Massimo Varetto, born in Padua in 1963, is an architect.

Since 1990, he has been involved in design, and starting in 1993, he was selected four times for the annual exhibition OPOS design under 35, presenting works that have consistently attracted great interest.
His prototypes, created with a highly personal style, represent the meeting point between art and product. We asked him to describe his design philosophy, which he defines as “Assembly of the standard residue from the fast distribution market.” He responded:
*”I am fascinated by all those mechanical components such as bolts, screws, threaded rods, aluminum profiles of different sections, rivets, springs… They allow me to achieve precise shapes with a level of control and flexibility that other tools—such as nails, glue, and welding—do not offer, and which, in fact, I do not like to use.
I also can’t resist when I see, in supermarkets or household goods stores, those objects that embody the ‘misery of modern consumerism’: plastic basins, funnels, bowls, and colanders in absurd colors. Not to mention food packaging, which is often a masterpiece of instant visual attraction.
These are the places where I find my usual components: the hardware store and the supermarket.
When I design a lamp, I never think of it as a unique object or a work of art. I like to imagine it as something easily reproducible, made from standard, everyday elements. Yet, I increasingly realize that these consumerist components are, in reality, becoming less and less standardized.
Changes in the components of ‘supermarket design’ are happening at an ever-faster pace: following seasons, sometimes even weeks.
The shade of the Enjoy lamp, made from strips of soda cans, never turns out the same—even when using the same brand of drink—because manufacturers constantly alter packaging graphics with new symbols, logos, or colors. The hard plastic curlers from Pop 95 have become impossible to find, replaced by new tools from the haircare industry. The simple, smooth glass of Distributore has been replaced by more elaborate, decorated models.
What seem like common objects are, in reality, already remnants of a recent past. The true standards, the objects of everyday life, are now different: why, when looking for children’s beach molds, do I only find super-designed coffee makers and kettles? Why are toothbrushes signed by famous designers?
I feel like a snake biting its own tail. I reject nails in favor of bolts, yet I don’t create objects that can actually be disassembled. I seek a standard in commerce, but I discover it is increasingly unstable.
I feel moved by humble, anonymous objects that I encounter for just a moment and never find again. In their fleeting nature, I remember them as exclusive, almost snobbish.
I do neither design nor art. My creations have little function and almost no development. My work is a form of rescue and assistance for small, struggling products: I try to revitalize fragile objects I come across by combining them with others.”

Massimo Varetto, June 1997