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Download PDF - Blue Liguria - Sagep

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lue<br />

interview<br />

Schiffini,<br />

ambasciatore dell’italian design<br />

the Ambassador of Italian Design<br />

La sue cucine progettate da designers prestigiosi come Vico Magistretti hanno<br />

conquistato il mondo, da Pechino a New York. Veniva dagli Stati Uniti la prima cucina<br />

che negli anni ’50 ha ispirato la produzione industriale dell’azienda spezzina<br />

Its kitchens are designed by designers of great prestige like Vico Magistretti and have<br />

conquered the world from New York to Beijing. The first modular kitchen came from<br />

the U.S. in the fifties, inspiring the industrial production of this famous kitchen<br />

cabinet maker from La Spezia<br />

Renzo Raffaelli<br />

La prima cucina, quella che ha ispirato la<br />

produzione industriale che ha conquistato il<br />

mondo, veniva dagli Stati Uniti. Il padre di<br />

Enrico Schiffini, l’attuale amministratore unico<br />

dell’azienda leader nell’arredamento cucine, nel<br />

primo dopoguerra l’aveva vista in casa di un<br />

amico: era in lamiera ed era modulare, cioè fatta<br />

di tanti mobili componibili.<br />

Un modo “rivoluzionario” di ridisegnare gli spazi<br />

dove, in Italia, troneggiava ancora la madia.<br />

Lui, che fino ad allora si era occupato dell’arredamento<br />

di navi militari e civili, s’era messo a<br />

produrre, prima industria italiana, cucine componibili<br />

di legno laccato o rivestite di laminato<br />

plastico (formica).<br />

Un’intuizione felice che avrebbe aperto i mercati<br />

alla piccola azienda nata nel 1925 per lavorare<br />

principalmente sugli appalti dell’Arsenale militare<br />

e del Muggiano.<br />

Dagli Stati Uniti arrivò dunque l’idea vincente e<br />

oggi negli Stati Uniti, curiosa fatalità, le cucine<br />

Schiffini arredano interi grattacieli a New York,<br />

a Philadelphia, a Chicago, a San Francisco.<br />

Ma per affermare il brand la chiave di volta è<br />

stato l’Italian Design, cioè l’incontro tra i produttori<br />

che volevano rinnovare i loro prodotti e<br />

gli architetti che volevano innovare il modo di<br />

abitare.<br />

«La passione per il design io e mio fratello l’abbiamo<br />

presa da mia madre, affascinata dalla bel-<br />

The first kitchen, the one that inspired the<br />

industrial production that went on to conquer<br />

the world, came from the United States. The<br />

father of Enrico Schiffini, the present C.E.O. of this<br />

world-leader in kitchen cabinets, just after the war<br />

first saw it in a friend’s home.<br />

Made of sheet metal, it was modular, i.e. made up<br />

of many similar units that could be put together. It<br />

was a “revolutionary” way to redesign space where,<br />

in Italy, antique sideboards predominated. Up till<br />

now he had been working on military and civilian<br />

shipboard furnishing, but he now began to produce<br />

– the first Italian company in the field – modular<br />

kitchen cabinets in lacquered wood or in formica.<br />

This lucky bit of intuition opened up new markets<br />

for this small firm, born in 1925 to work mainly on<br />

projects for the Navy and the Muggiano area of La<br />

Spezia.<br />

So the winning idea came from America, but now<br />

in America, curiously enough, Schiffini furnishes<br />

kitchens in entire skyscrapers in New York,<br />

Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco.<br />

What made the name of the brand was Italian<br />

Design. Or in other words, the encounter between<br />

the producers who wished to renew their product<br />

and the architects who sought innovation in “living<br />

modes”.<br />

“Passion for design is what my brother and I<br />

inherited from our mother, who was fascinated by<br />

the beauty and function of objects,” tells Enrico<br />

42

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