There was an understanding at Lavazza that if it wanted to have a certain family feeling between products, to add value over time to the brand, it had to do things a certain way. Previously the head of project would call three-to-five external design agencies and brief them. There would be a pitch, and they would probably create a good product, but there would be no continuity. So that’s why Lavazza thought it should set up a design operation. We still work with an external company and an alias modeller of five years standing plus three others. But only two are in-house. 

What we are doing now on a much smaller scale is what I learned through car design. We try to design our products with the same level of attention to detail and surface quality and to a certain extent I think that distinguishes our products at this moment in time. We wanted something that was thoroughly Italian at heart, but initially it wasn’t clear what that meant – it could be anything from the Memphis Group to Fiat or Lancia or whatever. For us, the starting point is very dolce vita, almost a little bit retro, colourful and friendly, but maybe with a slightly more modern outlook. 

What’s the difference between car design and what I do now at Lavazza? Loads. In the…