Davide Vercelli is a collector or, as we would say in the social era, a geek. You can see it in the enthusiastic look on his face when the video call for this interview opens.
He connects as punctually as a time signal the Piedmont-born designer, a sound and radio enthusiast, who will soon be featured with ADI Design Museum in what he calls “a point of arrival.”
What does it mean to collect?
For me, it means contouring different types of a specific object that can tell stories and convey emotions. And I collect radios.
Let's start with radio. It is said that it will never die.
True! Radio has had the ability to evolve and embrace new languages, unlike other mediums. Think mainly of the many web radios that have sprung up in recent years, there are some interesting ones. They are realities that possess an elasticity of mind that to this day, for example, television does not have.
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Radio has always been young.
Yes. There were many brave kids in the 1980s who started their own free radio. I was one of them, I was 14 years old and had a great time. You could give several examples even today of great successes.
What were you doing?
We used to involve the people of my village in a series of quizzes. To guess and give us the answer they would physically run to us. It's not like there were cell phones. This is exactly the immediacy of radio that we also find in industry leaders today.
A particular light pervades Davide Vercelli's eyes as he narrates. There was a song by The Buggles called “Video Killed the Radio Star.” It will absolutely never happen. He laughs.
Does radio meet the needs of younger people?
I would say yes, especially the web or many formats that have turned into podcasts. My son is a great listener, especially of good music. He may have inherited my taste!
What about the national FM stations?
I think many big radio stations also engage young people, however, perhaps the hook that then leads them to listen is digital. Kids go to school-there are several hours when it is impossible for them to turn on and follow the programs.
Your favorite Italian radio station today?
Radio Capital. I listen to Mixo and De Gennaro's 1 p.m. program in the morning-they have very free programming and the music they play is hard to find on other radio stations. Then I check back in for 6 p.m., toward the end of the day.
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Radio and design: is it love?
I am a designer and collector. Like every collector, I consider myself a disturbed person. Walter Benjamin compared collecting to the torment of Sisyphus. The object of the collection, for the person who owns it, transcends all meaning; it is no longer a commodity, it is an idea.
How can the two worlds help each other?
The main gap I see has to do with production: radio sets are no longer produced in Europe. Maybe you could think about using a design made in Europe and producing it in another country, a bit Cupertino-like.
When did you start collecting radios?
As many as 30 years ago.
How come?
I always took everything apart. My father was desperate because I did it with every object in the house. To this day I have not lost the habit and continue to do so.
Why?
Because my approach to the object is related to the idea I bring about its construction, not so much its material. I feel I enter into an intimate connection with the designers who made each piece when I find out what it looks like on the inside. I feel like I can sense the reason for whatever decision finalized that design.
But why specifically the radio as a cult object?
I am interested in anything that reproduces sound, but first of all I love the radio because it is connected to music. Although it is an object that functions in an extremely rational way, every time I turn one on and that scale lights up, the energy I feel transcends any rationality.
In what way?
It is magical to know that a song or voice from miles and miles away can be heard directly in my home and in the home of any listener.
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What about the idea of the exhibition in ADI?
I designed it before the pandemic and had to wait. For me it is an arrival point. As much as I can research in markets and on the net I now own the most important pieces in my collection. They are music to behold.
Isn't there a radio that you would love very much and still don't have?
There is one, it's called Apollo and it's made by Electrohome, it's beautiful. There are several in Canada and the U.S., but they would cost me crazy. Also I like the idea of still having a little dream to conquer.
What about the most strenuous one you have sourced that will be in the exhibition in ADI?
There is a piece from Philips, it's called Rosita Vision. It cost my wife and I a trip to Germany, to a farmhouse. I didn't even know if I would actually find the man who later sold it to me, to whom I had even given a down payment!
Madness.
Yes, and he thinks I even had to restore it by rebuilding the upper ball. I made more than one for other crazy people who, like me, had the same need.
Where do you keep all these radios?
I recently bought a shed where I keep them.
And your house is full of radios, I guess.
Actually of stereo systems. I rotate them around. My favorites are the Bang & Olufsen ones.
Three reasons why you should come and visit the exhibition in ADI.
The main reason is that we tell stories that really span any social nuance: politics, culture, history. We tell stories about companies, governments and men.
Admission to the exhibition is free, so there really is no escape.
The exhibition “Radio Design: l’evoluzione estetica degli apparecchi radiofonici” will be held from 5/09 to 27/09 at ADI Design Museum in Piazza Compasso d'Oro, 1 in Milan.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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