“If you make them smile you got them”: the ingredients of best-sellers

Internationally renowned American architect Michael Graves was a very talented and iconoclastic man. With his work – think Portland Building, Humana Building in Louisville and Team Disney Building – he embodied the essence of the Post-Modernist disruptive spirit which he also taught, as Professor Emeritus of Architecture, at Princeton. He was also one of the most successful designers of best and long seller products for many international companies, like Alessi. Despite operating in a totally different time-frame, economic setting and aesthetic outlook, looking at Michael Graves’ approach to design – he clearly stated that it should be “for all” -…