When designers visit Euegnio Perazza at Magis Headquarters in Italy, they now sign the ever growing ‘Wall of Fame’, the company’s equivalent of a guest book

Designs without boundaries

Magis is a prominent lodestar in the design world, whose success is based on the desire to provide a broad swathe of users with access to high functional and technological quality products, developed in partnership with major international designers, with a vision of the resulting products that is ethical and poetic as well as aesthetic.

Magis has always been known as a brand that doesn’t shy away from ‘the new’ but, in contrast, drives its strengths towards discovering innovative ways to create the indispensable.

Eugenio Perazza’s personal trademark is his glasses, often pushed up on his forehead, as if not just his eyes needed support in seeing clearly but also the keen mind behind the forehead.

Magis was born in 1976 in Venetto in the North East of Italy, from the genius of Eugenio Perazza, a Venetian from Ceggia, the son of a worker from Porto Marghera, an accountant’s diploma from Marconi di Portogruaro, a pencil always in his hands.

To date, Magis has collaborated with over 40 international designers ( irrespective of whether they were at the beginning of their careers or already well established) and many of them, created some of their best products for Magis.

The Magis designer family have contributed to Magis holding an incredible collection of pieces, each with its own story to tell and its own character to express, be it in domestic settings or collective spaces.

When observing Magis’ timeline, it is clear that some of today’s best-known designers have created pieces for Magis including …… Alessandro Mendini, Stefano Giovannoni, Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Jean-Marie Massaud, Michael Young, Naoto, Fukasawa, Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck, Zaha Hadid, Eero Aarnio, Enzo Mari, Werner Asslinger, James Irvine, Richard Sapper, Jamie Hayon, Robin Day, Jerzsy Seymour, Thomas Heatherwick and numerous others that have worked with Magis and directed it towards objects that set trends, for everyday use since it commenced in 1976

” For years I wondered why so many world-renowned designers had agreed to collaborate with us, such a small company, hidden in the Northeast, then I gave myself an answer: it is because we have them work “on the edge ”

“ What interests me today is which direction we want to take. The future is full of shadows but for me it’s pretty clear where to go “ …… Eugenio Perazza

” Magis is a Latin word which means ‘more than’ – and our philosophy is to always cross that line. You either love it or you hate it, there is no in-between

For me it is about designing the project of the future. It is the Magis way – to be free. If you are working only according to the market it is like working in a prison. The rules are rigid and I prefer to be free like a bird.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to freedom. The freedom to create and destroy and start again. And only in this process of experimentation, can designers truly reach the ‘next big thing’

We have a fantastic future, I am convinced of it”……… Eugenio Perazza

eugenio perazza with konstantin grcic and the in-house Magis design team

Eugenio understands the importance of design as a factor that can generate value and wealth for a company, as well as being a factor of distinction: Magis today is an international design laboratory.

He knows designers of all generations.

2016 – Happy 40th birthday, dear Magis

From ……… Marcel Wanders • Konstantin Grcic • Big Game • Jaime Hayón • Naoto Fukasawa • Michael Young • Ronan Bouroullec • Benedetta Mori Ubaldini • Jerszy Seymour • Erwan Bouroullec • Toshiyuki Kita • Anderssen & Voll • Gabriele Chiave (Marcel Wanders Studio) • Philippe Starck

eugenio perazza and marcel wanders

ron arad and eugenio perazza

“ The ambition of Magis is to be a first-mover. When you are a first-mover you discover innovative solutions but you also add new knowledge to the discipline of design.

Magis has been a first-mover in many cases: for example we were the first to develop a chair in gas-moulding: the Air-Chair by Jasper Morrison

You are not only a first-mover when you discover a new technology, but also when you discover a new language.

For example with the Chair One, we discovered die-cast aluminium and it is now a bestseller and an icon of today.

Or with the Officina collection, we explored the possibility of establishing a new creative language while working with an ancient fabrication process like iron forging,” ……..…….. Eugenio Perazza

air chair by jasper morrison

chair one by konstantin grcic

officina collection by ronan and erwan bouroullec