"With the Officina line of pens, I attracted the attention of the most important figures in the pen business worldwide. I believe that part of the success of those pens is due precisely to the country I belong to. But precisely because I am Italian and part of the most important design culture in the world, I had to present another new pen.

I thought it was impossible, but it all happened during a phone call. I was playing with my pencil when I interrupted and said, "Sorry, I have to go, I've drawn a new pen." Honestly, after drawing it, I saw that it was a coffee pot, but it was inspiration that came at the right moment. This pen also holds a memory of my youth.

There were no so-called "American kitchens" yet, and in my grandmother's huge, sparsely furnished kitchen, four or five coffee pots of different sizes gleamed on a shelf hanging on the wall. They were the only decorative items, and I never saw my grandmother use them to make coffee; she just polished them every day. It was the 1950s, a period when the Moka, designed and produced by Alfonso Bialetti in 1930, was beginning to become known throughout the world.

I too see this everyday object, consisting of two containers screwed together, as a masterpiece of design. There is nothing more difficult to design than simplicity, and I would like to dedicate a writing instrument to this now 80-year-old gem.