In just a few years Slide has become a leading manu-facturer of plastic furniture produced using the technology of rotational moulding. How did this sensational growth come about?
We were the first in the world to have the idea of de-veloping a complete range of luminous furniture that com-prises tables, seats, bar counters, vases and decorative objects that have made it possible to change the setting of events, public establishments and gardens. Before we started on our production, luminosity was limited to flood-lights, spots and other light sources that were not part of the furnishings and served only to illuminate. With the new luminous furniture the atmosphere has become ‘magical’.

Alongside industrial production, you personally oversee a section of contemporary art with sculptures entrusted to famous architects or artists that often utilise technologies for the manufacture of furniture. Is it business or the fulfil-ment of a personal desire?
New initiatives usually arise out of an intuition, a personal passion or a market re-quirement. In coming up with the concept of the SLIDEart collection, there was certainly a mix of all this. Our expertise in technologies for the utilization and working of plastic has allowed us to make original sculptures with a remarkable visual impact. And then the reputation and expressive capacities of well-known artists and designers did the rest.

In what way does art influence design and vice versa?
An ever greater number of artists are proposing objects and pieces of furniture that are mass-produced by various companies. Designers on the other hand are increas-ingly ready to express themselves with products made in limited numbers, because the art market today is willing to promote products created by famous designers.

“Today the borderline between art and design has become invisible”