EDIT Napoli is a fair created to support editorial design. Whom is this project addressed to and how does it achieve its purpose?
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It is aimed at design editors, i.e., those who make high-quality open-edition products with a commitment to research, experimentation and respect for materials and production processes. They can therefore be manufacturers, self-producing designers, artisans, companies.

The project, already from its name, is linked to Naples, a city outside the design circuit. Why did you choose it and how does the fair live within the urban fabric?

Editorial design has always existed; in fact, it is one of the oldest expressions of design, which is often automatically identified with industrial design or with design in unique pieces and limited editions of collectible. So we were looking for a place that is ancient, but contemporary at the same time, with strong historical and local roots combined with an international vocation. Naples is the city that identifies all of this, for us: it has a history that has always been international (it is a seaside city and European courts have always related to the city), a liveliness linked to savoir-faire and a unique ingenuity. During EDIT days, Naples opens to the world of design with a unique welcome, as in its most authentic personality. For us it is a privilege to be guests in the most beautiful places of Neapolitan culture and to contaminate them with contemporary design. Moreover, Naples is a city with a lively and fast intelligence: since the first year our challenge has been taken up and shared by many friends and partners who have sensed our perspective on the fly. We have arrived at the fifth edition with solid relationships, which seem to have always existed!

You look at design from two different perspectives - the (militant) history of design and the business world. What is the contribution of each of you to the project?
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We are absolutely complementary. We share core values, chief among them an almost maniacal obsession with product quality and credibility, which must work both for the ideas it brings and for the purposes of the market. On this our respective backgrounds meet, and the choices are strengthened as a result.

How do you select exhibitors?

By constant, daily research by the entire EDIT team. But, since the second edition, about half of the exhibitors come from the self-nominations made through the Open Call. For each application we then review the proposals and portfolio and, if they seem to be in line with our target audience, we have meetings and dialogues. Often the product itself is built with an exchange of visions and suggestions that lasts for months. We are, in short, the first to offer advice, because it is in the exhibitor's interest, but also in ours, to arrive at the fair with the best possible piece. That's why it's a year-round job, and also the promotion of our exhibitors comes in the following year. We are in favor of a slow process, a slow design (if we want to use a formula) in the true sense of the word.

How have the proposals coming to you each year changed, if at all?

They are increasingly aware of the segment to which we belong. There is more and more clarity in the objectives. Products are vehicles for relationships: exhibitors at EDIT know each other in Naples and continue to hang out and often activate new collaborations. This is because they are used to following the whole process: the choice of materials, suppliers, the control of production; and so the moment of the sale must also go in continuity with this, it cannot be an impersonal relationship mediated only by a screen. First you need a handshake, then you can do e-commerce and calls.

What characterizes the audience of EDIT Napoli, even compared to other events in the design world? How has it changed, if at all, over the years?

The exhibitor and buyer audiences are very similar. We like to say we're a community (and we used to say that before it was a bit of an overused term), because the relationships are the longest lasting part of this business. And then we are becoming a reference for those who need the right context to make themselves known: young designers and new companies. Our youth section, the Seminar, is getting bigger and more international every year. Evidently word of mouth is paying off, and those who have been "launched" by EDIT are our best testimonials!

What issues do you think a company like Incalmi -which deals with research, design and product development-should reflect on today?

A company like Incalmi does a fundamental job of updating ancient materials and processes with contemporary aesthetics and functionality. For us, the challenge is still largely in communicating the complexity of all this, in getting across to the general public of potential buyers why these objects have meaning, efficacy and even a soul. And that this also has an economic value, which is a symptom of seriousness: we need to learn to be wary of what costs too little, because it almost always hides an injustice, a "non-justice." Here, there is also an ethical mission in a project like yours/ours.

Do you think there is still an Italian specificity in design? And in craftsmanship?

Quality is of the world. Then everyone has their own particular story. The Italian ones are particularly beautiful if they know how to respect the complexity of our way of doing, which has always been more transversal and generalist and less specific-specialized than other cultures.