Roberto Sironi: between Research and Material

“Unlike the product, which is linked more to an idea of ​​seriality and industrial production, the artefact incorporates subjective qualities and remains suspended between being a sculpture, a piece of furniture, a micro-architecture.” Roberto Sironi

Roberto Sironi’s artefacts break the concept of primary purpose and blur the boundary between functional objects and sculpture. Inspiration comes from various sources, such as the relationship between man and nature, rituality, and historiographic analysis: knowing the roots of the subject allows the designer to obtain ideas and suggestions to be expressed in objects, furnishings, and works that express his point of view and offer a contemporary reflection on the analysed topic. Material experiments are at the centre of each project, a way to approach the material through different perspectives, including the precious and sensitive one of the artisan realities with which he collaborates to create his artefacts. A research-based approach is thus developed in which study, thought and manual skills converge in works considered “ultra-signs” because the material becomes the protagonist of a transformation process that assigns it new meanings and brings out hidden qualities.

Roberto Sironi created Brut and Cassero for Tacchini, presented at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2024. We met the designer to hear more about the profound meaning that materiality has for him.

Why is your approach to the subject so fundamental?

The material incorporates a series of characteristics and values ​​that the project has the task of expressing. For me, it is important to be aware of the qualities that the material I have chosen to use embodies, what its origins are, its historical-artistic apparatus, and the manufacturing processes of the material itself. I have great respect for the subject, which is always a compendium of information and knowledge.

What relationship do you have with the “objects/artefacts” you create?

Often the relationship is physical, in the sense that many artefacts are created directly by me, or at least I create the model through different sculptural techniques. Brut, for example, is a replicable object but retains the memory of the material the traces of the wax modelling used to create the zero table. It is therefore an object that reveals the process with which it was made, which expresses what it is, without shortcuts.

How do you approach the creative process?

There is a preliminary research phase, in which I collect images and texts, followed by a multidisciplinary analysis of the subject. I never focus on the design of the object itself but rather on the narrative behind the object, the information to convey, what we are trying to express, and which language to use. This wealth of information and references must then be synthesised and condensed through the drawing, which becomes synthesis and catalyst.

What do you have in common with Tacchini’s approach and vision for design?

With Tacchini we share the same desire to experiment, to go beyond conventions and postures, in search of an authentic aesthetic that is the natural manifestation of a process of transformation of material. And then there is the balance between the design and the aesthetics of the material itself, always with sobriety and elegance, avoiding unnecessary excesses. We both like the idea of ​​a strong sign, but at the same time cultured and discreet.