Interview with Aleks Tatic and Cristiano Oliva

The Attivo Creative Resource design studio develops products in a wide range of fields and on a global level: Italian performance sailing yachts, French snowboarding helmets and Japanese mobile phones stand next to German premium gardening equipment in the portfolio of the young studio. The Gardena Comfort Duo irrigation gun won the design studio a “red dot: best of the best” award. red dot interviewed the studio founders, the designer duo Cristiano Oliva und Aleks Tatic.

The new Gardena irrigation gun is targeted particularly towards female users. Against this backdrop, what factors played a special role in its design?
Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic: In our work we found a significant difference between designing products for women as opposed to developing products aimed at men – which goes beyond ergonomic differences: Women are interested in benefits while men want visible features. The Gardena Comfort Duo irrigation gun reflects this difference through its integrated compact and “silent” design with an intuitive control knob and an innovative gentle water jet, which is engineered especially for young plants and seedlings. These are benefits which can be experienced as opposed to features which jump at you on first sight.

What aspects of ecological soundness were especially accounted for in its design?
Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic: This product is part of Gardena’s recent philosophy which focuses on a more sensible handling of water as a resource. For example, products like the Comfort Duo are equipped with specific functions – in this case the gentle jet – which help the garden enthusiast to use just the right quantity of water for any specific application.

What role do you think design plays in a changing, economically global world?
Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic: To answer this question we should define the word ‘design’ first, which has been tried in vain in the past. If you settle somewhere between functional innovation and brand-specific form development, it would be: Design is a small cog in a big machine – but an important one.

What defines good design for you?
Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic: If we speak for consumer products, which is the field that we at Attivo Creative Resource mostly work in, it would be: Good design must have the ability to touch you emotionally – even if it is a gardening tool. And good design must sell, otherwise no-one will benefit from it.

In your opinion, what special challenges do designers today have to overcome?
Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic: Our objective is to create innovative but lasting products, and with them the respective brand continuity. Meanwhile we are doing all we can to stay away from trendy design-trash quick fixes which, in these short-lived times, is quite a challenge.

About Attivo Creative Resource
Established in 1998, Attivo Creative Resource, with studios in Milan (Italy) and Biel (Switzerland), designs and develops a wide range of products. The two founders, designers Cristiano Oliva and Aleks Tatic, and their international team of 14 people have specialised in creating functional innovation and irresistible desirability for leading brands in Europe and the USA. Their method is a pragmatic one. Products designed by Attivo do not come with a designer’s signature but look and feel as if they had been designed by their respective brand’s in-house team.