Friends: Maddalena Casadei
The collaboration between QuadroDesign and Maddalena Casadei continues with A14, a new bathroom accessories collection that makes one of the brand’s most radical principles explicit: designing not by adding, but by reorganising what already exists. Following Eccetera, the designer returns to work by focusing on the core of its production system. A14 originates from an in-depth analysis of the existing catalogue, approached not as a closed set of finished products, but as an archive of components, technical parts and construction solutions to be reinterpreted.
“A14 is also a name that pragmatically describes the core of the collection: accessories built around a 14 mm diameter tube. The project was born out of necessity: using components already available in the catalogue, parts conceived as hardware, a hidden heritage that gave rise to a collection of accessories built from what was available, transforming technical parts into new objects.”
— Maddalena Casadei
The reference to the 14 mm tube is not merely a dimensional choice, but a true design constraint. A standard, repeatable element becomes the formal and structural matrix of the entire collection. Starting from this diameter, A14 develops as a coherent system, in which each accessory results from precise combinations aimed at reducing complexity, waste and unnecessary production steps.
The project is the outcome of a long process of cataloguing and selection: existing components are isolated, observed and brought into dialogue with one another to identify new possibilities of use. A process that shifts the focus from the single object to the system, and from form to the logic that generates it.
This approach naturally aligns with QuadroDesign’s vision. The company has worked exclusively with AISI 316L stainless steel for over twenty-five years, a material chosen for both its technical and environmental qualities: used “bare”, without chrome plating or polluting coatings; resistant to corrosion; safe in daily use; and fully recyclable at the end of its life cycle.
Within this framework, A14 stands as a concrete example of production optimisation. A project that demonstrates how it is possible to do better with less, by enhancing an existing technical heritage and transforming it into a collection of essential, durable accessories that are fully consistent with the brand’s identity.
More than a simple accessories line, A14 expresses a way of designing that connects design, industry and environmental responsibility. A further step in reinforcing QuadroDesign’s idea of systemic design, where products, processes and vision move in the same direction.
