Tratto Pen's success is also due to its simple and linear aspect, essential like only an innovative pen can be. Anty Pansera's interview narrates the Design Group Italia through its designers: Marco Del Corno, Designer and Founder; Edgardo Angelini, Ross De Salvo and Sigurdur Thorsteinsson, Designers; Gabriele Zecca, ...

Who is Design Group Italia

Anty Pansera: "Design Group Italia, a special design group for the Italian context, created and organised by Marco Del Como who, in time, attracted a series of other designers. Teamwork and, by choice, almost anonymous work: the Design Group Italia is mentioned, not Marco Del Como, their products are mentioned, not his. Marco Del Como, a few years before being called to design the Tratto Pen, thus a few years before being contacted by F.I.L.A., founded his work group which, I believe, is worthy of mention. Unlike many other designers, in those years and those that followed, he promoted the team name and not his own. A strange case on the Italian scene but also a lucky guess given the number of years of operations and success".

Ross De Salvo, Designer, Design Group Italia: "The Design Group was always a group, a group of people who work in close contact and who have always worked this way. No project was ever personally claimed because everyone in the group brings something to the project".

Edgardo Angelini: "This was certainly a decisive factor in my choice to join Design Group Italia, to stay so long and, later, to become a partner. Another interesting aspect that influenced by decisions was that, yesterday like today, this group, unlike others, does not only work with furniture but also with mass consumption goods (and Tratto Pen is an example), objects which can be used by many people daily".

Sigurdur Thorsteinsson, Designer, Design Group Italia: "What has always attracted me to industrial products is their social aspect, their history, how they evolve thanks to design. Thus, the beautiful object "par excellence", a chair rather than another, only partially interests me. I am much more fascinated by objects that are used daily, thus choosing the Design Group Italia was almost a given". Tratto...and then?

Anty Pansera: "Tratto Pen, like many other products, is apparently anonymous; we see it daily, we use it every day but, in reality, it has a well-defined design behind it. This is a characteristic of the Design Group Italia, as we can see in other projects. Jet, or example, is a product that helps overcome respiratory asthma crises. Edgardo Angelini tell us how you faced this product solution?".

Edgardo Angelini: "Jet is a medical dispenser for asthma treatment. An object dedicated to most of the population, including the elderly and children or those who find using this product difficult. The design, however, was not just a technical question but a solution was found for the aesthetic aspect; and this, in fact, also facilitates use: having to use this product in public was one of the problems we immediately faced. For this reason, we came up with a friendly shape, fun and a bit playful".

Anty Pansera: "Design Group Italia is also know for another daily product that revolutionised its practicality: the toothbrush".

Ross De Salvo: "The first toothbrush we designed dates back to 1997. In this case the innovation was the three-angles neck, a way for the head to reach hidden parts of the mouth. Since then, every toothbrush has been different with its own characteristics, its own logic. Perhaps the most interesting is still White System, a whitening toothbrush with a small rubber sheet inserted in the head to better polish teeth thanks to the combined action of the bristles and plate".