EDITORIAL:

Corsi Design and Fish Design collection turned 20

By Cristina Morozzi

In 2024, Corsi Design, Andrea Corsi's company, which produces the Fish Design collection, turned 20.

Profiles that trace the origins of early professional vocations, often cultivated right from the start of their schooling, are indeed rare. More common, however, are those that document beginnings that seem almost casual, linked to encounters or temporary passions, adding an element of unpredictability to these career trajectories.

Consider the concise biography of the successful Florentine painter Primo Conti and his carefully preserved notebooks with his childhood drawings. By the time he was in primary school, he had already decided to be a painter, a testament to the transformative power of early passion. On the other hand, many careers began almost by chance, perhaps from a meeting at the bar, as happens in Italy, where while sipping a coffee or an aperitif, secrets are revealed, interviews are granted, and projects are sketched out, inspiring hope in the potential of unexpected encounters.

Realizing his true vocation was not in teaching or coaching, Corsi embarked on a journey to find a job that would allow him to explore the world. His first step was as a stainless steel sales agent in Lombardy. However, his role as an area export manager for a plastic processing machinery company set his career in motion. The turning point came in 1994 when he began his collaboration with Cassina.
He became passionate about design, architecture and art.

From 1994 to 1999, he travelled, met designers, architects, and retailers and visited the most beautiful furniture shops. He fell in love with design, particularly the Gaetano Pesce pieces produced by Cassina.

At the age of 35, the turning point. He became a partner in Alias, where he bought shares and became familiar with the entrepreneur's work. In 2001, in agreement with his two partners, he accepted Cassina's offer and sold the company, remaining a director for another year. 2002 at the Milan Furniture Fair, he met Gaetano Pesce, who wanted to meet him in New York to 'talk to him about something'.They met again in the New York studio, and Gaetano asked him to open a company with him, 'Fish Design', presented in Milan in 2004.

The agreement with Gaetano Pesce reveals how a visionary can influence the life of a person willing to take risks. Gaetano vehemently preaches to young people the need to innovate, establishing a relationship of complicity with entrepreneurship. Andrea Corsi considered delegating the production of the pieces designed by Gaetano Pesce to simple workers. Still, he realized artisans needed manual skills and an aesthetic sense since Gaetano Pesce's design left wide margins for interpretation.

To manage the project, Andrea decided to become a craftsman as well.

In 2024, Corsi Design, Andrea Corsi's company, which produces the Fish Design collection, turned 20. Andrea decided to celebrate this important anniversary in Milan at the Factory in Via Marcello Malpighi, where the brand was born, grew and differentiated itself, welcoming other exceptional designers, such as Alessandro Mendini, Enzo Mari, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Paola Navone.