Ettomio meets the future

Imagine our surprise when, last year, we received an unexpected email: the Laboratorio di Design

dell’Interazione del Corso Co.De. dell’Università “Federico II” University of Naples had selected us as a case study to be used to entirely structure the first semester design course, where new products and furniture, conceived starting from values such as sustainability, ergonomics and intergenerationality, would be developed.

Always keen on creativity and innovation, we could only be excited about this proposed

collaboration. After all, our philosophy is simply that: to create objects that are not only beautiful and functional, but that last over time and convey meaningful values and messages.

We both believe that the objects we choose for our children can become vehicles of important

messages, such as personal care, love, affection and responsibility: well-being does not come through having but through choosing a lifestyle that represents us and adheres to people's needs and desires.

In relation to these issues it becomes necessary today to revise the concept of growth, no longer as economic growth but as cultural growth, as seeking the growth of well-being (in this regard thanks to the wonderful speech of the director Professor Michelangelo Russo).

The title chosen for the course is clearly an hymn to the future.

More than one hundred students-after attending an immersive lecture in which they "entered the Ettomio world"-have worked for months with dedication and commitment, with the goal of coming up with concrete and original projects.

Guided by outstanding and enthusiastic professors, they came up with new objects that we discovered gradually during the semester.

They came up with multifunctional tables that do not only respond to a child's need, but fit into a multi-generational domestic context, containers that can be transformed over time in creative and useful ways, matches of materials, creative solutions with the aim of creating domestic nests in which to take shelter, and why not, also to experiment new possible mediations with the existing furniture, defining ways of separating or opening up to allow sharing spaces and actions.

Projects conceived by brilliant minds, outside the box thinkers; objects that are not only beautiful and functional, but also deeply meaningful.

One aspect that particularly struck us about the students' work was their attention to different levels of sustainability.

A fundamental value for us at Ettomio, which translates into the choice of eco-sustainable materials, production with low environmental impact, and the creation of durable and transformable products.

Attention to nature, meant as a stimulus to create in small users (our children) the conditions to sprout, over time, eco -environmental sensibilities and, consequently, virtuous behaviors, was put at the center of all the projects devised.

At the end of the semester, we had the opportunity to admire their prototypes on display at Palazzo Gravina, the prestigious headquarters of the Department of Architecture.

WOW.

Each item, sometimes made with the involvement of a local network of experienced professionals, sometimes bringing into play mastery found at home (grandparents, of all people!!), or even produced directly by the students, left us speechless because of the quality and care with which it was made.

Like any experience that leaves its mark, this path ... will not remain within the walls of the faculty.

We selected a project that we felt particularly fit with the "Ettomio world" and decided to develop it and include it in our catalog.

The two young designers will be involved in the engineering process and will assist - together with us- in the realization of the product.

We know ... curiosity is now high, but we can't say yet what it is about ... just a small hint: it will help us keep the house in order, in a conscious, fun and engaging way.