Interview with Chiara Corradin, Italy

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Chiara Corradin

Chiara’s creativity imbues her with knowledge to design visuals that are useful, usable, and made to be in harmony.



Interview with the 2021 MUSE Design Awards Winner - Chiara Corradin

1Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.

I was born and grew up in Ravenna, an Italian city full of history and culture. I studied in a high school for surveyors where I found out that design was my road, because I love to create new things, to furnish a room and to think how to improve everyday objects.

I graduated with honors in Design in 2020 at “Libera Accademia di Belle Arti” in Rimini where I learned a lot about graphic, interior and product design.

One day I fortunately came across the Tillandsia plants and their incredible capacities. I started thinking about how to use those plants to help people to live better and then I designed Till.

My first goal in every project is to create something that is good both for humans and the planet.

2What made you become/why did you choose to become a designer/artist?

During my studies as surveyor, I studied about different architects who designed not only the buildings but also the details in them, like furniture, windows fixtures, handles and doorbells.

Therefore, thanks to them I started to be passionate about how shapes, texture, materials and details can make a great difference even in a small object.

3Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.

Currently I work in a technical studio in my hometown but I’m also continuing designing projects for design awards and online contests to make my creativity known outside Italy.

4What does “design” mean to you?

Design to me means creativity mixed with knowledge.

In my opinion, design objects should be first of all useful, usable, made to be in harmony with the user and then good to see.

5What’s your favorite kind of design and why?

I do not have a favourite trend because my tastes and my choices change every day, every minute. I could be influenced by the room, the object, the client, the material, the use of lights or by my mood.

Sometimes I like the use of shiny aluminium and sometimes I prefer pastel and matte colors.

6To you, what makes a “good” design?

As I said a good design has to be in harmony with the user, so when you see a good design you immediately understand its purpose, how to use it and how it helps your activity and life.

7Describe your design style and its main characteristics.

I’m at the beginning of my career and also of my style, but I could describe it as simple, linear, natural, eco-friendly, innovative and made for everyone with my heart and my mind.

8Tell us about your design process.

My design process starts everywhere. I take pictures, screenshots, notes of everything I see, listen and think. I have many collections of things that could inspire me in very different ways.

For Till the design process started after my discovery of the plants. I learned that they absorb humidity, pollution particles and electromagnetic pollution and I started thinking how to use them to make human life better. I designed different shapes and pieces of furniture with the plants built in them, but I wanted to create something that was useful without changing the people’s routine.

9Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?

It certainly has. Italian cultural heritage can’t be ignored in design and it influenced me in different ways. I feel lucky to be near international events like Salone del Mobile in Milan and Biennale in Venice. Italy also has an incredible amount of museums, historical churches, architectural and inspirational landscapes that is enviable.

Moreover Ravenna is full of amazing Byzantine mosaics and I think I absorbed from them the taste for details, the impact of light on forms, the shining beauty of gold and glassy surfaces and also the idea that it is always possible to create beauty adapting to the environment and respecting it. Mosaics are, in fact, the answer to dampness coming from the sea and marshes which would ruin traditional paintings.

About green design, the style and goal that most of all I try to follow in my design process, Italy is not the leader but there are small realities in that category that are growing. Am I one of these? Maybe one day!

10Congratulations! As the winner of the 2021 MUSE Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?

Till was my first “big” project (also my graduation project) and MUSE was the first real competition I submitted outside the university.

I am so grateful for this award because it means that someone thinks that my ideas are valid, useful, possibly.

It is an encouraging push to try and try again, to tell the world who I am and what I can do.

11Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2021 MUSE Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?

Till is a natural air purifier with customizable shelves and with an automatic watering system.

The idea to design an indoor product useful for the environment, both for the air and people’s everyday life, gave birth to this project.

I wanted to put myself in the game and I decided to start with the project I was more proud of and confident in. It was my graduation project so one of my design university teachers helped me to find the good way to create Till. He helped me to make the right choices about the materials and the product assembly.

12What was the biggest challenge with this project?

The biggest challenge was to create an object that contained plants, but it had to be as low maintenance as possible in order to be used also by those are not good with plants.

The Tillandsia plants themselves are low maintenance so the problems were where to put them in an ordinary furniture and how the user could water them if humidity was not enough.

13How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?

Winning this Award can help my work and my talent be known all around the world and I hope someone, one day, will believe in me and give me the opportunity to design a product for their company.

14What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?

Creativity, the ability of looking ahead and all the skills.

I love how much a single person can be creative and how many incredible things can be made by a group of artists. I am sure that people can make our planet a better place to live in; we only have to support them and give them the opportunity to fix the past.

I love and I also envy how some designers can create something so realistic that you can’t understand if the image you’re watching is a computer render or a picture.

I’m learning and I am practicing every day to create realistic rendering and who works with these programs knows how difficult it is to create something like reality.

15What makes your country specifically, unique in the design industry?

Everywhere and in every sector, people knows that the tag “made in Italy” means quality, expertise, good and professional work made with passion.

16Where do you see the evolution of design industry going over the next 5-10 years?

I really hope that in 5 to 10 years design industry will be focused on ecology in every terms.

The planet and humanity need designers, architects, engineers and workers who fix past mistakes and prevent the collapse of our planet, our home.

Every single person can make a difference but if the change starts from the top of the society and economy it will be easier to follow a good example.

17If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring MUSE Design Awards submitter, what advice would you give them?

To try. To try and try again because even though things could not follow the idea you have in mind, someday you will receive what you deserve.

18What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the design industry?

Never stop learning. I suggest you to take part in workshops, to try new programs of 3D modelling or rendering, to listen to podcasts about subjects you don’t know, to travel and to visit place you have never been.

You will never know what knowledge is going to be useful in your future project.

19Tell us something you have never told anyone else.

I dream of studying or working in North Europe because countries like Finland and Sweden are very inspirational for me.

20Who has inspired you in your life and why?

At first, my family and my boyfriend because they always are by my side, a big support and they push me to overcome my limits and my fears.

A big inspiration also comes from all the women, of the past and the present, who fight for their rights and for the equality in every sector and every situation.

21Tell us something you have never told anyone else.

“I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

22Who has inspired you in your life and why?

At first, my family and my boyfriend because they always are by my side, a big support and they push me to overcome my limits and my fears.

A big inspiration also comes from all the women, of the past and the present, who fight for their rights and for the equality in every sector and every situation.

23What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?

“I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Michael Jordan

24Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?

I am really grateful to MUSE Design Award and the opportunity I was given to made my work be known. I hope I will improve all my skills and reach my goals.



Winning Entries

Till | 2021

Till | MUSE Design Awards

The idea to design an indoor product useful for the environment, both for the air and people’s everyday life, gave birth to this project. Till...
(read more at MUSE Design Awards)


Chiara Corradin


Chiara’s creativity imbues her with knowledge to design visuals that are useful, usable, and made to be in harmony.

Muse.World