Georg-Christof Bertsch. Design theorist. Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany, 1959

“Take, read!” (Tolle, lege!). Tusquets, I am convinced, has written this exhortation from the Confessions of Saint Augustine on the internal lining of his forehead. On the outside he has written for all of us: “Listen to these words!” He has a real message and solid principles, but his interpretations of a situation are essentially intuitive. He often speaks with his eyes closed, which may seem like arrogance, but is in fact a substantial part of his way of thinking. / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, it is said, wrote his poetry like this too. A secretary took note of his formulations as he sat on the couch. Tusquets does not write poetry, but his way of involving others in his concentration bears similarities with the poet’s way of working. / When engaged in conversation at his Villa Andrea, Tusquets likes to sit on the sofa, casually stretching an arm out over the backrest. With this sovereign-like stance he seems to indicate that all talk is superfluous, that everything visible has been created or collected or arranged by himself. The truth is, things here speak for themselves, and therefore, for him. / The more beauty surroun-ding him, the less need he feels to speak. The setting he has created, whether accessories, paintings or buildings, is the air he breathes; it takes away the need for words. No surprise, then, that it is only with a certain reluctance that he leaves his palatine abode. Tusquets’s Aristotelian dialectic style, his critical perception of beauty, which meditates on the nature of change, all seem exemplary to me; his way of thinking and speaking is, therefore, a truly poetic composition.