BRONDI

‘The collaboration with Brondi lasted approximately twenty years. Everything started with a product of strong formal impact, the YUPPIE: large buttons, rounded lines, intense vaguely neo pop colors (yellow, light green, and green and pink in the transparent version). Afterwards we designed some answering machines such as STINA, BRONDITEL, which are more technical, on which it was possible to put the telephone on top. Their formal interest was concentrated on their fronts, where the interface with its commands and signals resided, a little bit automotive, one inspired by the post-war Dodge trucks. Another iconic product was the BRONDITEL: glossy black with red rubber buttons, a very sophisticated product from a technological point of view too. While others were of a more eclectic inspiration such as CHARLIE, SPIDER, MIKEY, CORRADO, which had ergonomic, soft, dissimetric shapes or nostalgically recalled the old Safnat or Siemens phones. The very compact Spider was produced in green, red and white - the colors of the Italian flag. Other compact answering machines followed similar inspirations closely. Then there was a period of intense experimentation, from ‘inflatable’ phones to answering machines-sculptures which merged into the last project we worked on, the OASI. For each model we also studied logos and graphics, for Brondi’s offices in various Italian cities we designed furniture and interiors too'.

Riccardo Rosso, conversing with SAFT