A white sheet of paper

"A white sheet of paper. It always begins this way, by asking yourself how and when, but there’s a question that’s more important, more pressing, more oppressive. It’s a fundamental one: you ask yourself ‘why’? It doesn’t matter whether it's an unusual job, a service, if it’s for a friend, or of extraordinary importance. It’s always about a new project: you have to bring something into being out of nothing. And you wonder ‘why’. Why produce a new identity for the Uffizi Galleries? Why?".
Elio Carmi and Alessandro Ubertis, Branding for the Uffizi Galleries, 26 September 2017.

It is rare to meet people having great human and professional qualities at once.

It is even rarer when such people are endowed with empathy and the ability to make their wealth of talent and skills available to others.

Elio Carmi was that kind of person. His vast experience in the field of design and the world of branding, combined with a vast culture, match with his ability to convey any experience in a direct and clear manner.

Elio Carmi led the Uffizi Galleries through the complex process of defining and developing their visual identity. This was by no means an easy task considering the historical stratification of the museum complex and the many issues that the making of such visual identity entailed. It required extreme care, listening skills, respect, but also courage and vision. It was necessary to combine history and the future, tradition and topicality.

Elio Carmi, together with Alessandro Ubertis and their Agency's creative team, succeeded in balancing all those features by designing a logo and a brand strategy characterised by great elegance, clarity and, long-term resilience.

From the very first moment, Elio captivated us all with his unique, immediately perceivable stature; his professional ethics that made him refuse any compromise and partisan tactics; but above all his politeness and sympathy that made him a lovable and dear person. A man who strongly believed in his work, in the deep affection of his beautiful and large family; who was rooted in his origins and identity yet willing to dialogue and encounter the other, well aware of the values that make life worth living.

We would like to remember him with his splendid white beard, very long and well-groomed, his bright blue eyes always so curious and attentive to the world around him as well as to the person he had in front each time.

Goodbye Elio, dear friend; may your journey go on serene.