Made in Italy - Mind Map

Above is the mind map of what my group's vision of what Italian design is from a Canadian perspective. We believe that Italian design is represented by five keywords, which are Emotion, Communication, Experience, Innovation, and Tradition. If you would to download a copy of this map, click here for the PDF version.

- Alan, Michelle, Lindsay

Portrait Round-up

Here's a quick portrait round-up of just a few of all the interesting people we've had the opportunity to meet.

Laboratorio della Creativita e dello Stile Italiani

Macro Museum, Roma - Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

"Creativity Lab" at the Macro Museum

Our Italian Design Grand Tour is slowly coming to an end and here we are in our last week, reflecting on what we've seen and making connections with what we've learned. It almost feels like our studio back home: the long hours, the constant snacking, the uncomfortable stools, and being surrounded by our fellow classmates. Then again this familiarity is interrupted by the high windows and the organic desk that can cater to group work or individual work. 

Creating and Preserving Brand Heritage

Various corporate museums throughout Florence and Milan - June

Richard Ginori, Piaggio & Salvatore Ferragamo

Kartell & Alessi

A corporate museum is a type of institution that combines elements of a profit-making organization with a traditional museum, giving the public a glance into the past, present and future of a company. We've visited several corporate museums on this trip, each one taking a different approach in exhibiting the evolution of the products, people and organization of the company.

The Importance of Communication in Design Education

Milan, Florence - June 10th, May 31st, June 9th (respectively)

The photography studio at Politecnico di Milano

Education in Italy emphasizes the importance of communication as a strong companion to design. The schools here teach students cinematography, photography, writing and graphic design. It is important that students are able to express the idea behind the product in order to sell it to both the consumer and the manufacturer.

Sapienza University of Rome, Presentation of Prof. Orlandi (Director of DATA Department), Lecture of Prof. Rullo

Sapienza University, DATA Department, Rome - Monday, June 20th

 - Alan, Michelle, Lindsay

An excerpt from LAGO APPARTAMENTO - A Living Showroom

This is an excerpt from a book about LAGO's Appartamento concept. The book covers the story behind the appartamento concept and some short dialogues and reflections tangential to this idea. The book is currently floating around, so if you are interested in reading more from it, come find me, it might be in my hands. Anyway, I've copied an interesting section regarding a dialogue with Marco Bettiol (VIU) about the future and changes in the design world. Enjoy!

 

Re-inventing Made in Italy Dialogue with Marco Bettiol

               With the appartamento, LAGO presented a highly innovative project and comment on the new values of design. In the Appartamento we organized a series of seminars, where we addressed the various elements that seemed to us to be the important factors for design – now and in the future.

                During these seminars a number of interesting issues emerged regarding the evolution of design. A particularly interesting one was the conceptualisation of design in terms of it being a sense-making activity. We must now move from designing objects to designing meanings, because the new values of design are not about producing more and more objects (the world is already overflowing with them) but instead to produce meanings and to focus more on the immaterial side of the product. We believe that design has to be more about making sense of the world around us and to provide and create the new services and strategies that are really needed. Also of course products, but those products will be directly related to meanings.

Macro Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Architecture

The architecture of the Macro Contemporary Museum on Via Reggio Emilia was unique and intriguing. It maintained the historical building with a contemporary expansion and restoration to the museum designed by architect Odile Decq. The historical building was once the Peroni Brewery built in the early twentieth century. The architecture is meant to remove traditional boundaries and ignore the urban versus cultural existences.

Italian Neorealism

ISIA, Rome - Monday, June 20th

Still of Ossessione, 1942

Italian neorealism (Italian: Neorealismo) is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on lcation, frequently using nonprofessional actors. Italian neorealist films mostly contend with the difficult economic and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: poverty and desperation.

source: Wikipedia

Keyword: History

Lindsay, Michelle, Alan

Grand Tour of Italy

Twenty of Carleton University's industrial design students traveled overseas to Italy with the expectations to gain a better understanding of Italian design. Throughout June we traveled to Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice; visiting a vast range of studios, manufacturing plants, schools, museums and more. Guided by our instructor Lorenzo Imbesi, we met well established designers and other people working in the industry who gave us valuable insight pertaining to the direction of where Italian design is heading. Every day of our tour was packed with scheduled meetings; we were constantly on the move with camera and sketchbook in hand.

Macro Museum (Video)

Macro Museum - Rome, Milano – June 19^th



- Alan, Michelle, Lindsay

Fabrica- Exploring Forms of Communication

Fabrica, Venice- Sunday, June 19th, 2011

On June 14th, we visited Fabrica, a design think tank for the Benetton group researching different forms of communication. It is a great place for young designers to experiment, grow and express themselves.

Museums’ Interactive and Fun Bathrooms

Taking a look at the playful and innovative bathrooms of the Triennale and Macro Museum

Macro Museum, Rome and Triennale Museum, Milano – June 7^th and 19^th

Alan having fun with the interactive sink in the Macro Museum in Rome :D

Over the four weeks that we have been on the Italian Design Grand Tour, we have seen an incredible amount of famous Italian designers and visited a multitude of their studios and museums. As we were absorbing the Italian culture, the stories and their design style, there is a side note to all of these that are humorous yet very unique and interactive – the bathrooms.

Renewal: History and Architecture

Maxxi Museum, MACRO Museum, Punta Della Dogana, Milan and Venice - June 17th / 19th

During our trip across Italy, we've visited many museums and art galleries, many of which were once churches, factories and various industrial buildings before being renewed and reused for the exhibition spaces they are now. Here are a few examples:

The Punta Della Dogana: aerial view and interior view

THE ORIGIN AND DEMISE OF NEOPLASTICISM

MaXXi Museum (Museo Nazionale della Arti del XXI Secolo) - Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Neoplasticism painting by Piet Mondrian

On June 19th we went to MaXXi, a contemporary art museum in Rome. While there we checked out an exhibit about Gerrit Rietveld, an influential Neoplasticism furniture designer and architect. This got me thinking about the whole Neoplasticism movement. I started wondering about its origin and its demise. 

New Architecture and Historical Ruins: Auditorium Parco della Musica

Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome - Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Ancient ruins uncovered underneath construction of the Parco della Musica

On June 19^th, we visited the Auditorium Parco della Musica - a cluster of three concert halls in Rome used for music events. The three buildings are laid out around a central outdoor amphitheatre. They look like three large beetles nestled together, or as the locals have said, like blobs, cockroaches, scarabs, turtles, insect carapaces, or even computer mice.

MAXXI: Art and Architecture in the 21st Century

MAXXI Museum, Rome - Sunday, June 19th

The MAXXI Museum, short for "the Museum of Art in the 21^st Century", was completed in 2009 by Zaha Hadid Architects. 10 years in the works, it is built on the site of former military barracks and was planned to be not only a center for the display of artwork, but a research workshop for different contemporary languages of design, fashion and cinema. 

Fratelli Barbini (Video)

Fratelli Barbini - Murano, Venice - Friday, June 17th, 2011



- Alan, Michelle, Lindsay

Nason Moretti (Video)

Nason Moretti - Murano, Venice - Friday, June 17th, 2011







- Alan, Michelle, Lindsay

Gallino Ferro (Video)

Gallino Ferro - Murano, Venice - Friday, June 17th, 2011





- Alan, Michelle, Lindsay