The conversations with Renato De Fusco about design were
characterized by his firm and decisive tone of voice, and supported by his usual intellectual passion. Considering the multitude of actors in the design field, De Fusco asserted that such
debates deserved a greater “polemical” quality. That meant a
more incisive analysis in the constant and necessary comparison between the lessons taught by history and the readings from
our present time. Therefore, he fostered research questions, exercises to doubt-training, and explorations on the key issues
handed down to us by the past or promoted by current events.
Among some of his suggestions, there is the invitation to understand what is still inherent in the definition of “product design”
in a context where products are supposed to be driven by socio-cultural as well as technological transformations. Moreover,
he asked: project-wise, what is the meaning of words such as
“type” and “typology” within a reality that no longer follows an
ideal scheme to interpret and guide the “form of things” of the
environments we inhabit? De Fusco believed that both issues
were joint parts of a critical path in understanding the crisis of
modern design. The following essay offers a synthesis by updating and revising what was written about ten years ago on these
topic
