'Obsessive-Inventive': Shaping personal torments into metal product designs

"Insecurity is the path to creativity. Not knowing, doing something completely unknown and unprecedented, is the only way to explore new territories and invent something," said the Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani. Recalling his words, Italian design studio JoeVelluto curates the design exhibition Obsessive-Inventive, which underlines 'obsession' as the driving force behind innovation and creative exploration. "On the other hand, Italian architect Ettore Sottsass said that it is the continuous circling, the endless search and research, that embodies truth," adds the studio, founded by Italian designers Andrea Maragno and Sonia Tasca, in the show's official release. Showcasing 12 design pieces by 12 international designers, the exhibition is on view from February 12 – March 23, 2025, at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, Italy.

Presenting design as a curious discipline of exploration and discovery, the exhibits set the stage for personal and collective investigation with passion, sensitivity and intuition. Obsession, often perceived as a negative outlook or disorder, is channelled as a fuel for creativity in the show through repetition, continuous experimentation and reflection. By interpreting innovation as both the essence and the outcome of obsession, Obsessive-Inventive deconstructs familiar ideas and objects to shape new forms.

Luciano Galimberti, the museum's president, perceives the assemblage as "a collection where each designer presents—alongside their object, a brief note on the creative process and their personal obsession-invention—small yet significant personal torments, which find breath and form in unpredictable and poetic objects." Described as 'ways of being', the materialised obsessions embody the multiple interpretations of the designers' inner self. Themes of perception, connection, colour, repetition and softness are explored through the product designs, crafted from metal, and facilitated by the Italian furniture manufacturing company Diemmebi.

The 12 sculptural design pieces of the Obsessive-Inventive exhibition are created by an array of professionals, such as Italian industrial designers Federica Biasi and Odo Fioravanti, Lisbon-based Italian product designer Sara Bozzini, Italian illustrator Ale Giorgini, Italian designer and architect Marialaura Irvine, Italian design studio Sovrappensiero, Venice-based product designer Marco Zito and studio JoeVelluto. The exhibition also features lighting designs by Italian-born and Barcelona and Madrid-based designer Claudio Larcher, lighting designer Davide Groppi, Stockholm-based Italian industrial designer Luca Nichetto and lamp design by design studio From Industrial Design.

Obsessive-Inventive invites visitors to participate creatively by encouraging the exchange and expression of their obsessions. Fed to an AI software, developed by Italian software company Uqido, these ideas are transformed into images, moving a step closer to realisation. The design museum presents a book at the exhibition of the same title, featuring contributions by artists such as musician Alioscia Bisceglia, who view creativity as "a subtle vibration born from the deepest self". The book also contains the words of Italian psychiatrist Mauro Cibin, who reveals the possibility of having a potential disorder carrying within it a 'generative force', becoming a source of creation and perhaps, a cure as well.

Obsessive-Inventive urges visitors to challenge their perspectives on what fuels and feeds their creativity. The showcased sculptural designs become a medium to spread awareness and evoke courage and self-reflection among the designers and the visitors. While it is more common to admit the 'positive' influences behind their ideas, one is compelled to consider that channelling one's 'negative' experiences and emotions could also make for a strong source of creative inspiration.

'Obsessive-Inventive' is on view from February 12 – March 23, 2025, at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, Italy.