# Il coraggio di sbagliare | Federico Redaelli Susanna Mandelli | TEDxLiceo Malpighi Bologna Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thv3UHZMOMA Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/Thv3UHZMOMA Generated: 2025-11-20T17:11:32.817+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview The TEDx talk "Il coraggio di sbagliare" (The Courage to Make Mistakes) features Federico Redaelli, a designer, and Susanna Mandelli, an interior designer and former ballet dancer, who explore how embracing failure, drawing parallels between the discipline of ballet and the creative process, leads to growth and discovering one's true path, exemplified by Mandelli's career shift from dance to design. **Key Points:** - Federico Redaelli, a designer and project manager, initially feared failure, which he transformed by taking the leap into his chosen career path. - Susanna Mandelli, an interior designer and former professional ballet dancer, highlights the rigorous discipline, perfectionism, and emotional expression inherent in ballet. - Mandelli recounts that her career in dance, which demanded immense sacrifice (little food, no social life), ultimately did not represent her true future path, leading to a significant shift. - Both speakers connect the discipline required in their respective fields—Redaelli in design and Mandelli in dance—to the necessity of embracing mistakes as opportunities for growth ("Kintsugi" philosophy). - Mandelli explicitly states that the perceived stability of a fixed position in ballet was less valuable than learning to dance even when the music changed, underscoring adaptability over rigid security. - The concept of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, is used as a metaphor for transforming life's wounds and failures into something beautiful and valuable. - The common thread between ballet and design, according to Mandelli, is the pursuit of rigor, perfection, obsession for detail, balance, elegance, and beauty. ![Screenshot at 00:10: Federico Redaelli stands on stage addressing the audience during the TEDx event, setting the scene for his discussion on overcoming the fear of failure in his design career.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-00-10.png) **Context:** This video features a TEDx event hosted by Liceo Malpighi in Bologna, themed "Il coraggio di sbagliare" (The Courage to Make Mistakes). The segment involves a conversation between Federico Redaelli, who identifies as a designer and project manager, and Susanna Mandelli, a designer who shares her background as a professional ballet dancer, discussing how confronting fear, embracing change, and viewing failures constructively shaped their professional lives. ## Detailed Analysis The session begins with Federico Redaelli introducing himself as a designer and project manager who found the courage to pursue his path despite initial fears of failure. He transitions to Susanna Mandelli, an interior designer with a background as a professional ballet dancer. Mandelli describes her intense youth spent training in classical ballet, enduring physical hardships and sacrifices (like poor nutrition and limited social life) for a career she ultimately realized was not her true calling after 11 years. She discusses the inherent rigor, discipline, and search for perfection in dance, which she later recognized in design—specifically, the pursuit of method, proportion, harmony, equilibrium, elegance, and beauty. Mandelli recounts the moment she signed the contract to leave the stable ballet company, realizing the structure she had built was no longer serving her, comparing this realization to the Kintsugi philosophy—the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold to highlight the beauty in imperfection and mending flaws. She concludes that failures and wounds are not obstacles but opportunities for growth, forcing one to find new perspectives and build new paths, emphasizing that one must learn to dance even when the music changes, as stability is an illusion. ### Federico Redaelli's Transition - Redaelli identifies as a designer who feared failure but ultimately took the risk to commit to his career path - He compares the discipline of his work to the rigor Mandelli experienced in ballet. ### Susanna Mandelli's Ballet Past - Mandelli trained for 11 years in classical ballet at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, enduring physical sacrifice and an unspoken hierarchy - She realized this path, despite its discipline, was not her true calling when she was 27. ### The Turning Point - Mandelli describes the moment she realized her dance career was unsustainable, finding the experience fulfilling but ultimately leading to feelings of emptiness and a lack of personal direction after leaving the company. ### Kintsugi Philosophy Applied - Mandelli introduces the Japanese art of Kintsugi (repairing breaks with gold) as a metaphor for transforming life's perceived wounds and errors into ornaments of strength and beauty. ### Shared Principles in Art and Design - Both disciplines share core values: rigor, precision, obsession for detail, balance, elegance, and beauty, which Mandelli found in both the physical discipline of dance and the creative process of design. ### Conclusion on Growth - Mandelli concludes that true strength comes from accepting that life's structures are not fixed and that one must learn to adapt ('dance when the music changes') rather than seeking permanent security. ![Screenshot at 00:03: Title card slide displaying the speakers, Federico Redaelli and Susanna Mandelli, and the event theme, "Il coraggio di sbagliare."](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-00-03.png) ![Screenshot at 00:10: Wide shot of Federico Redaelli speaking on stage with Susanna Mandelli seated beside him, against the backdrop of the TEDx event screen.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-00-10.png) ![Screenshot at 01:00: Close-up of the slide presentation showing an image of ballet shoes on pointe, illustrating the physical rigor discussed by Mandelli.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-01-00.png) ![Screenshot at 02:58: Slide showing the text "...e adesso chi sono io?" \(And now, who am I?\), representing Mandelli's moment of identity crisis after leaving ballet.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-02-58.png) ![Screenshot at 06:44: Slide showcasing the Kintsugi concept, illustrating the idea of transforming 'ferite' \(wounds\) into 'ornamento' \(ornamentation\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Thv3UHZMOMA/00-06-44.png)