From Verbale Scritto, by Bruno Munari.

«To complicate is easy. To simplify is difficult.

To complicate you just need to add anything you want. Colors, shapes, actions, decorations, people, environments full of things.

Eversione is able to complicate. Few are able to simplify.

Simplify means to remove, and to remove you need to know what to remove, like sculptors do when they hit through the rock with a chisel to remove all the excess material.

Theoretically every rock has a beautiful sculpture inside it, but how do you know where to stop removing, without ruining the sculpture?

By removing instead of adding means to understand the essence of things and communicate their essentialism.

This process brings you out of time and fashion…

Simplification is symptom of intelligence, as an ancient Chinese saying goes: what can’t be said in few words cannot be said in many.»

Taken from Verbale Scritto, a collection of little stories by Bruno Munari, translated by me.