Sfere is Cordivari's new radiator resulting from the creativity of Simone Micheli that, thanks to pure and absolute shaping, exceeds the stereotypes of traditional radiators to become part of the actual furniture able to live in its own right and to be multiplied an infinite number of times in order to customise any environment. With its circular shape, Sfere represents the earth with its precise empty part at the centre studied in order to hold towels, which the very limited thickness (only 7 mm) enables the radiator to belong to the Extra Slim range. We have gone into the project with the designer and the company.

Sfere models the environment and enriches it with symbolic and content-related meanings.
Sfere models the environment and enriches it with symbolic and content-related meanings.

Area: How did this co-operation with the firm Cordivari start? What were the aims of the project and how have you developed it together?
Simone Micheli: Co-operating with a dynamic, innovative and highly qualified firm, paying attention to respecting man and the environment, as does Cordivari, was an extremely interesting experience for me and very meaningful. We shared intentions and aims, moving jointly in order to structure a work able to overcome the stereotypes that usually guide designing of designer radiators. We both wished that Sfere should be a unique project in its kind, bearing innovation and high quality and acting as a symbol of efficiency, sustainability and respect for ethics. The important award won recently at Cersaie, the ADI Ceramics Award, was for both a satisfying recognition of our intense work, of which to be proud.
Area: What relationship is created between the radiator and the area in which it is contained? Does the radiator become part of the furniture and does it change the way in which the space is perceived?
Simone Micheli: Entering in depth the context in which it is positioned, Sfere definitely changes the perception of the space surrounding it, giving rise to pure, genuine relationships with it that vibrate and fill the air, making the experience of the person interacting with it intense and penetrating. Sfere models the environment and enriches it with symbolic and content-related meanings. Able to alter the established views of reality, it becomes a central icon of any scene in which it is placed.

Sfere models the environment and enriches it with symbolic and content-related meanings.
Sfere models the environment and enriches it with symbolic and content-related meanings.

Area: How did the product engineering evolve? Did you make any changes while going along or did the initial choices remain unchanged throughout?
Enrico Cordivari: We tackled the engineering of Sfere with great confidence, considering the consolidated know-how we had developed with the other models of the Extra Slim range. From the very beginning the intention was to create a flat heating body suitable both for domestic contexts and for reception facilities, using many different production technologies that arose from our experience in processing steel.
Area: What distinguishes Cordivari's Extra Slim radiators? What are the technological advantages of this family of products?
Enrico Cordivari
: The Extra Slim line represents a revolution of the idea of designer radiators. Both from the aesthetic point of view and for the use of a special innovative technology. The result is a radiator that consists of a single piece, only 7 mm thick, distinguishing itself substantially from the various typologies available so far, so as to obtain shapes that go beyond the traditional image of radiators. In this way cleaning of all its parts is extremely simple, while although the valves are of the same type normally installed on all radiators, they remain hidden so as to characterise even further the Extra Slim shapes.