Elena and the Meaning of Things

I have always thought of Elena as a researcher, a sort of speleologist curious about the meaning of things. I am not ashamed to say that as a child I imagined her wearing an explorer’s hat armed with chisel, compass and magnifying glass. Yes, because it always seemed to me that playing, colours and stories were all opportunities to delve into the engineering of movement and structures. Hers is a colourful engineering!

From when I was at kindergarten to when I was a university student, Elena welcomed me with affection in her beautiful home, showing me what she was working on in that moment, more curious to see if and what I understood than anything else. I really loved her!

I do not have many memories of my childhood but, among those few, there are images of her that are still vivid and full of meaning for me today.

Elena’s eyes: always bright, sometimes squinted to understand better, darting and soberly loving.

Elena’s hands: they seemed to speak. Small, vigorous, gnarled, elegant, patient, careful and precise.

Elena’s movements: smoothing with the sandpaper, rotating those discs to make them go together, drawing the object that would best capture that precise movement.

To be honest, I also remember Elena getting angry with Alessandra and me when, as good ‘Milanese’ people, we would often use to use a certain swear word…

Elena’s work is a successful testament to creativity, research and talent and I am very grateful to her daughters for safeguarding its legacy.

I would, however, like to remember another Elena, for me perhaps more important than the one her creations represent.

Elena Guaccero was a woman of extraordinary modernity. In both her professional and private lives Elena was an independent, courageous woman who left indelible traces of her passage wherever she went. She absolutely did not need to make noise, to be disruptive or to shout to be a true feminist.

In short, Elena is one of those women who left the world a better place than she found it, and we are so proud of her for that.

Giustina Magistretti