De Stadskrant. Award-winning designer shares his passion for the city of Edam.

Photo: Marianne Klok.

Designer Guido Baratta has moved into the former building of Gerro de Boer at the Kaasmarkt. Guido has been living in Edam for four years and absolutely loves our cheese town. His love for the Edammer cheese can be seen in his designs. “I am surprised by the welcome feeling that the Edammers have given me and I have fallen in love with the city. I want to stay here forever.” Photo: Marianne Klok.

Award-winning designer

His name already reveals a bit where he comes from. Guido Baratta was born in southern Italy and grew up in a designer family. In 1998, Guido, like many other designers, left Italy in search of the great adventure. He ended up in New York where he said he was very lucky. He came into contact with great designers and has worked for a number of large companies such as Adidas, Nokia and Philips and he was awarded his first real award.

Success was not success

"In America I earned a lot but I saw that there was also a lot of poverty", Guido explains. “The whole social system is being destroyed by the wealth of big business and I felt like I was part of that problem. That way of life went against me, I couldn't look myself straight in the mirror anymore. The Dutch have a completely different approach and a much more social network. I said to my girlfriend; let's move to Amsterdam. She declared me crazy, but after my explanation she shared my opinion and we left for the Netherlands.”

In love with Edam

In Amsterdam, he started a design studio together with a friend, but the growth of the company and living in a big city leaned back to the old existence in America. "After years of living in big cities, I would prefer to live in a small community," says Guido. “I drove through Edam once and thought; this is too good to be true! This is it! I fell in love with Edam in one fell stop.”

Prefer less money and happy

Four years ago Guido moved to Edam with his girlfriend and last year their daughter was born. “The beauty of living in a small community is that you have much more contact and can knock on your neighbors. I'm going to take on a new challenge here, I don't care so much about success anymore, I prefer to do things that make me happy. I am grateful that I was so well taken care of by the Edammers, they make me feel welcome. The designs I make now are based on Edam, that's my gesture to give something back to society.”

Edam as inspiration

“Although I am an Italian – who is spoiled by the Italian cheeses – I have a weakness for the Edammer cheese. I know many delights, but nothing is as delicious as the Edamm cheese. I designed a lamp inspired by the shape of an Edammer cheese. You can also see the love for the Edammer in the coat rack.”

Simplicity and functional

“It's about the fine line between art and design. My designs have a strong connection with art. I try to combine simplicity with the functional. That's why I'm a big fan of the Fresh pottery, which is also designed to lie well in the hand. I designed a picnic set based on something my mother used to design. And it has interfaces with Fris, because it has details such as a recess in the egg cup that fits your thumb or an oblique angle in the cup so you can't mess with.”

3D printing with cheese

All of Guido's designs are made with a 3D printer. “This is sustainable because it works with recycled materials. The filament used by the 3D printer is recycled (residual) material of, for example, glass, cork, wood, ceramics and plastic, but there is also filament of broccoli or grass. Even though everyone declares me crazy, I am currently investigating whether it is possible to print with cheese. The more creative you become with the material, the more difficult it becomes to print. The challenge of cheese lies in the smell and the melting process.”

Artefilo

Around the summer, Guido thinks he is ready for the next step. “A number of products such as the table lamp and the picnic set are almost ready and just need to be refined. In a few months, I want to open a sales location that is combined with the production space so that people can see how it is made.” If you want to see what Guido Baratta is making, you can take a look at the website artefilo.com or instagram.com/_artefilo