Domus Academy - Lost in Translation

7/28/2019 Domus Academy - Lost in Translation

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 1/96









Letter t Mr Grz Mzzcc

Milan, April 2012

Dear Maria Grazia,

Thirty is a transitional age; we are still young, enthusiast, ull o energy, yet witha little experience and a pinch o disenchantment –important enough to have animpact on reality.

For this very reason or us at Domus Academy, the School you ounded,this thirtieth anniversary represents a goal to be celebrated, as it carries theawareness that an original educational model was established, and the ambitionto spread it around the world.

Many riends walked with us during these thirty-year journey, and many still sharetheir passion and talent with our students. Many were and are the students thatchose us, and that now represent us all over the world.

This exhibition is a tribute to them all, and a way to celebrate this uniqueexperience o Italian design through the products designed by some o ouralumni. But, here at Domus Academy, we all know that you are the one we shouldbe grateul to or making this possible. Your courage, your passion, and the manyyears o your constant commitment made Domus Academy the institution it istoday. This is why, Maria Grazia, this exhibition is dedicated to you.

From all o us, rom the bottom o our hearts, Thank you.

Alberto BonisoliDean

Domus Academy





Lost in translation 6Lost in identity 8

Lost in production 24

Lost in materials 38Lost in action 50

Designers 63



Dnte Dnegn, Elen Pcent

Lost in translation is a way to tell and illustrate 30 years o Domus Academy

through the proessional stories and experiences o some o the designers

that were part o its lie. The exhibition, organized in occasion o the Salone

del Mobile 2012, nds and presents connections between the projects and

the proessional work o Domus Academy alumni and some o the researchtopics developed throughout the years around the idea o the house and

its space and atmosphere. The evolution o the domestic scenario and

the living archetypes, and the transormations o the objects and o the

relationships within the domestic environment, certainly represents one

o the avorite topics o Domus Academy’s tradition and researches, oten

at the core o the didactic oering and design seminars. The products

developed by some o the designers that participated in those researches

are here exhibited: objects realized ater attending Domus Academy, in

their proessional career and when working with the industry, at times o

great changes o the industrial and consumption system. The title o the

exhibition thus represents the space that separates the ideas and thoughts

elaborated in the research, and the tangible signs between experimentationand real production, between thoughts and actions.

Lost in translation shows afnities and dierences between the researches

carried out at Domus Academy and the world o the objects produced by

the designers. The aim is not to demonstrate that the exhibited products

are the direct expression o having attended Domus Academy. On the

contrary, i there is any connection with the researches Domus Academy

ocuses (and ocused) on, it is actually interesting to investigate the creative

mechanism that allows to transorm ideas, and the role it plays in all steps

o Design education.

According to Robert Frost,

“poetry is what gets lost in translation”.

Lost intranslation

6



This statement describes very well the design teaching

dynamics, and especially those at Domus Academy.

Thus, the translation permeates the activity o any

“laboratory o ideas”, in which proessors prepare

audacious and sometimes prophetical design brie,translating current events and demands into theoretical

statements. The bries are then interpreted by students,

which mediate them with their multiple personalities,

knowledge, cultural backgrounds, and languages.

The project is thus developed with a heavy relation

work, through the direct dialogue and an intense

communication. Thus, the project is what gets lost in

this translation: not only in the language translation,

but especially in the translation o each strictly artistic

project. Design oten is what gets lost in the translation

o identities, behaviors, materials, technologies,

relationships, images and myths… the ability toimagine “things” is necessarily related to something

that previously existed. Here is where the meaning o

our products should be looked or, and the drawing,

the project, is the result o the translation. Since its

oundation, Domus Academy based its educational

oer and teaching method on a visionary idea that was

not trying to somehow replicate Italian design. On the

contrary, it was trying to embark on unusual paths,

“the design in Milan was made by people with a strong

research drive, and thus the real novelty was the research,

the push to try to move orward” (Ezio Manzini).

One o the very early catch phrases ater the Academy

oundation said

“it is not about Design, it is about the Designer”, and

about the role o the school “the ocus is not on didacticmethodologies, but on the proessors, and especially on

the students” (Andrea Branzi).

This is the nature and the innovation o the educational

project in Domus Academy, which can be told only

through the stories o the people that have been part o

it: stories o great masters and generations o designers

and thinkers; stories o great visions and idealistic

ambitions, challenges, dierences, and exchanges.

“The people who created, worked and still work at Domus

Academy have always considered it a san open projecttowards new rontiers, a place or experiments and

innovation, a challenge to break new ground and also

a placet o look around in order to identiy new existing

themes, new problems and to propose new solutions”

(Maria Grazia Mazzocchi).

Lost in translation is just the rst o a series o events

aimed at bringing new light to the value and the identity

o this great design experience, but also at trying to

think about some old and new topics, and at trying to

think about the uture potential o design, through the

voice o its protagonists.

La danza

“Galleria delCopismo” AtelierAlchimia, 1982.

Realized or theopening o DomusAcademy.

Quotes by Branzi,Manzini, Mazzocchi

rom Gian LuigiFalabrino “Designspeaks Italian.Domus Academystory” LibriScheiwiller, Milan,

2004

7



Gvnn Ld

We are celebrating the Thirtieth anniversary o Domus Academy. In thesethirty years, our didactic activity has oten caught and understood (andsometimes anticipated) several steps and several important topics in thedesign culture. The new living archetypes and the new product typologies,

the aesthetics o materials and sustainability-related issues, design directionand the enhancement o local productions, smart objects and user interacedesign are just some o them. A wide sense o vision yet practicability,intuition yet adherence to reality were used to deal with all those topics.Several dierent key works were adopted and, at the same time, crypticand mystic design bries (like those in the notes) were prepared to developunusual projects. Those bries have always been open to interpretations “lostin translation”, to which the title o the exhibition reers to. In the Eighties,the didactic experiences reerred to a global scenario: Andrea Branzi’s hybridMetropolis, a metaphor o post-industrial society and city, which contained“everything and its opposite, each contradiction and each unit”.(1)

Plural, complex, and hybrid were the words used to dene this new

post-industrial reality as opposed to the modern, monological andmonounctional, design vision. Functionality and standardization were notprevailing any longer; since modern certitudes vanished, turning to thesymbolic orm o hybridization led to the encounter o dierent logics withinthe design culture. The same encounter was also happening in didacticswith the introduction o new design disciplines (such as primary designand service design) and the identication o transversal or edgy topics. Forexample, in the Urban Scenography class (o which I was a student backin 1986), projects went beyond hierarchies and disciplinary specicities.They actually ocused on the city using (oten simultaneously) scenography,cinema, architecture, design and art tools. The telecommunication revolutiondeeply transormed urban and domestic spaces with the result that unctionsand behaviors would overlap, multiply, and merge.

Lost in identity

Habitat a catalogoIk-Seo Choi. Projectleaders: DanteDonegani, GiovanniLauda and Jae KyuLee, 1997



Turning tohybridization ledto the encountero dierentlogics within the

design culture9



The Masters projects ocusing on the hybrid table (1991) and on thehybrid oce (1992) identied two emblematic places where changes wereongoing, the unctional and aesthetic identity o which had become weakand uncertain. Due to the changes in the business world, space and timeorganization and management within the oce had become more and moresimilar to those within the house. The development o telecommuting and

the rise o new proessions made the oce disappear into a new hybridplace (the home-oce) or into an object (the computer). On the otherside the table, abandoned any traditional rituals and took in new behaviorsand new orms o socialization; through new tools and new ood industryproducts, the table was opening up to cultural exchanges and gastronomicexperimentation. The diversity amongst students, coming to the Academyrom all over the world, ensured a multicultural vision o table-relatedprojects. In the Nineties, the didactic researches on new living archetypescarried out at Domus Academy ully got this conict between traditionaltypologies and new ways o living. They deconstructed disciplines whileintegrating in the projects dierent thinking rameworks, architectureand design, micro- and macro-systems (electronics and metropolis).

Even Passepartout (1998) - the livable urniture I designed with DanteDonegani or Edra - and the convertible rug Xito (1998) by Giovanni Levantior Campeggi were, in those years, the expression o a new hierarchyaccording to which urniture was contributing in creating a space (just likearchitecture) rather then being absorbed by it. Objects became places. Forexample Piano Seduto (2000), by Jae Kyu Lee or Radice was a cushion-oce; Sneaker (2006) by Giovanni Levanti or Campeggi was an upholsteredurniture able to create a gym-relax space. Pieces o urniture beyondtraditional typologies dened innovative environments. Some examples arethe Tatlin couch by Mario Cananzi and Roberto Semprini (1989), the Mobilclothes hanger by Karen Chekerdjian (1999) - both designed or Edra – andthe Stones o Glass lamp (2002) by Marco Romanelli and Marta Laudanior Oluce. Agronica (1995), rural and computer oriented, cabled and natural,

The didactic researcheson new living archetypes

carried out at DomusAcademy ully gotthis conict betweentraditional typologiesand new ways o living

Lost in identity 10



Let page:

PassepartoutDonegani & Lauda,Edra, 1998

Top:

XitoGiovanni Levanti,Campeggi, 1999

Center:

Piano SedutoJae Kyu Lee, Radice,2000

Bottom:

Sneaker Giovanni Levanti,Campeggi, 2006

11


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 14/96Lost in identity 12



Let page:

Stones o glassesMarco Romanelliand Marta Laudani,Oluce, 2009

Top:

Tatlin

Mario Cananzi andRoberto Semprini,Edra, 1989

Bottom:

MobilKaren Chekerdjian,Edra, 1999

13



This page:

Felicity vendingmachineKuang Ting Hsiao,Chi Rong Hsu, JervisChua. Project leaders:Dante Denegani andGiovanni Lauda, 2010

Let page rom top tobottom:

ParmenideAlejandro Ruiz,Alessi, 1994Toothpick cactusLarry Laske, Knoll,1993Happy Egg

Pierangelo Caramia,Alessi, 1993RioPierangelo Caramia,Alessi, 1990

Lost in identity 14



A crysis o identities: all o these“hybrid” objects, which are theresults o opposed identities,

represented the state o things,meaning the varied and ambiguousnature o contemporary production

was a project integrating architecture and landscape architecture, structuraland environmental systems, buildings and landscapes. O-the-shel housesand service-houses developed in the Master at Domus Academy in 1997(2) integrated new economy consumption models in the architectural project;in act, they imagined shared areas and “ree loan” urniture that determinedthe exibility and reversibility o spaces and domestic activities. The topic

o hybridization thus expressed the ongoing changes and the encounterbetween dierent disciplines and cultural models within the project. Theobjects developed within the Halbreed-Meticcio (2000)(3) researchexpressed this “hybrid” condition, integrating product and packaging,combining ancient rituals with new behaviors, and using artisanal andindustrial components, low and high tech, heavy duty and throw away. Acrisis o identities: all o these “hybrid” objects, which are the results oopposed identities, represented the state o things, meaning the varied andambiguous nature o contemporary production. A state o things in whichdesign does not think about tidying up any longer, yet it looks or a newbalance amongst contrasting logics, allowing traditional elements and bearero innovation and cultural diversity to coexist. Since 2000 onwards this new

equilibrium, in which both behavioral and unctional/aesthetic contrasts hadbecome physiological, emerged in the didactic researches ocusing on newcategories or objects interpretation (Luxury, Fetish, Monstrous, Shapeless,Eccentric, etc…). This is especially evident in many o the exhibited projects.First examples are the tools thought or a new conviviality and those thatinterpret an new etiquette: objects that shape that “hybrid table” we talkedabout, and new product typologies related to new behaviors. Rio (1990),the salt and pepper shakers by Pierangelo Caramia or Alessi are held likesouth American maracas; Happy egg (1993), ceramic tea inuser by Caramiaor Alessi, looks like a holy water aspersorium or a sticked olive in a Martiniglass. Parmenide (1994), by Alejandro Ruiz or Alessi, is an ergonomicgrater/container: it collects and preserves the cheese, it is easy to hold tograte the cheese, and it can be laid on the table. The Salad servers (2011)

15



Right page top:

SwirlPhilippe Bestenheider,Varaschin, 2011

Right page bottom

let:

Tutti work architecture

Nick Bewick andMichele De Lucchi,Castelli

Right page bottomright:

RegoloJuan Carlos Viso,Vanalextra, 2012

Top:

EyeballJae kyu Lee,Rotaliana, 2004

Bottom let:

NestSilvio De Ponte,Lumen Center Italia,

2012Center right:

Drainer Kuno Prey, RostiMepal, 1990

Bottom:

Arcadia SwingPierangelo Caramia,Xo, 1987

Lost in identity 16





by Ran Lerner or Joseph Joseph are two elementsthat can be joined together when stored, or when usedas a single, large serving spoon. The ceramic platesOberon (2000) by Pascal Tarabay or Pandora designwere designed especially or the aperiti and havea handle that makes it easy to eat comortably andelegantly while standing. Memorie (2011) is a serieso tablecloths designed by Daniela Archiutti: they arealready “dirty” and worn. In the pursuit o a new bonton, wine and vegetable marks let by the atware arexed on the abric by a high temperature nish, withthe aim o obtaining a unction-related decoration. In

2010, a design workshop was organized, ocusing on thetopic o shared conviviality (places or outdoor dining,meeting, working, and traveling…). Beach chair (2007),by Larry Laske is a plastic chair back with no seat that,when in the sand, turns the beach into an environmentwhere people can relax, read, and comortably eat whilebeing in touch with nature. The boundaries betweenobjects disappear, causing linguistic and typologicalshort circuits. For example, in the Alessilux (2010) bulbcollection, by Frederic Gooris, all hierarchies betweenlamps and bulbs are cancelled: bulbs are not hiddenanymore, and become micro-lamps, with archetypical-

shaped shades. Contrasts and contradictions amongstlanguages, materials, and technologies characterizedeven the exhibited products, that express a new, ironicand surreal, kind o luxury. These last ones are aesthetic“whims”, like the Amsterdam (2005) mirror by MonicaMoro or Ravarini e Castoldi, which is cut as a diamond,or the Lord (2010) tray - with its border made by severaldierent handles -, and the Fildeer (2011) garden chair- where the metal rods make an upholstered tutedarmchair – both designed by Alessandra Baldereschi orSkitsch. Jewelry also reaches beyond the idea o statussymbol and the wealth display: they are not simpledecorations or the body or the garments, but become

Right page:

OberonPascal Tarabay,Pandora Design,2000

Top right:

Salad SpoonRan Lerner, JosephJoseph

Center:

Beach chair Larry Laske,BeachThingy, 2007

Bottom:

MemorieDaniela Archiutti,Maria ElisabettaBauce, selproduction, 2011

Lost in identity 18





Let:

MinouFrederic Gooris,Alessi, 2012

Bottom:

Fildeer AlessandraBaldereschi, Skitsch,

2011

Right page top:

ViennaFrederic Gooris,Alessi LUX |Foreverlamp, 2011

Right page center:

LordAlessandra

Baldereschi, Skitsch,2012

Right page bottom:

AmsterdamMonica Moro,Ravarini Castoldi,2002

Lost in identity 20




http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 24/96Lost in identity 22



interpretations o a new idea o wellbeing, multiunctional objects with anidentity that straddles ashion and design.Minou (2010) by Frederic Gooris or Alessi is a cat-shaped jewel, and a baghook to be hanged to the oce or restaurant table.The erotic jewels Paradise Found (2009) by Betony Vernon are designed tomassage, tickle, stimulate imaginations, and more…

The expressive ambiguity, the use o aective and emotional values, therecycle o amiliar images that characterize the previous projects are oundin the Padme (2008) rug by Mercedes Jaen Ruiz or Gandia Blasco (inwhich the decoration is embroidered by overlapping wool and cotton) andin three “surreal” products: Niki (1989) by Larry Laske, Tapetimer (2004) byJozeph Forakis or Kikkerland, and Savon du che (2012) by Frederic Goorisor Alessi. The rst one is an ashtray designed as a chipped cup, the secondone is a kitchen timer shaped like a tape measure: you pull up the tape toset the time. The third is a garlic shaped odor remover in stainless steel: you just need to rub it between your hands under cold running water to remove(through ion migration) any onion, garlic, or sh smell

(1)

Andrea Branzi, La Quarta Metropoli, Domus Academy Edizioni ,1990(2) Medium 2 - I semilavorati dell’abitare (Semi-nished products o living).Masters in design 1996. Proessors: Dante Donegani, Giovanni Lauda. Design brie: designconnecting the components o living. A new relationship amongst products, architecture, and city.The undened line between public and private space. A new urbanization model o the house thatcorresponds to that o the product and opens up new rontiers in goods production. Evolutionaryaccommodations or transitory populations, gained values and values to be gained, new services andold rituals. The idea o living without architecture, through the stratication o the urban territory ina temporary and casual order and the domestic space management while individual opportunitieschange. The ree space and the pleasure o consuming.(3) Hal breed- Meticcio. Masters in design 2000.Proessors: Dante Donegani, Giovanni Lauda. Design brie: the hal-breed project is: combineheavy-duty and disposable, products and packaging to set individual consumption ree rom owningexpensive and nal hardware; combine unctions and activities to obtain a better lie mobility;combine old rituals and new behaviors in order to establish new hierarchies and new relationships

amongst domestic activities.

Let page:

PadmeMercedes Jaén Ruiz,Gandía Blasco, 2007

Top:

Savon du Che Frederic Gooris,Alessi, 2012

Center:

NikiLarry Laske, OWO

Bottom:

Tapetimer Joseph Forakis,Kikkerland, 2005

23



Lost inproduction

Nk Krns

In Richard Sennett’s book “The Cratsman”, one reads how the homo aber(or “man as maker”) stands in opposition to the homo laborans and how, incontemporary culture, Immanuel Kant’s dictum that “the hand is the windowon to the mind” might seem more suitable than ever. Much like Adam

Smith, who had concluded that machines would indeed end the project oEnlightenment, Sennett makes the case that it is only through the cratworkthat human beings might be able to gain a “true understanding”.This, however, does not mean that we should even start reconsidering theutopia o a crat based economy, simply because handmade things arear better (in many ways) than machine-made ones. Such ideas had beenpassionately advocated in the second hal o the 19th century by people suchas John Ruskin and William Morris, when industrial production seemed tothreaten everything that was important and sacred in the Arts and Crats othat period. And Henrik Ibsen’s Master Builder, provided us with a beautiulaccount o what happened to all these who attempted to “do battle withtechnology.” Ever since Hermann Muthesius’ Stilarchitektur und Baukunst

and his theories about design’s new identity in a rapidly evolving economy,and the introduction o Ford’s T-Model, the “designer” and the “cratsman”have or the most part occupied dierent spheres o responsibility; theormer created the detailed plans that the latter would then go and adjust,translate and sometimes replicate in very large quantities.Furthermore, the prominent emphasis on, or preoccupation with theacquisition o consumer goods that dened the second hal o the previouscentury was driven entirely by industrial production, while what politicaleconomists called “commodity etishism” – that phenomenon when objectacquires a perceived value that is ar greater than its actual productioncost – was principally embodied by industrial perection. But as many recentdevelopments in the world o design might testiy, it seems that we areincreasingly swapping one etish or another.



Personal weight scaleElena Niccolini, OmerAlcan, Amyas wade.Planning the earthin Collaborationwith the CeramicsNetwork o Limoges,executed byViceversa. Project

leaders: Isao Hosoe,Ernesto Spicciolatoand Maarten Kusters.

“Lost in Production”, this part o the exhibition that celebrates thirty years oresearch and experimentation in Domus Academy, proves above all that in aculture with a oversupply o branding, market driven policies and inexpensivemass-produced objects, where cheap technologies in emerging economiessometimes create a huge problem in quality control, design is increasinglyaspiring to cratsmanship. From what is quantitative, industrial and “high-

tech”, we are experiencing the signs o what is qualitative, crat oriented and“high-touch”. Here are objects reminiscent o the past and molded by thepresent, critical and autonomous o modern-day commercial culture. Objectsthat (some more successully than others) manage to challenge theprevailing idea that the industrial present has triumphed over the artisanpast. Objects that, in our current environment o computer precision, otechnologically aided perectionism that can degrade into a sel consciousdemonstration or o the constantly diminishing sympathy or contingency,incompleteness and constraint, seem to remind us the need to reect on theact that maybe as good and valid way to meaningully innovate is to rstrevisit and subsequently understand old, sometimes even primitive modelsand paradigms. This is evident or example in the work done by Marco

Romanelli or Driade. Mediterraneo is a “system” o serving plates and bowlswhose organic orms have not been “designed” but have been borrowedrom the sun drenched Mediterranean landscapes. The absence o a“perect” orm leads Romanelli to suggest an innite number o “imperect”shapes, making thereore Mediterraneo an “open” project. These objectswork as a proposal, as pictures o possibilities, perect not only (or not ahundred percent) in execution but also in the act that they start as a sketch,capable o constantly evolving. The incomplete becomes a positive event inour understanding, it stimulates us as simulation and acile manipulation ocomplete objects cannot. When put together, these orms manage torecreate primitive sceneries amiliar to all o us; that o the stones smoothedby the water and the shells that gather together ater the tide. This capacityto narrate a story and bring back images o the past also appears in the work

The incompletebecomesa positive

event in ourunderstanding,it stimulates usas simulationand acilemanipulationo completeobjects cannot

25


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 28/96Lost in production 26



by Dene Koz, whose design or Lipton redenes the icon and the ritual o theTurkish tea. Local yet global, traditional yet contemporary, Koz’s archetypaldesign manages to immediately connect the viewer to a unique culturalcontext and tradition by employing shared aesthetics (i.e. through theabsence o a handle and the hourglass shape). Koz manages to take ageneric, unctional article and place it rmly in a larger cultural reerence,

while contemporary geometries and updated proportions make the tea cupmore reective o the designer’s distinct personality and bring it into theshared values o beauty and unction. The issue o the designer’s distinctpersonality is something that also characterizes the work o KarenChekerdjian. Chekerdjian’s Random plates are much more than just what arst, brie reading might suggest; i.e. a research on the memory o the tracesthat one leaves behind on a daily basis. These randomly placed outlines oorks and knies are Chekerdjian’s personal marks o her presence on theobject. These maker’s marks are rather peculiar signs that demonstrate aninteresting category o material consciousness. Chekerdjian leaves apersonal mark o her existence on the objects she designs. In the history ocratsmanship, these maker’s marks usually have carried no political

message, as or example grati on a wall can. They have simply been thestatements that most o the times anonymous labourers have imposed oninherent materials: “I made this,” or “I am here, in this work,” which is to say,“I exist.” Chekerdjian’s work thereore oers us an understanding o thedesigner’s identity and the politics o presence. Something betting adesigner coming rom Lebanon, where plural technologies exist withinover-lapping philosophies o the traditional-modern, rural-urban, east- west,religious-secular, etc. The work o Tomoko Mizu or the Sardinian companyNonsoloerro introduces the viewer to a second category o materialconsciousness. Sardinia is by ar Italy’s biggest producer o cork, and in therecent years several attempts have been made to support small and mediumsized businesses operating in the local natural-cork industry. Mizu’s chair, atrst glance does the obvious; it consolidates the worldwide reputation o

Let page:

Se i sassi parlasseroProject leaders IsaoHosoe, ErnestoSpicciolato, MarteenKusters. Students:Chen-Yu Lu, FranciscoJavier Pastor Castillo,

Eva Kumi FurioYamano.Planning the earthin collaboration withCeramics Network oLimoges. Master inDesign, 1996

Top:

MediterraneoMarco Romanelli,Driade, 2002

Bottom:

VagueDene Koz, Alessi,2004

27



high-quality Sardinian cork, not only in the eld o wine but also in the eldso urnishings, and artistic cratwork, amongst others. Yet, at the same time,Mizu’s chair is a demonstration o how experiential knowledge can become adirect stimulus to innovation. Mizu proves to us that the designer must beamiliar not only with where, when and how to source his/her materials, butalso with the best ways o giving them orm. Yet, it is only through working

with the material repeatedly, experimenting, ailing and trying again, that thedesigner becomes amiliar with its properties well enough to coax it intoshape. Crat culture, is thus particularly well suited to innovation. Thisinnovation, as Mizu shows, is the result o design thinking born rom thedesigner’s acts o processing and shaping raw materials in his or her hands.This mode o design thinking based in the experience o crat has beenrecently called “subtle technology” and is uniquely placed to present us witha model or sustainability and innovation or contemporary design practice.On a similar note, the Babylon series by Harry&Camila is an interestingexample o how crats can become elegantly progressive. Their most recentwork comprises garden vases produced in a special type o ceramic thateature irregular suraces and asymmetrical orms created by advanced

computer sotware. To the extent that a designer is connected to his or hercrat through personal, “hands on” experience, that relationship is impossibleto replicate, ipso acto cratwork will always maintain a strong element ouniqueness. This is evident in the work by Daniela Archiutti, whose platesare a result o a long and personal research into the production o ceramicarteacts. Being preoccupied with the demise o local cratsmanship in theregion o Nove (once very amous or its ceramics) and the subsequent lackor research rom the local ceramic industries, Archiutti’s work shows howgood cratsmanship comprises a dialogue between concrete practices andthinking; this dialogue evolves into sustaining habits, and these habitsestablish a rhythm between problem solving and problem nding. Havingapproached three ceramic companies in Nove who helped her becomeamiliar with the production process o ceramic plates, Archiutti went on to

Top let:

Lipton TeacupDene Koz, Lipton,2010

Top right:

Random Fork, Knie,Spoon Plate

Karen Chekerdjian,sel production, 2010

Bottom:

Tapp-oTomoko Mizu,NonSoloFerro, 2009

Right page:

BabylonHarry&Camila,Dedon, 2010

Lost in production 28







Let Page:

MemorieDaniela Archiutti,Maria ElisabettaBauce, selproduction, 2011

Top:

La Stanza dello

SciroccoMario Trimarchi,Alessi, 2009

Bottom:

IntantoMario Trimarchi,Alessi, 2009

31





Let page:

Volver Paolo Zani, Warli,2010

Top let:

Twergi collectionKuno Prey, Alessi,1996

Top right:

Saje: Aleph, Waw, YaKaren Chekerdjian,sel production, 2010

Bottom let:

Skyscraper Constantin Boym,Gaia & Gino, 2008

Bottom right:

CucùPascal Tarabay,Diamantini &Domeniconi, 2005

33





Let:

MateGeert Koster,Metalarte, 2010

Bottom:

Twister Rodrigo Torres,Busso, 2005

Right:

Circus,Dene Koz, Foscarini1994

obsessed with orms destitute o real meanings. Againstsuch a background, Prey’s work can be regarded as anact o courage and a deliberate evolutionary throwback,since his almost primitive orms signiy a tendency torevert to ancestral types and rediscover the almostatavistic qualities o mass-produced objects. The issueo ancestral types is what suraces once more when onecomes across the work o Pascal Tarabay or Diamantiniand Domeniconi. Yet, unlike Twergi, the powder coatedCuckoo clock is a masterul “transormation” o atraditional archetypal design into a two dimensionalgraphical representation. Borrowing stylistic cues romboth modern minimalist and traditional decorativemovements, Tarabay intentionally distorts the real,typical and handcrated wall-clock carved in the GermanBlack Forest style, in order to make it appear “correct” tothe viewer and satisy what is his/her almost post-industrial nostalgia or the pre-industrial. The writing o

a comprehensive text on the relationship between thecrats and design based on the work o DomusAcademy’s graduates has been a daunting prospect, notsimply in terms o the seemingly limitless range o thematerial available rom which such a text might beashioned, but also in terms o the considerablegeographical and chronological scope which might beencompassed. As it has been seen, this relationship isvery rich and convoluted, and hence like any other textwith a considerably limited length, these couple o pagescould not exhaust all that needs saying about it. Choiceshad thereore to be made, and the objects/designers that

have appeared in this text have been selected on apersonal belie that they are some o the most signicantand o the highest consequence. Undoubtedly, otherscould have also been introduced, or some o thoseincluded could have been omitted in the rst place. Thistext attempted to give an exposition o only a ewaspects o that relationship, without however eversuggesting that there are not other things to be said.One the contrary, it is hoped that these omissions willstimulate more research and reections that will urtherconrm the postulate that the crats’ inuence on thetheory as well as the practice o design is nowadaysmore relevant that ever

35







Lost inmaterials

Cld Rmnd

What the projects o this section have in common can be dened in manydierent ways. The dierent denitions and titles used to describe theprojects in this part o the catalog are indicators o the opportunities todene an area where - despite everyone being aware o its richness – it

is dicult to assign an autonomous status, given that the subject is whatthings and orms are made o: why dene the design o materials as aspecic area o the design culture?The answer to this question is part o the history o Domus Academy; itlies in the very nature o the design project and o the research developedin recent years by the school within the horizon o contemporary designculture. Domus Academy has the great merit to have been able to promote- in the thirty years that we are celebrating - a dierent system to subdividetopics and to dene themes within the inexorable process o teaching“commoditication” that has characterized the birth and growth o designschools in recent decades. Since the oundation o the Academy, the titleso the courses and workshops have highlighted the intrinsic complexity o

the design culture, merely suggesting a possible change in viewpoint, anability to ocus, or to bring orward parts o a continuum that no one wishesnor wished to reduce to strict disciplinary subdivisions. As seen in the listo animals by Borges (Borges, Jorge Luis, the essay was originally publishedas “El idioma analítico de John Wilkins”, the themes are heterogeneousand overlapping. They highlight something that is strongly interrelated andpresent in other elds and areas o research. The projects in this sectionshow a particular emphasis on the materials used in product innovation, inthe denition o new orms o expression, in the balancing o combinations,contrasts and synesthesias ound in the technical-aesthetic characterizationo suraces and components. In order to sort them, we reerred to threethematic areas corresponding to the elds o research developed in thehistory o teaching at Domus Academy based on materials and design.

Right page top:

MutantAraceli SilvaCanillas, TransversalMicroenvironments.In collaboration withSeat, 2001.Project leaders:Claudia Raimondo,Marc Sadler

Right page bottom:

Purism, no tilingpleaseHuang, Han-Yi.In Collaboration withVietri Ceramic Group.Project leaders:Claudia Raimondo,Luca Buttaava,2005



The projects in this sectionshow a particular emphasison the materials usedin product innovation,in the defnition o neworms o expression, in the

balancing o combinations,contrasts and synesthesiasound in the technical-aesthetic characterizationo suraces andcomponents

39


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 42/96Lost in materials 40



The materials nolonger have a uniqueappearance, but can be

shaped into a multiplicityo dierent images,the new potential ortechnological exibilityallows a multiplicityo dierent product

solutions

1 - Mterls nd Tecnlges

The title introduces the technical ront as a reassuring“river bank” to approach the eld dedicated to designingmaterials o which the objects and the environment inwhich we live are made o. The scenario o these projectsis the change o the world o materials production

anticipated by Ezio Manzini (Manzini, Ezio, La materiadell’invenzione, Arcadia, Milano, 1996) and transerred inreal time in the educational contents o the school: “Thematerials no longer have a unique appearance, but canbe shaped into a multiplicity o dierent images, the newpotential or technological exibility allows a multiplicityo dierent product solutions”. In this area we begin tosee the rst collaborations with major companies thatproduce materials and seminished products, whichenter the world o design and design culture through thethemes o technologies and languages innovation.2 – CFM. Te desgn clrs, fnses nd mterls

- what Clino Castelli abbreviates as CFM - is a simpleproject theme, a title that appears across all the projectsand issues that are developed time ater time. Togetherwith interaction, relationship, archetypes. These are thethemes o the multi logic vision o the design culturethat has characterized Domus Academy. In these designprojects, it is the surace to take on the task o ritualizingand making the environments in which we live livable.These are the so-called Sot qualities, the elements ospace that are not structures, the interaces betweenus and the articial world around us. A world that isoten imposed, o which we can renew the dialogic partthrough the design o decorations, light, color, sound

Let page top:

Yuko

Philippe Casens withPierluigi Cerri andFrancesco Pozzato,Desalto, 2006

Let page center:

Nouvelle VagueCristophe Pillet,Porro, 2005

Let page bottom:

BellaMaddalena Casadei,Marsotto Edizioni,2010

Top:

Solar Bottle

Francisco GomezPaz e Alberto Meda,www.solarbottle.org,2007

41



Top:

MeridianaChristophe Pillet,Driade, 2004

Bottom right:

HavanaJozeph Forakis,Foscarini, 1994

Right page;

HopeFrancisco Gomez Pazand Paolo Rizzatto,

Luceplan, 2009

Lost in materials 42





systems, tactile and olactory characteristics. Sot qualities, ar rom beingconsidered accessories, oten represent the very essence o the new concepto the environment and the product, linguistic semi-nished products thatdeeply determine the conormation o what is articial.3 - Desgn prmr is the name - born rom the insight o Clino Castelli andAndrea Branzi - we have used in Domus Academy since its oundation, to

indicate this point o view on the design project.The growing medium o primary design is the meta-project, meaning what isbehind or alongside the design project, where the values o intersubjectivityand sharing make their statement and nd their place.Primary design concerns aspects which cannot be taught with engineeringprecision - such as technical characteristics or the size o an object - but areinstead o a cultural nature, like music, which can be the subject o notation,but cannot be measured. “The very choice o the name Primary Design -according to Antonio Petrillo - sounds like a contentious statement. He reersto the distinction already posed by Galileo and then explicitly put orwardby Locke. They both considered two dierent types o quality: the primaryqualities, such as size, mass, the specic weight o a body that could be said

to be objective, were exactly quantiable and measurable; on the other hand,the subjective qualities such as color, taste, smell that were subjectivelyvariable, could not be measured. Both or Galileo and Locke, the duty oscience was to devote itsel uniquely to objective qualities, leaving out thesubjective ones, ar too uncertain and not enlistable within dimensions thatcould be determined univocally. In this way, science rst, and later modernculture, ended up neglecting the whole dimension o individual ruition. Theypushed even urther away the determination o quality rom the concreteways in which it is actually experienced and valued by individuals.Primary Design aims, instead, at exploring this world o evaluations inwhich subjective perceptions are the eective methods that come into playand shape a world o values and negative situations that may stimulate or

dishearten it.” (Antonio Petrillo, rom the Domus Academy Master projectbrieng. The reerence text or this project area is C. Castelli, A. Petrillo,Lingotto primario, Arcadia, Milano, 1985).In the most recent projects we have used primary as the adjective toindicate something intact, native, which exists in its original state and hasnot been, relatively speaking, touched by human activities. Primary are theenvironments with the greatest biodiversity such as the primary orest, themost complete diary on the evolution o lie. Thereore, primary means thepotentiality and richness o a design project: its ”biodiversity”

Top:

Tino e MiloKuno Prey, Danese,1987

Bottom:

Nanook Philippe Bestenheider,Moroso, 2008

Right page top:

Flow - Improntespecial EditionTerri Pecora, Simas,2004-2010

Right page center:

Blu CanelaHarry&Camila,Rosenthal, 2005

Right page bottom:

Jaipur Gordon Guillaumier,

Varaschin, 2007

Lost in materials 44







Let page:MoziaGiovanni Levanti,Diamantini &Domeniconi, 2009

Top:“Past and present” collectionTerri Pecora,Silhouette, 1994

Center:

Twin collectionTerri Pecora,Escudama, 2003

Bottom:

ShineShinobu Ito, NavaDesign, 2009

47





Let page top:

Art Gallery Sander Brouwer,Whirlpool, 2012

Let page bottom:

SalkımOmer Unal, selproduction, 2004

Top:

4DDene Koz, Vitra,2010

Bottom:

CloudAki Motoyama/Domus Academy

Design, Brix. Projectleader: Eliana Lorena,2012

49



Cld Mdern

It has been a long time since Achille Castiglioni, great master o ItalianDesign, asserted that to design an object actually means to design theuser’s behavior. This interpretation is especially relevant now more thanever, since we live in a world densely populated with all kinds o electronic

objects, characterized by unexpected unctionalities. It certainly is a worldo actions, but also o gestures that at times take on specic meanings, asillustrated by the communication landscape that Bruno Munari cleverlypresented in his “Speak Italian: The Fine Art o the Gesture”. Some gesturesbecome interaction archetypes, such as bringing your hand to your earto listen, or covering your mouth to whisper – which are all gestures thatelectronic consumer products capture and ampliy. Some gestures areobsolete or disappeared, like rotating the telephone disk to dial the number:a gesture that is now replaced by the numeric keyboard and more recentlyby the contact list, which does it all. Thus, some gestures remain and somedisappear, new ones appear and oten bewilder us: which o us hasn’twondered – once, at least – about a “Mr. Somebody” roaming around,

gesticulating, and yelling his point o view, to then discover that he wasactually talking on the phone using headphones? Or, how could we not agreewith the image evoked during a lesson on design and interaction held atthe end o the Eighties by Denis Santachiara - i memory serves me right –,which talked about men and women acting weird, stopping along the streets,getting closer to the wall as to talk to the building, while actually takingmoney out the ATM machine?Design the behavior then, o people most o all but also o the objects,gestures and actions, objects that move and change, daily micro-actionsthat tread the boards. This point o view, programmatically anticipatedby Castiglioni, was also one o the core topics Domus Academy ResearchCenter ocused on in the early Nineties. At the time, the research center wasdirected by Marco Susani and the topic, developed through the activity o

Lost in action

Design thebehavior then,

o people mosto all but alsoo the objects,gestures andactions, objectsthat move and

change, dailymicro-actionsthat tread theboards



Top:

Scatole, scatoleMarco Susani, MarioTrimarchi, withElisabeth Vidal.“The Solid Side”,Domus Academy andPhilips Design, 1995

Bottom:

Il metro della salute(Health Meter)Project leaders: EzioManzini and DenisSantachiara. Student:Alexandra Korra,Master in Design,1987

51





Let page top:

FingertopProject leader: MarcoSusani. Student:Mishael Tsore, 1993

Let page bottom:

Irony Scuba 200Joseph Forakis,

Swatch Irony, 1998Top:

Teaser Sottsass Associati(Ettore Sottsass,Marco Susani),Seiko, 1992

Bottom:

EnormeSottsass Associati(Ettore Sottsass,Marco Zanini, MarcoSusani), 1987

53



Top:

MultipotDonegani & Lauda,Rotaliana, 2005

Bottom:

DivaDonegani & Lauda,Rotaliana, 2009

Let:

Zen ConcpetMotorola AdvancedConcepts Group(Marco Susani withJoonwoo Park),Motorola, 2001

Right page top:

Talak Neil Poulton,Artemide, 2005-2007

Right page bottom:

v70Jozeph Forakis,Motorola, 2002

Lost in action 54



It is a small architecture in primary colors, ollowingthe style o Sottsass, who loved stable objects witha large base. The phone seems to say: “take me, butput me back down right away!”. Move, look, touch:along the same line, the watches designed in 1992 bySottsass Associati with the contribution o Marco Susanior Seiko surprise us with their being essential, and

remind us that the watch – rst amongst the personaland emotional objects, ollowed by the ountain pen- is now less and less used as it is being replaced bythe mobile phone (which, amongst the thousand oother things, also tells us time and date). Despite this,the watch still remains an interesting object, carryingprecise technology, and presenting great expressivepotential. It is an object that expresses itsel bytriggering the automatic, almost instinctive, gesture orapidly stretching the arm out, and as rapidly bend it toshow the dial rom under the sleeve. It is an object thatpenetrates our daily lie by marking the time but that,with its numbers displayed on a yellow background,asking to be touched and mixing visual and tactilequalities, anticipates the entrance o touch screens inour daily lie. The “Irony Scuba 200” watch, designedby Jozeph Forakis or Swatch, also almost aunts itstactile and iconic dimensions. Its peculiar elements – thespherical shape, the curved surace o the glass, and theintegrated nut – ask to be touched. This characteristicis also evident in another Forakis’ project: the keyboardor SwatchTalk, one o the rst wrist phone everproduced. Set aside, connect, and take back: the gesture

o emptying the pockets at the end o the day, putaway daily use objects, and then take them back in themorning, just beore getting out o the door: “Multipot”,by Donegani and Lauda or Rotaliana, is a lamp/container that holds and charges electronic devices. Itrepresents a new typology o hybrid and multiunctionalobjects, in which the message straddle aesthetic andperormance. Oer your hand and accompany: thegesture o oering your hand like a “Diva” – anothermultiunctional lamp by Donegani and Lauda: it is noeasy thing to understand it, as it certainly does notbelong to the usual lamp typologies we are all used

to. Its shape recalls the monolith rom “2001: A SpaceOdyssey” and the perorated base makes it clear to theuser that this object can do more. In act, it can playmusic and hold/charge your iPhone and, when you lit upa corner, you can uncover the light: its shape thus turnsinto a substance made o ray lights and sounds. Openingup like a an, and reveal: the “Motorola V70”, yet anotherobject designed by Forakis, oers a reinterpretation othe classic shell-like opening originally introduced on themarket by Motorola, to which it is inspired. The typicallymasculine opening gesture, which recalls the opening oan army knie, becomes here more gentle and elegant- recalling that o a an – and it is obtained through an

55



innovative opening mechanisms: the rotator. Here, the upper part rotatesclockwise pivoting around the screen, and reveals the keyboard.Grasp, squeeze and caress: in 2001 Marco Susani and Joonwoo Park atMotorola Advanced Concept Group, develops “Zen”, “ a concept thatintroduces a ip made o translucent material, which while protecting thescreen with an iridescent cover (that was, at the time the latest innovation

in sunglasses: it was used to color the lenses o mirrored sunglasses) stillallows the user to see the screen when closed. It is an object to be squeezedin your hand and that rom time to time, even when closed, transmits thetypical light signals o the digital communication.Connect, wear, and control: along the line o the well known Nike+ - therunning shoes sensor that communicates with the iPod and turns work-outin a social experience – and amongst the discreet objects with an indiscreet“soul” we nd “Up” by Jawbone, and a preview o “Plugg”, the new series oiPhone add-ons. These both are witness o a delicate equilibrium betweenthe physicality o the product – portable and wearable – and the uidity othe digital inormation. “Up” is a wristband that helps you to live healthier,or which Roberto Tagliabue designed the whole “user experience”. A sensor

tracks your physical activity and communicates with an iPhone app thatanalyzes and elaborates the data to make them visible and easily readable.It also presents a social aspect based on the idea o sharing both data andexperiences around the concept o wellbeing. Jozeph Forakis ocuses onthe eco-system that surrounds, integrates, enhances, and enriches theubiquitous iPhone and designs “Plugg”. Plugg is a series o mono-unctionalobjects that, when connected to the Smartphone, gather dierent kindso data and inormation and share them with the other users, enablingspontaneous community creation, organized by activity (health andwellbeing, liestyle and entertainment, work and utilities). Scroll, browse anddraw: with the latest generation interaces, those we daily interact with whenusing our cell phones (like “MotoBlur” developed by Susani or Motorola),we ully get into the category o indiscreet objects - always connected and

Top:

Blur Motorola MotoBluruser interace:Motorola DigitalDesign (CreativeDirector: MarcoSusani), Motorola,

2009

Let page top:

Thermometer Jozeph Forakis, Plugg,2012

Let page center:

RuggedNeil Poulton, LaCie,2006

Let page bottom:

FireWire speakersNeil Poulton, LaCie,2007

Lost in action 56





This page:

Jawbone UpRoberto Tagliabue,Visere, 2011

Right page:

ClibeRoberto Tagliabue,Visere, 2006-2012

Lost in action 58




http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/domus-academy-lost-in-translation 62/96Lost in action 60



always present. In these objects, our conversations and social relations allcome together on the screen’s innite surace. Through these objects, thegestures become pure action: a one-hand gesture to scroll down inormation,or two-hand gesture to lm and zoom. We discover the digital world withour nger, intuitively and analogically, like when we slide a piece o paperon the working surace, or when we draw on the sand with our hands. It is aworld made o transer, natural gestures that are replicated on screen. Clibealso belong to this category. Actually, myclibe.com, by Roberto Tagliabue:a digital notebook or iPad, on which you can sketch and write about yourexperiences, and which introduces a break and a moment to think within

the ast and ephemeral ow o Facebook updates and Tweets. It representsan opportunity to distill, through drawing and writing, experiences andemotions, and xes them in the digital world, thus creating new dialogue andrelation opportunities. It is an App to trace and share, which thus synthesizesthe spirit o those notes: trace a critical path and share an open thoughtabout the unstable equilibrium between objects and behaviors.Paraphrasing the title o the exhibition, we could title this thought “Lost inaction: gestural aesthetic o in/discreet objects”

A.A.V.V, curated by G. Anceschi, Il progetto delle interacce, oggetti colloquiali e protesi virtuali,Domus Academy, Milano, 1992R. Giovanetti, N. Goettsche, Oggetti discreti: un viaggio nel mondo degli oggetti d’autore anonimo,EditoreFondazione Mudima, 1997B. Munari, Il dizionario dei gesti italiani, Adnkronos Libri, 1994

We discover the digital worldwith our fnger, intuitively andanalogically, like when we slide

a piece o paper on the workingsurace, or when we draw on thesand with our hands. It is a worldmade o transer, natural gesturesthat are replicated on screen

Let page:

MoreoSteano Giovannoniwith Rodrigo Torres,Domodinamica,2004

Bottom:

Morgana

Claudio Naro,Fontana Arte, 1992

61





Designers

63



Born in Milan in 1975, she received her Master at DomusAcademy in 2000. Her activity spans rom accessories andashion design to light and urniture design. She participatedin several editions o Salone Satellite. She developed Bosco,a highly experimental series o chairs and rugs that useleaves and natural musk, or Dilmos Edizioni. Amongst herexhibitions: Saint Étienne International Design Biennial,

Inside Amsterdam, Design Festival Seoul, and Moss Galleryin New York. She is a talented story-teller and she otenreers to natural elements; 2010 selected amongst theten best new generation designer by Ad Spain; 2009 her“Le piantine” (Little Plants) are selected or the GLASSexhibition and the DesignHuis in Eindhoven, curated byLi Edelkoort; 2008 she was invited to participate in someprojects at “Memoriae Visionarea” exhibition curated by S.Caggiano, Festival della creatività, Florence (2008); 2008her Helix bottle opener was selected or the exhibition Dcome Design (D is or Design) in Turin, Museo Scienzenaturali; 2007 her Helix bottle opener was selected or the

exhibition “Invito a tavola” (Lunch invitation) during ICFFin New York; 2007 her Soufe armchair was selected orMilano Made in Design in Beijing and Shanghai.

“Domus Academy has been or me more than a school, it has

been an intense lie experience shared with people rom all

over the world. An engaging year o growth and learning that

lasts in time which rarely happens.”

Alessandra Baldereschi

LordAlessandraBaldereschi, Skitsch,2012PAG. 20

Fildeer AlessandraBaldereschi, Skitsch,2011PAG. 20

Daniela Archiutti, architect and designer, was born in Trevisoin 1969. She graduated in architecture rom IUAV in Venicein 1997, and in 1998 she attended the Master in IndustrialDesign at Domus Academy, where she developed a thesison the creation o a new brand represented by “a shoe”,under the mentorship o Andrea Branzi. The ollowing yearshe attended a design seminar within the new Industrial

Design course at Domus Academy, once again withAndrea Branzi and Michele Zini. In 1999 she moved backto Treviso where she became product designer at VenetaCucine, where, since 2006 she is Creative Director. Hercommitment with Veneta Cucine does not limit her researchactivity: since 2000 she especially ollows a product linethat shows her approach and design vision. Since 2010 shemanages and coordinates a creative lab ocusing on art anddesign right downtown Treviso. The lab hosts and shows thework o young artists and emerging designers. Within thiscontext, she developed her latest work “Memorie”.

“My arrival at Domus Academy was desired and designed tohappen, beore becoming absolutely phagocytised I always

elt a “strange” person, even lonely and under heard. A part

o me was oten let quiet and because o it, very vulnerable.

With my arrival in Milan everything changed, the passion

I have always elt and the inner strength that was handed

over to me was undamental; and since then each one o ‘my

sentiments’ is the oundation o my work.”

Daniela Archiutti

MemorieSel product, 2011PAG. 18

MemorieSel product, 2011PAG. 30

Designers 64



Born 1971 in Sion, Switzerland, Philippe Bestenheider hasa degree in architecture rom the Swiss Federal Instituteo Technology in Zurich. He worked or studios both inSwitzerland and in the US. In 2000 he obtained a Masterdiploma in Industrial Design rom Domus Academy Milan.From 2001 to 2006 he was Senior Designer at PatriciaUrquiola’s oce in Milan. In 2007 he opened his own studio,

working between Switzerland and Milan. In June 2010 hereceived the Italian national award or innovation “premiodei premi” or the chair Nanook he had designed or Moroso.He designs or Moroso, de Sede, Pallucco, Fratelli Bo,Varaschin, Frag and Galleria Niluar. He has been teachingat Domus Academy Milan and at the University o AppliedSciences in Basel, Switzerland.

“When I think back to Domus Academy, I picture a large box

lled with dreams.

- Length: a year o creative reedom.

- Depth: a well o insights to dip into.

- Height: a handul lasting riends and partners around the globe.”

Philippe Bestenheider

SwirlVaraschin, 2011PAG. 17

Nanook Moroso, 2008PAG. 44

Nicholas Bewick was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne,Great Britain and undertook his architectural training atCanterbury School o Architecture. Following his practicaltraining and initial proessional experiences at MichaelHopkins Architects in London he moved to Milan to takea Master program in Design at the Domus Academy,developing his overall interest in design and architecture.

Ater completing the course he started his long termcollaboration with Michele De Lucchi, ounder o Studio andPartners, which he helped lead until 2010. He re-entered theDe Lucchi (aMDL) studio in 2009 and presently heads oneo the project teams.

“Athough the idea to undertake Domus Academy course was

initially considered a ‘sabatical’ year away rom the UK it was

obvious rom the beginning that would become much more,

and considering I am still here ater more than 25 years it had

a huge impact on my whole lie. Apart rom the riendships

and introduction to ‘the Italian way’ Domus Academy opened

the door to a dierent kind o proessional situation thatwas ree rom the precise titles – architect, interior designer,

product designer etc ound in many other countries. For me

personally this was very important it suited my nature and

character and allowed me to participate in a wide range o

project experiences. I undoubtedly eel more ‘complete’ even

more ‘prepared’ to undertake dierent types o work. Having

recently returned to teach at Domus Academy it is interesting

to make comparisons, the world is much more multi-cultural

and nomadic, and one continues to ask how all these young

minds can have the same antastic chances that I have had

to participate not only in the world o contemporary Italian

design but also internationally. Thank you Domus Academy.”

Nicholas Bewick

Tutti work architectureCastelliPAG. 17

65



Constantin Boym was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1955,where he graduated rom Moscow Architectural Institute. In1984-85 he earned a Master diploma in Design rom DomusAcademy in Milan. In 1986 he ounded Boym Partners Incin New York City. His studio’s designs include tablewareor Alessi and Authentics, watches or Swatch, lighting orFlos, showrooms and retail displays or Vitra, and exhibition

installations or many American museums, includingMuseum o the City o New York and Cooper-HewittNational Design Museum. His studio is currently based inDoha, Qatar. From 1987 to 2000, Boym has been aculty andprogram coordinator at Parsons in New York.

“Domus Academy in the 1980s was the time when everything

seemed possible. These were the glory years o New Italian

Design, when Memphis was still sizzling hot. We sat in our

studio space, ueled by visits by the likes o Philippe Starck or

Jasper Morrison, who were still young and not-too-amous

guys, and we dreamed o ollowing in their steps. One thing

that the school taught us well was the ability to dream. All inall, or me Domus Academy was a lie-changing experience, in

the most literal sense o the word. I arrived there as a Russian

architect rom Boston, and when I let a year later I became a

designer and headed or New York. I lost my rst wie along

the way. Yet I elt that the vast world o objects has opened

up or me. It was as i I learned how to speak their language.

As a proessor, now I oten try to explain to my students the

meaning o ‘design culture’. In my time at Domus Academy,

design culture needed little explanation: it simply was in the

air. This amazing design culture lled our class discussions,

and it extended ar into urniture galleries and showrooms o

the city. Learning how to breathe it was one o the greatest gits I received rom Domus Academy.”

Constantin Boym

Skyscraper Constantin Boym,Gaia & Gino, 2008PAG. 32

Sander joined Whirlpool’s Global Consumer Design team asa senior designer in 2008. His responsibilities range romdesigning hoods within the cooking category to leading theVisual Brand Language or Bauknecht. During Whirlpool’s100 year anniversary in 2011, Sander was responsible orthe design o Fireplace concept, which won the iF productdesign award 2012. Sander started his design career

at Feiz design studio in Amsterdam, where he helpeddesigning products or Nokia, Oecct and Alessi. Here, hedeveloped his enthusiasm or design. This drive or designwas expressed by being one o the three winning entrieso Beck’s prize second edition organized by Designboomin 2005. Sander moved to Italy, where he obtained hisMaster diploma at Domus Academy in 2007. The yearater he graduated he was an assistant proessor or theProduct Design course at Domus Academy. Ater beingselected or a collaboration with Scuola Politecnica andPoltrona Frau Group, he gained experience at Alias design,designing urniture and creating vision or a unique market

within the Group. Sander has a bachelor degree in IndustrialDesign and Engineering rom the University o ProessionalEducation in The Hague, Netherlands, and is graduated withdistinction rom Domus Academy, Milan.

“…It dened my identity as a designer at the center o chaos,

multi-cultural inuences and a beautiul country like Italy.

One year at Domus Academy pushed my creativity to a higher

level, due to the environment where creative problem solving

is an essential element to sustain yoursel.”

Sander Brouwer

Art Gallery Whirlpool, 2012PAG. 48

Designers 66



Born in Rimini, Mario Cananzi attained his degree inArchitecture rom Florence University in 1985 with athesis on a design or a motorcycle prototype. In 1989, heobtained his Master diploma in Industrial Design rom theDomus Academy in Milan. Since 1988, he has been workingin Milan. As a designer, he has worked with numerouscompanies: Edra, Vittorio Bonacina, Sawaya & Moroni, Punt

Mobles, Disorm, Metals, Ollko, Masterly, Steel, Morphosand Mimo. Recently, he has been collaborating withinternational rms such as Piaggio, Bimora, Aprilia, Yamahaand KTM in the motorcycle industry. He is a consultanton the design o commercial space or companies in theashion industry such as Fiorucci and Basile. In 1992, hewon the Forum Design Prize at the Milan Furniture Fair orhis Quadronda armchair, manuactured by Bonacina, and in1993 he scooped the Top Ten Prize at the Cologne FurnitureExhibition, or his Tatlin soa, manuactured by Edra. He hasheld lectures and seminars at the Domus Academy and atthe Politecnico di Milano.

“Studying is the best thing I´ve ever done, I I had known I

would have tried the global master, the perennial, the one that

lasts or lie, i I was able to I would have done it at Domus

Academy.”

Mario Cananzi

TatlinEdra, 1989PAG. 13

Architect, he graduated rom University o Florence in 1984,and he is part o the architect association “Ile de France”. Hereceived his Master in Design (Urban scenography) romDomus Academy in Milan in 1986, when the program wasdirected by Andrea Branzi. His proessional activity spansacross dierent countries, rom Italy to France to Japan:Memphis, Sawaya e Moroni, Cassina, Alessi, Poltrona Frau,

Il Coccio, Pirelli, Arredaesse Produzioni (Italy). XO, Doublet,Tarkett, Dior, Daum, Thales (France), Omron, Inter-art(Japan). Amongst his architectures and interior designs are:Caé brasserie “Le Pigalle” – Paris; “Bond street Caé” – NewYork; Industria tessile Doublet –Lille, France; main ocebuilding o the Nord-Pas-De-Calais region – Paris; Show-Room and retail space o the Printemps department storeor Alessi – Paris; Show-Room et boutique “Ittierre” (Versus-Versace, D&G- Dolce & Gabbana, Gian Franco Ferré-jeans,Exté) - Paris; restoration and interior architecture o thecastle “Villiers sur Authie (XVII Century) France; Restorationo Saint Nicholas church (XII Century) – Cisternino- Italy;

multibrand boutiques in Moscow and general conceptor the Russian ashion label “Ladies&gentleman” stores;adaptation o the general concept and management o thework on the Gucci boutiques or Granitolith-Villa Nova inParis and London; public lighting installations in Cisternino –Italy; Lot in Brussels; house in Paris. Since 1990, he teachesarchitecture and design at the École Européenne Supérieured’Art de Bretagne Rennes- France. Since 2007, he teaches atalla École superieure d’Art moderne in Paris.

Pierangelo Caramia

Rio

Alessi, 1990PAG. 15

Arcadia Swing

Xo, 1987PAG. 16

Happy Egg

Alessi, 1993PAG. 15

67



She was born in Forlì in 1976. She received her degreein Architecture rom University o Ferrara. In 2002she graduated with a Master in Design rom DomusAcademy in Milan. For the three ollowing years she keptcollaborating with Domus Academy. In 2004 she startedher collaboration with James Irvine ocusing on design,interior design, display design or several companies such

as Alias, Danese, Muji, Pamar, Thonet, WMF. In 2010 shestarted her solo activity, still strictly collaborating with Irvinestudio. She also collaborates with her ather’s architectureand engineering studio based in Forlì.

“Domus Academy: here ideas travel in an organized chaos,

they meet each other, and then enriched go around searching

or new reections.”

Maddalena Casadei

BellaMarsotto edizioni,2010

PAG. 41

Philippe Casens was Born in Metz (France) in 1961, hegraduated in Interior Design at Istituto Europeo di Design in1986 and did a Master in Design Domus Academy in 1994.He has been collaborating with Domus Academy since1995. In 2005, or the Domus Academy Research Center,he coordinated the Hyundai and Kia training course andin 2008 the Master in Car Design with Audi, under the

direction o Marco Bonetto and Gino Finizio.He is co-directing the EDIV (Ecole de Design IntérieurVéhicules) Master Course in Mulhouse (France) andsince 2011 he is directing the course o Master in Car andTransportation Design in Domus Academy.Through collaborations with signicant Italian designersand architects (Andrea Branzi, Clino Trini Castelli, IsaoHosoe, Pierluigi Cerri), he has developed dierentprojects, approaches and methodologies within the eld otransportation design (Alstom, Lamborghini, Fiat Advanceddesign, Italdesign, Ntv, Poltrona Frau) and industrial designor Alessi, Arex, bTicino, Ceccato, Desalto, Domodinamica,

iGuzzini, Legrand, Muvis, Philips, Teuco, Zanotta, Palazzolior which he has been awarded, in collaboration with IsaoHosoe, in Italy (mention or Compasso d’oro - ADI) andabroad (Good design - Chicago Athenaeum) in 2006.

“Domus Academy has been very important in my proessional

lie; I attended Domus Academy and I knew there most o the

people I was supposed to work later with. Ater a working

experience with Andrea Branzi I decided to join the Master

course in 1994 and immediately started to work.”

Philippe Casens

YukoDesalto, 2006PAG. 40

Designers 68



Karen Chekerdjian is an object and product designer oArmenian-Lebanese origin, with a background in lm,graphic design and advertising. She graduated rom DomusAcademy in 1997, where she studied under MassimoMorozzi, a ounding member o the legendary 1960’s designstudio, Archizoom. She holds a Master in Product Designand Design Direction. Ater graduation, Karen worked in

Milan or a number o years. During this period, one oher rst designs - a suspended hanger system entitledMobil - was put into production at EDRA. In 2001, shereturned to Beirut and opened her own atelier, which isdivided into two parts: the Studio and the Store. Karenhas regularly participated in a some o the biggest annualdesign airs, including New York’s ICFF, Salone del Mobile,Cologne’s Mobelmesse, Paris’ Furniture Fair and latelyDubai Design days. Her work has also been exhibited in avariety o international exhibitions, amongst them Utopi(Copenhagen), Beyond the Myth (a pan-European show),Promosedia 2007 (Milan), Northern Lights (Tokyo) and

ECHO (Beirut) and at galleries ranging rom The Issey MiyakeFoundation (Tokyo) and the Spazio Orlandi Gallery and theNiluar Gallery (Milan) and the Seir-Semler Gallery (Beirut).

“Domus Academy was or me the big turn o my lie. I had

nally ound exactly the school that I always dreamt o. A

non-academic school that was able not to judge people, but to

get the best out o them.”

Karen Chekerdjian

Saje: Aleph, Wa, Yasel production,2010

PAG. 33

Random ork, knie,

spoon, platesel production,

2010PAG. 28

MobilEdra, 1999PAG: 13

His methodology ollows an interdisciplinary approachwhere genres and unctions merge. Essentially, it is basedon the relationship and exchange amongst proessionalactivity, research, and experimentation, which becomeevident through him teaching at the most prestigiousItalian Universities and International schools, participatingin conerences, lectures and workshops at international

universities, excellent cultural entities and high-levelcompanies. Since 2010 a crucial aspect o his proessionaland research activity is the design and methodologicalinvestigation o the light, the relationship and interrelationbetween light and materials. He designs lighting systems orarchitectures and urban spaces, interior and product designor important Italian and oreign companies.

“Domus Academy let a strong mark in my cultural, personal

and proessional path. The reections, arguments, encounters

and comparisons with the proessors and the tutors o that

time with my classmates with multicultural origins, living

day by day with my mates and riends, all o this has changed me deeply as a person and as a designer. Domus Academy

hasn´t been simply a school, to describe it like that would

be extremely restrictive. It has been a laboratory, a place

where you could express yoursel in comparison with the

others and where you can nd yoursel as well… It allowed

me to understand and to comprehend things, to look at things

sorrounding me with new eyes... Through Domus Academy I

could dig deeper and direct my interests and my work towards

lighting design. I remember, about Domus Academy, its lights,

the smell o the black rubber oors that squeaked as you

walked over them allowing you to capture the dimensions o

the space.”

Silvio De Ponte

Nest Lumen CenterItalia, 2012PAG. 16

69



Dante Donegani was born in Pinzolo (Trento) in 1957and holds a degree in Architecture rom the University oFlorence (1983). From 1987 to 1991 he worked at Olivetti.Giovanni Lauda was born in Naples in 1956, and holds adegree in Architecture rom the University o Naples.From 1988 to 1991 he was part o the studio Morozzi& Partners. In 1992 they ound D&L, a Milan based

architecture, interior design, and design studio. Theydeveloped booths and displays or airs and exhibitions, anddesigned products or several companies such as Luceplan,Edra, Radice, Viceversa, Rotaliana. They collaborate withthe didactic activity at Domus Academy in Milan; in 2001they curated the exhibition “Italy-Japan: Design come stiledi vita” (Italy-Japan: Design as a lie style), in Kobe andYokohama; in 2004 some o their works were exhibitedat the “Metamorphosis” Architecture Biennale in Venice.Their chaise longue “Passepartout”, designed or Edra, isnow exhibited in the permanent collection o Triennale diMilano and San Francisco Museum o Modern Art. Their

lamp Lisca by Rotaliana was awarded the IF design awardin 2006. Multipot, designed or Rotaliana, was awarded theCompasso d’Oro in 2008.

“Domus Academy: this 30st anniversary is an important

occasion to re-live the moments in which our personal and

proessional occurrences have crossed paths with those

o the school. A story lived in an intense manner rst by

students, then by teachers and also shared with many riends

participating into the exhibition.”

Dante Donegani & Giovanni Lauda

DivaRotaliana, 2009PAG. 54

PassepartoutEdra, 1998PAG. 11

MultipotRotaliana, 2005PAG. 54

Designer Jozeph Forakis was born in New York City, andreceived his BFA-ID rom Rhode Island School o Design andMaster-ID rom the Domus Academy in Milan.His strategic design consulting studio jozeph orakis …design, based in Milan, works across a variety o sectorswith international clients including DuneNY, Epson,Foscarini, Fujitsu, Kikkerland, Normann Copenhagen, LG

Electronics, Magis, Samsung, Swarovski, Swatch, Tecno,Yamaha Motors … amongst others. He is partner andCreative Director with two new tech/consumer startupcompanies. The rst, +Plugg, will be launched in Spring2012 with a line o smart accessories or iPhone/iPad. From1999-2002 he was European Design Director or Motorolaand led the team responsible or the design o the MotorolaV70 mobile phone. From 1993-1997 he consulted withthe Domus Academy Research Center in Milan, where hedesigned the award winning Logitech Cordless MousemanPro – the rst “vertical” mouse concept.His designs have won many awards and have been eatured

in numerous publications and have been displayed in manygalleries and museums around the world. In 2004 he wasthe subject o the rst One-Man exhibition ever organizedby ADI (Italian Design Association).

“Domus Academy helped me see that design is a house

with many doors. Behind each door is a unique vision o

what design can oer to society, to culture ...as well as to

commerce. It is up to each one o us to nd, or to create, our

own door ...and to walk thru it.”

Jozeph Forakis

v70Motorola 2002PAG. 55

HavanaFoscarini, 1994PAG. 42

Irony Scuba 200Swatch, 1998PAG. 52

Thermometer Plugg, 2012PAG. 57

Tapetimer Kikkerland, 2005PAG. 23

Designers 70



Born in Salta, Argentina in 1975. Ater obtaining theIndustrial Design degree at the Universidad Nacional deCordoba he moves to Milan in 1998 where he attends theMaster in Design at Domus Academy. Since opening hisdesign oce in Milan in 2004 he has developed productsor leading design companies such as Artemide, Driade,Danese, Lensvelt, Luceplan, Olivetti and Sector among

others. Francisco’s approach to design is driven by his owncuriosity, the knowledge o technology and materials anda highly experimental hands-on creative process. His workhas received several international recognitions such as theGood Design Award 2010 and the Red Dot Award 2010;he has been honored together with Alberto Meda with theFirst Prize o the Index Award or the Solar Bottle, whichhas also been selected or the MOMA’s Study Collectionand recently he received the Prize o Prizes to Innovationin Design rom Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano or theHope chandelier and the prestigious Compasso d’Oro 2011.He is active in the elds o research and education, he is

visiting proessor at Domus Academy rom 2000 and hasheld lectures in Italy and abroad. His projects have beenexhibited in several international events and published bymain design publications. He works and lives in Milan.

Francisco Gomez Paz

Solar Bottlewww.solarbottle.org,2007PAG. 41

HopeLuceplan, 2009PAG. 43

Frederic Gooris, industrial designer, born in Leuven(Belgium) in 1974, graduated rom the HogeschoolAntwerpen in 1998. In 1999 he moved to Milan, where heobtained his Master in Design at Domus Academy. Hegained experience working or Philippe Starck and SteanoGiovannoni or 5 years on a very wide range o projects orinternationally renowned companies such as Target, Alessi,

Lauen, Oras, Inda, Magis, Deborah, Lavazza, Hannspree,Nissan, Helit, Siemens, Modo, Ycami and Felice Rossi. In2004, he ounded Studio Gooris in Milan doing product andconcept design or companies all over the globe, includingAlessi, Ferrero, Target, Levis, JC Penny, Foreverlamp,Oras, EQ3, among others. In 2009 he coounds Bombol, acompany or design oriented baby urniture. In search ornew horizons, in 2010, he moved to Hong Kong and openedStudio Gooris Ltd.

“Educated to be an engineer, I was very hungry to understand

the Italian ability o translating poetry into its products, and

Domus Academy is probably one o the best design banquetsI have ever attended. Being in touch with true masters o

design, important international artists, and surrounded by

very talented co-students, it all contributed to opening my

hard shelled mind set like a coconut.”

Frederic Gooris

Savon du che Alessi, 2012PAG. 23

MinouAlessi, 2012PAG. 20

Tam-tam, Polaris,

Vienna, RicordoAlessi LUX |Foreverlamp, 2011PAG. 21

71



Gordon Guillaumier was born in 1966 and educated inMalta, Switzerland, England and Italy. He graduated inindustrial design at the IED, Milan (1988-91), later heobtained a Master in Industrial Design at Domus Academy,Milan (1992). In 1993 he took an apprenticeship with BaleriAssociati and that same year collaborated with the architectand designer Rodolo Dordoni. During this period Gordon

designed and presented his rst own products or Foscariniand Mito. In 2002 he set up his own design studio in Milan,working on product design but also as design consultant. Asa consultant and art director, he worked on the Atlantide eDHouse collections or Driade, on bathroom accessories orDornbracht Interiors, on kitchens or Rational, on urnitureor Fiam’s Liv’it collection, on outdoor urniture or Roda andon handles or Pamar. As a product designer, Gordon hasworked or various internationally renowned companies;ceramics and tableware or Bosa, Pandora, Paola C and DeVecchi, urniture or Arketipo, CasaMilano, Desalto, DeSede, Fontana Arte, Frag, Matteo Grassi, Montina, Minotti,

Moroso, Roda, Tacchini, and Varaschin, lighting or Foscarini,AV Mazzega and OLuce appliances or Elica, handles orPamar, bathroom accessories or Nobili Rubinetterie andAzzurra Ceramiche. Gordon has participated in variousexhibitions and trade airs; ”Pro-gettare”Abitare II Tempo,Verona (1999), Pandora Design, Milano (2001); MolteniVilla Torlonia (2002); Pamar, Palazzo Crivelli (2006/2010);Roda, Salone del Mobile Milano (2006/2010). In 2006he has lectured at the aculty o Industrial Design at thePolitecnico di Milano.

Gordon Guillaumier

Jaipur Varaschin, 2007PAG. 44

Pane e salameBosa, 2004PAG. 36

Known or their mysterious objects, exemplars o vibrantdesign o the 21st century. The uturistic shapes arereminiscent o technologies applied to high speed, theimaginary o HARRY&CAMILA drawing on aeronauticalperormances, with antasies o aircrat wings, space traveland ships. Their resulting design approach concentrates onexperimentation with materials and topologies. HARRY is

rom the Netherlands, class 1966, industrial designer witha degree rom the Design Academy Eindhoven. CAMILAChilean nationality, grew up in Mexico, degree in FashionDesign, Istituto Marangoni Milan. They met during theirMaster at the Domus Academy in Milan 1994. In 1998 theyestablished studio HARRY&CAMILA in Milan. In 2002HARRY&CAMILA moved to Barcelona but continued tospend time in their adopted home Italy, working with anumber o design manuactures. A good mix between theDutch ree spirit and the Latin sensualism. They work acrossa wide range o disciplines signing or clients worldwidelike Alessi, Dedon, Fontana Arte, JLindeberg+Puma, Living

Divani, Rosenthal studio-Line. Harry&camila have exhibitedextensively around the world and won several awardsincluding in 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010 the GOOD DESIGNAward o the Chicago Athenaeum, the world’s oldest andmost prestigious award o its kind.

“We met each other....it introduced us into the marvel o the

Italian culture, their passion and creativity....opening doors....

meeting and working together with many great people rom

all over the world. WLOVEDA”

BabylonDedon, 2010PAG. 28

Blu CanelaRosenthal, 2005PAG. 44

Harry&Camila

Designers 72



Ater graduating in Japan, at Tama Art University in Tokyo,she obtained a Master diploma in Design at DomusAcademy in Milan. From 1988 to 1995 she worked in Japanor CBS Sony (Sony Music Entertainment), engaging indesign and marketing activities. Since then she has beenworking between Milan and Tokyo as a consultant orimportant companies. She works also as a graphic and

interior designer and is involved in marketing activities. Shehas a wide experience in the interior and urniture design,leading the projects rom conception to implementation.Her attention to detail and her approach to design rom awoman standpoint are eatures o her widely appreciatedwork much valued by her clients.

“Domus Academy is a ree and casual school capable o

developing concentrated and aggressive workshops, acts that

surprise me or the equilibrium maintained between these two

approaches. For me as a Japanese, this was a very interesting

and exciting experience I have never seen beore. Domus

Academy was the proper school or me and or my eelings o that period. Not only studying and deepening various elds

but improving my cultural knowledge, thus experience and

education was primary or me; moreover you get to connect

with people o other nationalities and cultures completely

dierent rom yours, which enables you to project your own

cultural identity onto theirs and viceversa, thus learning one

rom each other. Currently I am an international designer

based between Milan and Tokyo, who works with a vast

range o design elds that could vary rom object to space.

My career o International Designer was very important and

helpul or my experience at Domus Academy.

Happy 30 years o activity or Domus Academy!”

Shinobu Ito

Shine collectionNava Design, 2009PAG. 47

Mercedes Jaén Ruiz, born in Elche (Alicante, Spain) in1973. Graduated in Industrial Design rom UniversidadCardenal Herrera in Valencia in 1997. In 1998 she movedto Milan, where she obtained her Master diploma inDesign at Domus Academy ater obtaining a scholarshiprom Impiva (Valencia). In the last ten years mainlycollaborating with Michele De Lucchi, she has developed

among others projects or Intesa Sanpaolo, TelecomItalia, Camper, Zambon group, Design Gallery, ProduzionePrivata, Rancilio, Mondadori, Olivetti and Corraini Edizioni.She also collaborated with Dene Koz, Sottsass Associati,David Chippereld architects and Future Concept Lab andwith Pepe Gimeno and Punt Mobles in Spain. In 2000 sheounded Aerolito studio with Ricardo Espinosa. In 2001 shewas invited as an artist in residence rom the Giu Preecturein Japan. In 2009 she was selected or the rst Internationallight estival Led in Milan with the project Milano Merletto.In 2003 she won the Design prize Injuve given by theSpanish Government in the design section and in 2002 she

was selected in the graphic design section with Aerolitostudio. In 2003 she won ‘Premio Nacional de diseños noaburridos’ with a jewellery project. Silver prize at the 1st International Carpet Design Competition held in Japan in1999 and honorable mention on their second edition. In2002, 3rd prize in the rst edition o the Porada internationaldesign completion. She lives and works in Milan.

Mercedes Jaen Ruiz

PadmeGandìa blasco,2007PAG. 23

73



Geert Koster was born in Groningen, Netherlands, in 1961.He graduated rom the Academie Minerva in Groninngen in1984, later he obtained his Master rom Domus Academyin Milan in 1985. Since then, he works in Italy, where hecollaborated with Studio Michele De Lucchi, as part othe group “Solid”, and co-ounded “O2”, ecological designgroup. For Studio De Lucchi he worked on displays, interior

design, and corporate image or companies such as Abetlaminati, Groninger Museum in Groningen, the “CitizenOce” exhibition or Vitra, the Artemide showroom inShanghai, visit tours at ENEL plants, the Ettore SottsassExhibition or Cosmit, the Mandarina Duck retail stores inEurope and Asia, and Telecom Italian air booths.In 1989 he opened his Milan based studio, which ocuseson architecture, interior and urniture design, and industrialdesign. His activity includes interior design, urniture andobjects or companies such as Belux, Cappellini, OlivettiSynthesis, Lema, Metalarte, Montis.nl, Gruppo Sintesi,Wever&Ducre, and Hidden.nl.

“At the Academy o Arts in Holland I did my thesis on art

history about Ettore Sottsass, which made me decide to apply

or Domus Academy in 1984. Thanks to this experience and

to the collaboration with Michele De Lucchi I could later on

curate and design an exhibition. It has been a great honor to

do this work with master Ettore. My avourite anecdote about

Ettore Sottsass: I am a designer and I like designing things.

What else can I do? Go fshing?”

Geert Koster

MateMetalarte, 2010PAG. 34

Dene Koz designed products or worldwide known,design oriented companies in dierent sectors; Furniture,Lighting, Tableware, Household, Sanitary xtures, FashionAccessories, Branding Consulting and Art Direction.Recent clients include: Panasonic, Nestlé, Unilever - Lipton,Alessi, Foscarini, Leucos, FontanaArte, Sharp, Mobilee,Liv’it, Pirelli, Cappellini, Slide, Durst, Egizia, Rapsel, Merati,

Guzzini, WMF, VitrA, Authentics, Nissan, Casio, Gaia&Gino,MPD, OmniDecor, 888, Tuna, Megaron, Alparda, Nurus,Hamam, Delta, Arcelik, Sisecam...Her idea o design isinuenced by her training in Ettore Sottsass’ studio, by thecombination o her Turkish and Italian culture, and by hercuriosity or very dierent product types. Her interestsspan rom humanizing new technologies like digital audiosystems to rediscovering the tradition o hand madeceramics. Common to all her projects are her distinctivedesign language and the research on the sensorial qualitieso materials. Her designs have been exhibited at Triennale diMilano, Galleria Jannone, Galleria Posteria, Spazio Mudima,

Ideabooks, Galleria Post Design, Spazio Vigentina in Milan,Biennale del Vetro Venezia, IDYB Koeln, KunstmuseumDusseldor, Ubersee Museum Bremen, MARTa Herord,Ozone Gallery Tokyo, Les Atelier Gallery Paris, Abitare ilTempo Verona, Museo di Pietrarsa Napoli, Design WeekBelgrade, Design Week Istanbul, MeDesign Genoa.She held seminars at UIC Chicago, Domus Academy,Milano; Fukui Preecture, Japan; Architectural Association,London; Bilgi University, Istanbul; Centro Borges, BuenosAires, Design Week Belgrade, Design Week Istanbul.

Dene Koz

VagueAlessi, 2004PAG. 27

4DVitra, 2010PAG. 49

CircusFoscarini, 1994PAG. 35

DressFoscarini, 1996PAG. 36

Tea GlassUnilever Lipton,2010PAG. 28

Designers 74



Larry Laske was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1963. He haswon several national and international awards.His appetite or the whimsical and the unexpected canbe seen in his collaborations with amed designers: EttoreSottsass, Emilio Ambasz, Philippe Starck, and Ingo Maurer.Recipient o the Hallmark Honor Prize in 1980.Recipient o scholarships at both Northern Illinois University,

Dekalb Illinois and University o Illinois Champaign-Urbana,where he received his B.F.A. Industrial Design.In 1986 traveled to Domus Academy (Milan, Italy) orpost-graduate studies in Scenograa Urbana (urbanscenography) under Andrea Branzi, graduating with aMaster in Design.

“Domus Academy was my baptism or every aspect o my lie.”

Larry Laske

Toothpick cactusKnoll, 1993PAG. 15

NikiOWOPAG. 23

Beach chair BeachThingy, 2007PAG. 18

Architect and Designer Jae Kyu Lee was born in 1963 inKorea, where graduated in architecture. He then moved toMilan, where he attended Domus Academy and obtainedthe Master in Design in 1996. He currently lives and worksin Seoul. Now, he is a proessor o Hong-Ik UniversityGraduate school o Industrial Art. From 1997 to 2008,he was a member o the “Studio D&L” in Milan. One o

his projects “Piano Seduto” has been selected or thePermanent collection Museum o Modern Art (MoMA) inNew York. He returned to Seoul in 2008, established “StudioBUTTON”, a multidisciplinary studio in Seoul with projectson urban planning, architecture and design. He has wonseveral awards and competitions, and exhibited in majormuseums, design airs and publications.

Jae Kyu Lee

EyeballRotaliana, 2004PAG. 16

Piano sedutoRadice, 2000PAG. 11

75



Graduated rom Domus Academy in 1998, has lived inNew York City since 1999 where he has steadily built uphis reputation as a dynamic and international designer.Lerner is best known or the witty sensibility o his populardesigns. Ran Lerner Design Inc. was established in 2003,designing or clients o wide accessibility rom implementinghis own signature “whimsy” to aesthetic orm. His work is

based on the core concept o interaction o product anduser, encouraging “touch” and emphasis on “relationship”o human to object. Lerner also promotes eco-riendlymanuacturing by the ecient use o material and lowenergy abricating technologies, oten designing multiunctional products aordable or the public at large.Lerner teaches Industrial Design students at The ParsonsSchool o Design and FIT. He has recent publicationsincluding “1000 product designs 2010”, “Wall street journal”,“New York Times’ “Time out New York”, ”Food and wine”,“ID”,”Domino” “Gourmet”, “The Today Show” and othersRan Lerner’s Design Inc.’s list o current clients includes

Umbra, Joseph Joseph, Acme, Rosenthal, Wedgwood,Waterord, Kikkerland, Cambridge Silversmiths, Yamazaki,Reed & Barton, Nambe, Starwood hotels and other leadingmanuacturers. The designs could be ound at retailers suchas Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Crate & Barrel, The Conran Shop,Moma store, Bed bath & beyond, Target, and others.

“There couldn’t be a better school, I’ve learned so much on the

importance o a good concept, that makes a product better

and not just dierent, an element that I try to embed in all my

design today.”

Ran Lerner

Salad SpoonsJoseph JosephPAG. 18

Giovanni Levanti is a Milan based proessional, born inPalermo in 1956. He received his degree in Architecturerom University o Palermo in 1983 and in 1984 he moved toMilan where he attended his Master at Domus Academy.From 1985 to 1990 he collaborated with Andrea Branzi’sstudio. In 1991 he ounded his own studio.He collaborates with Campeggi, Cassina, Diamantini &

Domeniconi, Domodinamica, Edra, Foscarini, Marutomi,Memphis, Nagano, Pallucco Italia, Salviati, Serano Zani,Twergi-Alessi. Some o his products and designs have beenselected or prestigious international exhibition such as:Design una storia italiana (Rome, Turin, 2011), Le abbrichedei sogni (Milan 2011) Abitare l’Utopia (Verona, 2010),Quali cose siamo (Milan 2010),1978-2008 Made in Italy-Brazilian Design Biennal (Brasilia, 2008), Il Modo Italiano(Montreal, 2007, Toronto, Rovereto), 1945-2000-Il Designin Italia-100 oggetti (Seoul, 2001, Beijing, Shanghai, travelingexhibition), Il Design Italiano 1964-1990 (Milan, 1996) LaFabbrica Estetica (Paris, 1993) Capitales Europennes du

Noveau Design (Paris, 1991) Creativitalia (Tokyo) DodiciNuovi - Memphis (Milan, 1986).Some o his objects are exhibited in the design collection atTriennale di Milano, at the Museum o Fine Arts in Montrealand at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He was awarded thePremio Palermo Design Week 2007 and Design Plus Prize2000 at Messe Frankurt Exhibition amongst others, andhe was selected or the XXII Premios de Disegno cDIMProessionales 2004 in Valencia and or the XIX PremioCompasso d’Oro ADI 2001 in Milan. In 2010 Beppe Finessicurated a dedicated exhibition at Docva-Careo-Via Farini at

Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan.

Giovanni Levanti

XitoCampeggi, 1999PAG. 11

MoziaDiamantini &Domeniconi, 2009PAG. 47

Sneaker Campeggi, 2006PAG. 11

Designers 76



Monica Moro was born in Sweden and subsequently movedto Italy. Ater graduating in Architecture and obtaining aMaster in Industrial Design rom Domus Academy, sheworked at Andrea Branzi studio where her activity ocusedon design. She also collaborated with Antonio Petrillo, ClinoTrini Castelli, Anna Gili, and Alessandro Mendini.As a reelance designer she currently collaborates with

several Italian and international clients. She is alsoexternal researcher at the LNU University in Sweden andat the Laboratorio Colore (Color Lab) within the IndacoDepartment at Politecnico di Milano, where she teachesclasses in the eld o Design and color.

“Fascinated by the title o the exhibit Lost in translation , and

even with movement o emotions I rethink my experiences

at Domus Academy. Fascinated because I grew up on the

line o the unstable encounter o two dierent cultures and

languages, southern and northern. I have lived and I have

experienced so many times the process o loosing and as many

times the enrichment that comes on the path o a project. I ammoved by the encounter o new people and realities and above

all a new dimension in the design thinking that occurred there.

Everything was originated there at Domus Academy, the pain,

the joy and sometimes (rarely) the enlightment and, I wasn’t

ready or this, the internal transormation o acing and

looking at the project, the other one and the world. In reality I

think that the enjoyment o the designer is the path between

the idea to the nal product.”

Monica Moro

AmsterdamRavariniCastoldi, 2002PAG. 21

Tomoko Mizu was born in Japan. Ater a period oproessional training in the watch industry at SEIKOCorporation, she moved to Milan. She received her Masterin Industrial Design rom Domus Academy in 1988 andestablished her own Milan based studio, Mizu CreativeDesign Lab, in 1994. Her activity ocuses on product designand corporate image: she is a product and communication

consultant or Fiera di Milano. She works with internationalcompanies such as Cappellini, Sawaya & Moroni, Horm1988,Bonacina Vittorio, Rithzenho, Giovanni De Maio, Trunk eKanebo. In the past ew years she has been closely workingwith Italian artisans to enable a closer relationship betweenthe artisanal and the design world. She participated in theBiennale d’Artigianato Sardo in 2009, or which she wasawarded the “Compasso d’Oro” in 2011. Her projects wereexhibited in many exhibitions and published on Italian andinternational magazines. Since 2010, the vases she designedor Cappellini are part o the permanent collection atM.A.G.M.A. Museum in Roccamonna (CE). The last project

she developed with Giovanni De Maio was exhibited at ExpoLuxe in Rome. She runs workshops at Domus Academy,Politecnico di Milano and IED.

“The year that I did Domus Academy was truly unique and

special. It is hard to name only one person that has inuenced

my thinking, my carreer. I I had to name only one person

I would say Arch. Ettore Sottsass jr. Thankully, even ater

Domus Academy I had many opportunities to talk to him.

He taught us that beyond the measurements o the human

body , there are many things to be considered, the social

movement and the culture. He opened another perspective o

the unction in design.“

Tomoko Mizu

Tapp-oNonSoloFerro, 2009PAG. 28

77



Aki Motoyama, known or incorporating her artistic andintercultural perspectives to her design, was born in 1986and spent her lie both in Japan and the United States.She received her bachelor’s degree rom the University oMichigan School o Art and Design in 2008, where shewas honored with the Barbara & Dorothy Heers FreshmanAward. During and ater her studies in Michigan, Motoyama

studied urniture design and abrication in Copenhagen andBoston. In 2010 she attended the Domus Academy with ascholarship or her Master in Product Design. Recently, oneo her works was the semi-nalist o the Furniture DesignAward oered by Singapore Furniture Industries Council.“CLOUD” rom Brix will be her rst design to be produced.

“Domus Academy is a melting pot. You meet with people

rom dierent ages, culture and background. You share the

experience and merge ideas into orm. What I have seen, who

I have met, what I have elt, what I have absorbed. My lie

there was beyond studying design in Italy.”

Aki Motoyama

CloudAki Motoyama, Brix,2012PAG. 49

Claudio Naro holds a degree in Architecture rom Universityo Palermo in 1983. From 1983 to1984 he collaboratedwith the class o Environmental Design at the Faculty oArchitecture in Palermo. He was awarded a EuropeanUnion Scholarship or the Master in Lighting Design atDomus Academy: he thus moved to Milan in 1984 andgraduated rom Domus Academy in July 1985. From 1985

he collaborated with the architecture and design studioSottsass Associati in Milan. In 1987 he moved to Paris, wherehe taught at the École Nationale Supérieure de CréationIndustrielle. In 1989 he moved back to Milan and ounded hisown design studio. From 1998 to 2000 he taught Design atthe Accademia Statale di Belle Arti in Macerata.

“ La Domus , as it is called by the alumni, gave me the capacity

to understand, appreciate and love quality objects, not only

as a work o invention, but also as the use o creativity on an

object that in certain occasions becomes art. It gave me the

possibility to develop sensitivity, which I had beore in a less

proound manner, and the motivation to engage in a constantresearch o potential new modern classics, that in my interior

architecture projects became precious instruments to work

with. The high quality o the lectures, that nurished me

throughout the course, let me the capability to understand

objects, to decode the concept that originated the project.

This ability is undamental to understand, among the huge

number o objects produced every year, which ones are the

objects that have content beyond the sales matter. What

I learnt at Domus Academy is not only technical, but also

a humanistic vision o the project that allows us to see the

objects as vehicles o cultural and emotional communication.”

Claudio Naro

MorganaClaudio Naro,Fontana Arte, 1992PAG. 61

Designers 78



Terri Pecora, Caliornian, was born in 1958. She studiedashion illustration at Art Center College o Design inPasadena, Caliornia and moved to Italy in 1988 to attendthe Product Design Master Program at Domus Academy inMilan. In 1991 she established her own studio, working withvarious European companies such as Adidas Eyewear, Art& Cuoio, Bisazza, BRF, Marco Bicego, Dom Ceramica, Edra,

Emmebi, Esprit Eyewear, Interex, Flou, M&Z Rubinetti,Montblanc, Persol Eyewear, Plumcake kids, Prènatal, Simas,Silhouette Eyewear, Swatch, Vice Versa and Zanotta. Shehas worked in many sectors: urniture design, interiors andexhibition installations, art direction and graphics, ashionaccessories, products or the home, accessories, wallcoverings and ttings or the bathroom.

“Domus Academy was a bridge rom one place to the next,

and it was not always a sturdy one. Sometimes it was like

walking over a deep crevice on one o those tiny swaying

wooden numbers in a Harrison Ford movie. But it was a

very good experience, very Italian. As they told us students:it was up to us what we wanted to get out o our year at

Domus Academy, they weren’t babysitting, and they meant

it. Visiting proessors like Francesco Binaré, Alberto Meda,

Richard Sapper and more were par or the course. They

talked passionately about their lie, loves and work: even

i you couldn’t understand them it didn’t seem to bother

anyone! My course included student protests and the

“cipollisti”, a laughable counter-proposal to the “bolidisti”

movement created by a renchman, a scottish guy and a

spaniard. Domus Academy was a great introduction into

Italian design culture: chaotic yet constructive, experimental

and incredibly productive.”

Terri Pecora

Twin lineEscudama, 2003PAG. 47

Flow Simas, 2004-2010PAG. 45

Past and presentSilhouette, 1994PAG. 47

Christophe Pillet is a French designer who has woninternational acclaim or the spectrum and quality o hiscreations. Architecture, objects, urniture, art direction: hissignature is invariably associated with the nest brandsand projects o ever- increasing weight and prestige.From transorming the Lancel boutiques across Franceand the rest o the worldwide, designing the new Hotel

Sezz in Saint Tropez, and the restaurant Maison Blanchein Fes and Casablanca, to creating stands or Renault atinternational automobile shows: the scope and the varietyo his projects share a common attitude, independento scale. Whether it be as design director or Lacoste, orin long-term collaborations with Driade, Cappellini andEmu, his considered interpretations are a testament tohigh-voltage chic, distinguished both by its precision andrigor. Pillet’s ranges were originally Italian. There werecertainly ew places as magical as Milan or designers in the1980s. Having been awarded his diploma rom the DomusAcademy, he became part o the Memphis group (as an

assistant to Martine Bedin, and Michele De Lucchi), whenthey led the vanguard o a new approach to design. Upon hisreturn to Paris, Pillet was involved in the development o theStarck agency. Having graduated rom extra to actor, Pilletwould take on the role o director in 1993 with the creationo his own agency. In the same year he was nominated‘Designer o the Year’ at the Salon du Meuble de Paris, andhis independent career was launched. His personality and hiscareer oer distinctive characteristics. Whilst having an artschool background (he studied in Nice), he initially launcheda music career: he has retained a taste or certain rhythms

and time signatures, as well as a search or harmony.

Christophe Pillet

Nouvelle VaguePorro, 2005PAG. 40

MeridianaDriade, 2004PAG. 42

79



Neil Poulton (born 1963) is a Scottish product designer,based in Paris, France. He specialized in the design odeceptively simple-looking mass-produced objects and haswon numerous international design awards.Poulton is best known or his designs in the elds otechnology and lighting design and is oten associatedwith manuacturers LaCie, Artemide, Megalit and Atelier

Sedap. Among his recent clients, Christoe, Forestier, theGlenmorangie Company and Vertgo Bird. In 2007 theCentre Georges Pompidou museum in Paris acquired sixPoulton-designed objects or its Permanent ContemporaryCollection. In 2008, Time magazine included Poulton in ‘TheDesign 100 - The people and ideas behind today’s mostinuential design’. Neil Poulton has lived and worked in Parissince 1991. Poulton gained a BSc degree in Industrial Design(technology) at Napier University in Edinburgh in 1985and was awarded the SIAD Chartered Society o DesignersStudent Product Designer O The Year. In 1988 he gained aMaster diploma in Design at the Domus Academy in Milan,

Italy, under Italian architect Andrea Branzi and designerAlberto Meda. Poulton’s tutors included Italian architectEttore Sottsass, German industrial designer Richard Sapper,Isao Hosoe and Anna Castelli Ferrieri.Poulton’s designs have won numerous awards, includingseven French “Etoile de l’Observeur du Design” prizes, tenGerman Red Dot Design Awards, two “Best o The Best” RedDot Design Awards, ve German “IF” International ForumDesign prizes, three French “Janus de l’industrie” awards,two “Recommendation Premio Compasso d’Oro”, and the“Menzione d’Onore Premio Compasso d’Oro 2011”.

Neil Poulton

Talak Artemide, 2005-2007PAG. 55

RuggedLaCie, 2006PAG. 57

FireWire SpeakersLacie, 2007PAG. 57

Kuno Prey was born 1958 in San Candido/Innichen, Italy.Ater completing his education in Art and Design, he beganoperating in his own studio. His natural curiosity led him toexperiment the use o new materials and technologies. Hemade a name or himsel as design consultant or numerousinternational companies. His original and ingenious workdevelops into highly successul products that won many

international awards. In 1993 he is appointed Proessoro Product Design at the Faculty o Art and Design atthe Bauhaus–Universität Weimar, Germany, ounded thatsame year by Pro. Lucius Burckhardt. Thus, he had the greatopportunity to contribute actively to its development rightrom the beginning. In 2002 he returned to Italy to oundthe new Faculty o Design and Art at the Free Universityo Bolzano/Bozen that, guided by him as dean until 2010,is now rated among the most reknown schools in Europe.Starting rom October 2010 he has resumed teaching ulltime and doing research in product design.

“For me, a 24 year-old with deep roots in the Dolomites,Domus Academy was a true test bed and an opportunity o

intellectual enrichment, that I could project mysel in a strong

international dimension. I remember that at least once a week

they would give us lectures and tell us about their creative

world with visions o a very distant reality. A really special

school o lie.”

Kuno Prey

Drainer Rosti Mepal, 1990PAG. 16

Twergi collectionAlessi, 1996PAG. 33

Tino e MiloDanese, 1987PAG. 44

Designers 80



Designer and critic, he was born in Trieste in 1958. Hereceived his degree in Architecture rom the Universityo Genoa in 1983 and his Master in Design rom DomusAcademy in 1984. In 1986 he opened his studio in Milan.From 1984 to 1994 he collaborated with the Faculty oArchitecture in Genoa at research and didactic programs.From 1986 to 1994 he wrote or Domus magazine, and rom

1995 to 2007 or Abitare. Since 1995 he is art director atO-Luce. From 1996 to 2005 he was art director at Montinaand, in 2007 at Marazzi. Upon request o Fiat Engineering,he designed the restoration o the “Museo della CiviltàRomana” in Rome-EUR. His works were published bothin Italy and abroad. In 2004 he participated in the VeniceArchitecture Biennial in the “Notizie dall’Interno” (Domesticnews) section. Since 2006, he teaches “Jewelry design” atPolitecnico di Milano. As regards his design activity, since1988 he collaborates with Marta Laudani, with whom hedeveloped projects or prestigious italian and internationalcompanies. In 2011, Laudani&Romanelli were awarded the

Compasso d’Oro or developing a design experience withlocal artisans promoted by Regione Sardegna.

“Domus Academy was the true starting point o my design

thinking. There I met, contemporarily, the post-modernists,

specially Sottsass e Branzi, back then representing a

dominant culture, an a great master o the “classic Italian

Design”, Mario Bellini. I chose without a doubt the last one!

Learning however rom the rst, the need to make the projects

become a tale or at least a story. To Maria Grazia Mazzocchi

goes the tangible sign o my gratitude!”

Marco Romanelli

Stones o glassOluce, 2009PAG. 12

MediterraneoDriade, 2002PAG. 27

Born in Bahia Blanca in 1954. Designer, interior designer andinterior decorator. He collaborated with Alchimia studio andwith Gregotti Associati. He was teacher at the EuropeanDesign Institute and at Domus Academy. He works orAlacta, Perani, Mimo, Red-Zanussi.

Alejandro Ruiz

Parmenide

Alessi, 1994PAG. 15

81



Roberto Tagliabue has been actively involved in interactivemedia, product design, and brand identity since the early90’s. Appointed Nike’s Director o Digital Innovation in2005, Tagliabue is known or designing innovative, wearableproducts like NikePlus that blur the boundaries betweenphysical and digital. The rm has produced one successulproduct story ater another, including Microsot Courier UX,

Motorola Droid Home UI, Mindswarm, Jawbone UP, andthe new Unstuck app. It helped uel LunaTik’s sensationalKickstarter campaign, and is currently working on a numbero new projects.

“It was 1992, the rst Interaction Design Master at Domus

Academy. There, on the roo o a building in Milanoori, we

were learning about the internet, the email, the browser and

discovering how to envision and design new digital devices

that would improve and transorm our lives. There I learnt

that designing innovative digital experiences means to go

beyond making technology do more, last longer, weigh less or

go aster. I learned that it is about understanding how devicesand services t into people’s lives. The perect experience

is a careully planned consumer journey. It has been a lie

changing experience.”

Roberto Tagliabue

Jawbone UpVisere, 2011PAG. 58

ClibeVisere, 2006-2012PAG. 59

Marco Susani is a design consultant based in Chicago.In 2010 he co-ounded with Dene Koz the studio KozSusani Design, where he is responsible o the disciplines oExperience Design, Interaction Design and Strategic Design.He designed or companies like Motorola, Philips, Panasonic,Seiko, Olivetti, 3M, NTT Japan, Zumtobel, Nissan,Mitsubishi, Tokyo Gas, Toshiba, Apple, Logitech, Unilever,

Telecom Italia, Mediaset, bTicino, Fontana Arte.In USA, rom 2000 to 2009, as an executive in Motorola’sGlobal Consumer Experience Design, he led the culture-change toward a design-oriented, experience-drivencompany. Marco Susani began his career with EttoreSottsass, the undisputed icon o 20th Century design,rst at Olivetti Design, then as Associated Partner o hisstudio, Sottsass Associati. His works have been shownin exhibitions at Triennale di Milano, Memphis GalleryMilano, Centre Pompidou Paris, Axis Gallery Tokyo, GrandPalais Paris, and Design Museum London. He won manyprestigious awards; his works and interviews have been

eatured in international magazines.

“Domus Academy: We expected personalities, prominent,

but we didn´t expect anything rom the school. It was the

rst year. A school-not-school, they told us. I don´t think I

understood back then what they meant. We were a guinea

pig in an experiment that taught us how to.... experiment

and experiment again. We learnt how to be curious, how to

discover new ways to do design, to reinvent everyday our own

crat. Fortunate, we continued to reinvent ourselves or therty

years, and in the end maybe we understood what they meant.

Thank you prominent personalities, and thank you school-not-

school or having changed our lives.”

Marco Susani

Teaser Seiko, 1992PAG. 53

Enorme1987PAG. 53

Zen conceptMotorola, 2011PAG. 54

Motorola motoblur Motorola 2009PAG. 56

Designers 82



Born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1976. In 1998 he obtained hisdegree in Industrial Design rom the aculty o IndustrialDesign o the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá andreceived the Master in Design at Domus Academy o Milanin 1999. In 1997 he won the Mario Santo Domingo prize orthe best students o design and architecture o Colombiaand did a internship at the CID (Central Industrial Design)

at Whirlpool Europe (Italy). In 1998 he participated with hisnal thesis at the New Designers Exhibition in London thattook part in the Business Design Centre. From 2000 until2004 he worked as a designer or Steano Giovannoni’sstudio in Milan. In 2005 and 2008 he won the “Lapiz deAcero” design award with Moreo and Manta chair. Hehas worked or major international companies such asAlessi, Poliorm, Nike, Microsot, Domodinamica, Potoccoand Busso among others. In 2006 he participated at theexhibition “La abbrica del design” organized by DomusAcademy and the municipality o Milan. His work hasbeen published on some o the most important design

publications in Europe, Asia and America. He has beenvisiting proessor and project leader or the Master inProduct and Interaction Design at Domus Academy inMilan and visiting proessor at IED in Turin. He has heldconerences at several universities in Italy and Colombia. Helives and works in Milan.

Rodrigo Torres

MoreoDomodinamica,2004PAG. 60

Twister Busso, 2005PAG. 35

MantaPoligorm, 2008PAG. 36

Pascal Tarabay is a Lebanese architect born in 1970; he wasbased in Beirut, Milano and now Lima. He has worked as adesigner and art director on all scales o the creative project,rom architecture to product design, rom one os to massproduction, with artisans or multinational companies, orsingle clients to corporate companies. His work has beenrequently showed, awarded and published in exhibitions

and the medias. In 2011 he decided to start his own editioncompany: Editions Unlimited.

“Domus Academy changed my lie, proessionally and

personally. I discovered, I shared, I ound riendship, I loved

and I started a amily.”

Pascal Tarabay

CucùDiamantini &Domeniconi, 2005PAG. 33

OberonPandora Design,2000PAG. 19

83



Sicilian, Mario Trimarchi is a Milan based proessional since1983. He is an architect that belongs to the “reehand”generation, and always moved around the visual universeconsidering drawing, photography, design, and image asparts o the same eld o investigation. He directed theMaster in Design at Domus Academy in the early Nineties,and was par o Olivetti Design studio with Michele De

Lucchi. In 1999 he established FRAGILE, Corporate IdentityCare studio that currently runs with Frida Doveil. AtFragile, he designs identities, corporate image, and visualalphabets used to tell dierent specicities. He designedthe logo or Poste Italiane and many others, the graphicsor large exhibition and communication systems or Italiandesign companies, displays and interiors. He never gaveup drawing, nor thinking about architectures. He designedor Alessi, Artemide, Deborah Milano, Philips, Matsushita,Serano Zani. His works were awarded many prizes,amongst which Smau Industrial Design Award, Good DesignAward, and Red Dot Communication Award. His interests

currently ocus on the topic o unstable geometries, whichhe designs with the intent to slightly move the usual balanceo our normal relationship with objects.

“At the beginning Domus Academy was the creation

o a privileged place to interpret the world, to invent

questions, to search or partial answers, beyond the logic o

standardization. I like remembering it so.”

Mario Trimarchi

IntantoAlessi, 2009PAG. 31

La Stanza dello

SciroccoAlessi, 2009

PAG. 31

Omer Unal was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1973. HeGraduated rom Marmara University Faculty o Fine ArtsInterior Design Department in Istanbul. In 1996-97 heearned a Master Diploma in Design rom Domus Academyin Milan. He later earned his second Master Diploma inInterior Design rom Marmara University Faculty o FineArts Interior Design Department. In 2000 he ounded UB-

studio along with his partner Alper Boler in Istanbul, Turkey.His studio’s work included Product design, Shop WindowDesigns, Interior Designs, Architecture or various localcompanies in Turkey. His “Sema” coee table designed orthe Turkish company Nurus won 2008 IF best design award.His works have won eight international and local awardsrom 1996-2012. In 2012 he ounded OUD studio, and he iscontinuing to design in the elds o Product Design, InteriorDesign, Architecture. His work has been exhibited in MAKVienna Museum o Applied Arts, MoMa shop.

“Until the 90’s my country Turkey was a Non Liberal

Nationalist country. Access to knowledge thereore intellect,and communication with the outside world was limited. You

needed knowledge to access knowledge. Given this situation,

my knowledge o design theory was limited to what I could

get my hands on in ew libraries and what was taught in

my university. During and ater, I was deeply inuenced by

the words o Enzo Mari, Ezio Manzini, Andrea Branzi who

gave lectures at Domus Academy. I elt like a ve year old in

a candy store, a dry sponge sucking up all the inormation

around me. A caveman that has just been unrozen was

brought into the 21st century. It was the best educational

experience o my lie. I have a multi disciplinary ofce that

works mainly with local Turkish brands who are trying toexpand globally.”

Omer Unal

Salkimsel production,2004PAG. 48

Book Hook OUD, 2011PAG. 37

Designers 84



He was born in Cesena in 1960 and currently lives andworks in Milan. He graduated rom I.S.I.A. di Faenza (IstitutoSuperiore per le Industrie Artistiche) in 1986, later to obtaina Master in Industrial Design rom Domus Academy (in1987). His Milan based studio ocuses on:- product design like ceramic tiles (Marazzi, Ascot,Gabbianelli-Italy), hi- accessories (Ross electronics-Great

Britain), mobile phones (Fujitsu-Japan, Haier mobile-India),atware and cookware (Alessi, Lagostina, Santandrea,Guzzini, Cierre accessories-Italy, WMF, Fissler-Germany),appliances (Ariston/Indesit, Ocean-Italy), rugs and carpet(Warli-Italy, Louis De Poortere-Belgium), eyewear (Esprit-Usa), urniture (FontanaArte, Kristalia-Italy, SteelcaseStraor-Usa/France), home and oce lamps (FontanaArte,LumenCenter-Italy), bath urnishings (Moab80)- research and consultancy projects or the developmento design concepts, materials and products or Italian andoreign companies.- interior design or stores, showrooms, and air stands.

Since 2001 he is Art Director at Cierre Accessories,company that produces atware and table accessories. In1992 he creates “Warli”, a collection o contemporary rugsmade in India and Nepal with traditional wool and plantbers weaving.

“Domus Academy was my rst home in Milan. It opened the

doors and the international visions o design but most o all it

was a multi-disciplinary, anti-ethical, corrosive and concrete

laboratory o ideas to which I always go back.”

Paolo Zani

Volver Warli, 2010PAG. 32

Juan Carlos Viso/Juanco (1973) grew up in Caracas,Venezuela and graduated in Industrial Design at theInstituto de Diseño de Caracas. In 1998 he moved to Milanto attend the Master in Design at Domus Academy.From 1999 to 2001, inside Studio Dordoni, he workedtogether on the creative research or urniture design,objects, lamps and urnishing-accessories or Artemide,

Minotti, Molteni & Co, Breil, D&G. Since 2001 he works asa reelance designer and collaborates with proessionalso architecture and ashion houses like +ARCH, StudioOrtelli, VSM46, Armani, Missoni, Sergio Rossi andPiazza Sempione in diverse projects and visual displaydevelopment. In 2002 won the “Designboom & Sotheby’srocking chair competition” and the price “Mace youngdesign competition”. In 2004 he started a proessionalassociation with Lorenzo Bustillos, dealing with graphicwork, interior and product design. Collaborating withBanal Extra, Diamantini & Domeniconi, Frida Kahlo corp,Cut Milano, Clea, and Mycrom. Throughout the years he

has participated in a wide range o projects, rom designresearch or hi-tech companies as the likes o Canon andSotbank Japan, to the design o coee cups made out oIndustrial glass in Venezuela. He is the creative director oMavari, a start-up sur apparel company based in SantaCruz, Caliornia. His works have been published in manyinternational publications.

“Domus Academy or me is a modern Myth where Naiveness

awe Complexity (and viceversa) and Rationality embraces

Poetics (and viceversa). The Quest or Beauty in its deepest

sense (il Bello).”

Juan Carlos Viso/Juanco

RegoloVanalextra, 2012PAG. 17

85



Giovanni Lauda

Giovanni Lauda was born in Napoliin 1956. Degree in Architecture.From 1989 till 1992 was a membero Morozzi & Partners design oce,

working on product design andcorporate identity. In 1992 he openedtogether with Dante Donegani D&LStudio. They have been in chargewith the setting up o art exhibition,trade-airs and show rooms andhave designed products both or thehouse and the oce. Since 1994 heis responsible o the course “Designculture” in the Industrial DesignMaster Course at Domus Academy.Visiting proessor at the MilanoPolitecnico and at the PalermoUniversity. From 2002 till 2004he was the columnist o “Progettodesign” or Interni magazine. He wasbetween the curators o the exhibition“Il design italiano dal 1964 al 1990”,which was held at the Triennale oMilan in 1996 and in 2001 o theexhibition” Italy-Japan: Design as aliestyle” in Yokohama and Kobe. In2004 he exhibited the project “La

casa liberata” at the Venice Biennial“Metamorphosis” .

Dante Donegani

Dante Donegani was born in Pinzolo(Trento) in 1957. He took his degree inArchitecture at Florence University in1983. From 1987 to 1990 he worked

or Corporate Identity departmentin Olivetti. Since 1993 he is Directoro the Design Master in DomusAcademy, Milan. He has designedinterior design projects or privatehouses and stores, various tradeairs, showrooms and expositions. Inaddition, he has designed productsor several companies, among whichMemphis, Stildomus, Isuzu, Radice,Rotaliana, Viceversa, Luceplanand Edra. He has realized severalexhibitions projects and settings suchas “Michelangelo Architetto”, at CasaBuonarroti in Florence; “Mondriane De Stijl” at Fondazioni Cini inVenice, “Piero della Francesca” atSan Sepolcro. His projects havebeen awarded by major architecturalcontests, such as “ManhattanWaterront” New York 1988 (1° prize),“Berlin wall”, Berlin 1987 (1° prize)both in collaboration with A.Branzi; “A

square with a monument” KejhannaJapan, 1991(2°prize). Since 1993 hehas opened D&L Associated, withGiovanni Lauda. They have workedtogether in dierent projects o design:setting up o art exhibitions, trade-airs and showrooms. They are alsoresponsible or art direction o someurniture industries, both in Italy andabroad. In 2001 they directed thehouse section o the exhibition “Italiae Giappone-Design come stile di

vita”, held in Kobe and Yokohamaby Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. Thechaise longue Passpartout producedby Edra is in the permanent collectiono the Museum o Modern Art o SanFrancisco. In 2004 he exhibited at theVenice Biennial “Metamorphosis”. Hegives lectures in various Universities indierent countries.

Niko Koronis

He is graduated in Architecture romthe Welsh School o Architecture,where a year later he did his Masterdegree in Environmental Design o

Buildings. He then moved to Milan,where he attended Domus Academyand obtained the Master Diploma inDesign with distinction. He spent ayear as tutor o the Master in Design,ater which he studied or his Phd inTheory and History o Architectureat the Architectural Association inLondon. He has been a Fellow atCentral Saint Martins and a researcherat the Alvar Aalto Foundation inHelsinki. He has taught, lectured andundertaken research in architecture,product and urban design, and hastaken part in several exhibitions,amongst which the Venice Biennial andthe Triennale di Milano.

Designers 86



Elena Pacenti

Graduated in Architecture and PhD inIndustrial Design, Elena Pacenti dealswith the design o services, designo service interaces and design o

new media or everyday use. She isthe Director o the Master in Serviceand Experience Design o domusAcademy. From 2003 to 2009 shehas been director o Domus AcademyResearch Center. She started workingat Domus Academy in 1997 as parto the Domus Academy ResearchCenter (DARC), where she has beencoordinating research projects in thearea o design innovation. As serviceand interaction designer at DARC, shedeveloped research projects or theEuropean Union and design advice orgovernmental and private agenciesin Italy. From 1998 to 2005 she hasbeen Contract Proessor at the Facultyo Industrial Design at Politecnico diMilano, where she teaches interactionand service design.She has participated as lecturer inseveral national and internationalconerences such as: Ino-Eco -

Door o Perception 3, Amsterdam,1996; Gerontechnology, SimposiumInternazionale, Helsinky, 1997;Tecnologie per la Cooperazione,Convegno Nazionale AIF, Rimini, 1999;New Media Visions, Domus Academy,1999/2000; Web Experiences, DomusAcademy, 2000; i3 AC2000 (IcubedAnnual Conerence), Jonkoping2000, HKDC 2007, Service DesignConerence, SDN, Amsterdam 2008,Northern Service Design Conerence,

AHO, Oslo, 2009, SDN ConerenceBerlin, 2010.

Claudio Moderini

Claudio Moderini is an interactiondesign director and researcher, witha background in architecture andindustrial design, ounder and director

o the Master Program in InteractionDesign o Domus Academy. His maincompetences range rom creativedirection to envisioning and strategicdesign, to the development o designconcepts or uture scenarios andinteraction design solutions. His maindesign and research interests rangerom the introduction o Inormationand Communication Technology (ICT)in the everyday lie and environment,to its potentiality in supporting thequalities o the social relations, tothe potentiality o interaction designto innovate/transorm the productand service design processes. He hasbeen project leader and coordinatoror Domus Academy o more than40 design projects, researches andworkshops both in conjunction withinternational companies such asCanon, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia,Motorola, Pioneer, Samsung, TDK

and within EU research initiatives.He has lectured and held designseminars at Politecnico di Milano,Royal College o Art, University oSiena, University o Milano Bicocca,FUKUI Preecture in Japan, Shie ChienUniversity Taipei, NTUT Taipei, HongKong Design Institute, Hong KongPolytechnic, Kookmin University Seoul,MIT Boston, Bilgi University Istanbul,Tonji University Shanghai, UniversidadMajor Santiago del Chile and Toluca

Tech Mexico, ocusing on interactivedesign, envisioning and strategicdesign. Specialties: Conceptual andStrategic Design, Interaction Design,Design Research, Free Style Thinking.

Claudia Raimondo

Claudia Raimondo is an architect witha PHD in Industrial Design, Venetian,lives and works in Milan. She has beena proessor at the Architecture School

and the Design School at Politecnico diMilano, at the Accademia di Belle Artidi Brera and international schools suchas ENSCI Les Atelier di Parigi amongothers. Since 1993 she has been theproject leader o the Master in Designat Domus Academy, among which:1993, Master The Native Oce withClino Castelli; 1996, Multiply suraceswith Aldo Mondino; 1998, Superplywith Antonio Petrillo; 1999, CeramicaSapiens with gruppo Sargadelos; 2000,Ambienti ototattici, materiali e luce;2001, Microambienti trasversali withSEAT; 2002, Slightly Domestic with3M; 2004, Tiles o Italy. Exercise inArchitecture with Assopiastrelle; 2005,No tiling please with Gruppo CeramicoVietrese; 2007, Healing Habitat withPoliclinico S. Orsola di Bologna; 2008,Crystallized with Swarovsky; 2009,Changing suraces; 2010, It Happens;2011, Deconstruct with Leroi Merlin;

2012, White space; 2012, Ri-Bayexwith Bayer Material Science.

87





Alessi

Alessi lux | oreverlamp

Artemide

BeachThingy

Bosa

Brix

Busso

Campeggi

Castelli

Danese

Dedon

Desalto

Diamantini & Domeniconi

Domodinamica

Driade

Edra

Enorme

Escudama

Fontana arte

Foscarini

Gaia & Gino

Gandía Blasco

Joseph Joseph

Kikkerland

Knoll

Lacie

Lipton

Luceplan

Lumen Center Italia

Marsotto edizioni

Metalarte

Moroso

Motorola

Nava Design

NonSoloFerro

Oluce

Oud

OWO

Pandora design

Plugg

Poliorm

Porro

Radice

Ravarini Castoldi

Rosenthal

Rosti mepal

Rotaliana

Seiko

Silhouette

Simas

Skitsch

Solarbottle.org

Swatch

Vanalextra

Varaschin

Visere

Vitra

Warli

Whirlpool

Xo

SPECiaL ThaNKS To aLL ThE CoMPaNiES SuPPoRTiNG LoST iN TRaNSLaTioN





Dms acdemy

CEO Marc Ledermann

Dean Alberto Bonisoli

Executive Director Marketing and Enrollment Paddy Jansen

Student Services and Industry Relations Director

Brunello Morelli

CFO Ronald Voordendag

Marketing Communications Manager Sabrina Di Pietrantonio

Lst n trnsltn

CuratorsDante Donegani, Elena Pacenti

Curators o the thematic sections Niko Koronis, Giovanni Lauda, Claudio Moderini,Claudia Raimondo

Exhibition coordination Angela Ambrogio, Mara Ribone, Chiara Vaghi

Catalogue coordination

Mara Ribone

Exhibition design

Dante Donegani, Federica Cevasco, Filippo NichettiCatalogue graphic design

Francesca Valadé

Exhibition graphic design

Francesca Valadé, Marcella Foschi

Translation Michela Marini

Press Ofce

SEC Relazioni Pubbliche e Istituzionali

Domus Academy joined the Laureate International Universitiesnetwork in 2009. Laureate is a trusted global leader in providingaccess to high-quality, innovative institutions o higher education.www.laureate.net







Documents

Domus Academy - Lost in Translation