversation between Ferruccio Laviani, Artistic Director of DoimoCucine, and Aurelio Magistà, Editor-in-Chief of Repubblica Design and lecturer in the Fashion and Creative Industries degree programme at IULM University. Entitled “initially by chance, and later by profession”, the event retraced four decades of design, architecture, graphics and interior design that have shaped the life and career of our Artistic Director, from projects born by chance to the fortunate insights of a profession that was never truly planned.

Magistà skilfully offered participants a look at the man behind the architect Ferruccio Laviani. To begin with, he is an Egyptologist who missed his calling, also drawn to what he describes as the “romantic” idea of archaeology, of “digging and, in the end, finding something.” The son of two restorers, he absorbed a strong classical imprint in architecture and gradually developed his own way of observing and interpreting it into a personal language. He attributes his love for the kitchen to his mother. It is a space he experiences as a creative laboratory, a place of sharing and affection. This vision was later developed through a series of collaborations, first and foremost with RB Rossana, where he also began working in art direction, from communication based on studio photography using large-format cameras, to press campaigns and catalogues.

His experience took him from client to client. For our Impronta collection, he applied the same principle: developing a vision of kitchen design based on how this space is lived in and experienced. With an essential clarification, best left to his own words:
“What I have tried to do, beyond certainly contributing my own sense of taste and kitchen design, is to look at it in different ways, precisely because I love the kitchen in one way and others love it in another. I have tried to embed the versatility needed to offer a product that can reflect the way you cook, because that too has changed significantly: it changed with Covid, it changed with the lives we lead, it changed with what we cook.”

We also discovered that he prefers a closed kitchen, a kind of laboratory where he can work with his “secret formulas”. From an early age, he developed a respectful approach to food, understood as a gift that should be honoured by treating raw ingredients with care. For this reason, he always seeks to eat well, whether simple or elaborate dishes make no difference. If he feels he cannot achieve this standard, he would rather skip a meal altogether. For this same reason, as soon as he had the opportunity, he added a kitchen into his studio, a space where he can share meals with his collaborators.

“Sometimes I cook for the team, and I enjoy sitting around a table and eating well together. For me, one of the most beautiful things you can do with friends, with the people you care about, is to eat well around a table.”

Naturally, we also spoke at length about design and his experiences, which are already widely known. His career is a string of important collaborations, from Achille Castiglioni, with whom he worked side by side on several projects, to Maddalena De Padova and Alessandro Mendini, as well as companies such as Kartell (a long-standing client for whom he still serves as Artistic Director), Foscarini, Molteni&C, Flos, Olivetti, Dolce&Gabbana, Moroso and, of course, DoimoCucine.