Caravaggio’s Shadow in Bill Viola’s Heart
Enchanted by the deep shadows and brilliant light of Caravaggio’s timeless work, Bill Viola seeks to retain a similar aura in his own art.
The Stability of the Euro and the Role of Italy: Ambassador Giulio Terzi speaks on the European financial picture to the members of Gruppo Esponenti Italiani (G.E.I.)
by Ambassador Giulio Terzi
I am delighted to be here with you again today and honored by your invitation, a most welcome sign of your great friendship. The last time I had the pleasure of being with you – as Permanent Representative to the United Nations – I talked about international security issues. Over the last year and a half, I have somehow changed my perspective – but not too much: in Washington, diplomatic work is at once global and bilateral too. Today I would like to address a topic which has both a global scope, as it relates to the world’s monetary system, and a “bilateral” one which refers to relations between the EU and the US: I am referring to the stability of the euro-zone.
Hotels: The Latest in Italian Luxury Labeling: Boutique hotels and villas by top designers make a smart aesthetic – and business –– statement
by Michael BOTTARI
Some of the biggest names in Italian design and fashion have a new way to enjoy their aesthetic luxury, to become enveloped in its greatness instead of just wearing it. This new phenomenon comes in the form of design or boutique hotels, located in some of the most alluring cities in the world.
What is Italian Design?: A look to history for ideas
by Giampero Bosoni
To uncover the secret of Italian design, if there is one, it is necessary to look from the right perspective, searching not through the discipline’s celebrated recent past but rather in the grand cultural and artistic history of that ancient peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean and at the center of Europe.
Design V. Styling: The role of the traditional Italian design studio in contemporary business culture
by Stefano Giovannoni
The design activities of Italian and American design studios are based on totally different business models. In the American system we find large professional studios, multinational organizations that reach a company size measured in hundreds of employees, while Italian design factories work with designers who usually operate from small professional studios with which the company has a consolidated relationship. Many designers of the older generation – Castiglioni, Magistretti, Sapper, Mari and Zanuso – worked with facilities reduced to the limits!
Il Design Italiano: Characterizing the tradition that is inherent
by Tonino PARIS
Grandi maestri hanno contribuito all’affermazione del Design italiano nel mondo, e hanno grandemente contribuito allo sviluppo industriale, sia con il loro patrimonio di conoscenze e competenze tecniche, sia con le loro straordinarie capacità creative.
The Courage and Risk of a Vision: Using past successes to inspire, not overshadow, the present
by Domitilla DARDI
In 1972 Italy: the new domestic landscape, the exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz, opened at MoMA: it was a momentous event for Italian design, consecrating the industrial production of the glorious decade of the Sixties in the world. The exhibition pointed out the experimental character of Italian design, the courage of a vision of interior design able to fill the industrial and technological gap between Italy and other countries with a stronger training and production background.
It is in the Use of an Object that its Destiny is Written: The director of Milan’s Triennale Design Museum reflects on the functional side of design
by Silvia ANNICHIARICO
A little more than two years have passed since December 2007, when we inaugurated the Triennale di Milano Design Museum. Since that time, the bearing idea for our project—that of giving life to a changing museum that would be capable of periodically renewing itself in terms of contents, of selection criteria, and of modalities of fruition—has been refined and consolidated, becoming even a pilot model for significant foreign experiences.
What does Italian Design Mean to You?: The design world answers the Italian Journal’s question
compiled by Laura GIACALONE
“I believe that, in some respects, the great fortune of Castiglionis’ work, and of Italian design in general, was that we had a very free, disenchanted relationship with technology. Experimenting was quite affordable, which probably helped our research, whereas today it requires the support of large manufacturing companies, and needs huge investments. Luckily there still exist, within large companies, very talented craftsmen with whom it is easy to work, and that surely helps the research a lot.” Achille Castiglioni
The Memory of Objects, an Interview with Gaetano Pesce
by Laura GIACALONE
An unrelenting research on new materials, an unrestrained use of colour, the political dimension of his projects, the handcrafted quality of his creations make Gaetano Pesce one of the greatest and most unconventional artists of Italian contemporary design scene. His career is studded with memorable masterpieces, which blur the distinction between art and design: from “Up” (1969), a series of “feminine” anthropomorphic armchairs which exploit the morphological memory of the polyurethane, returning to their shape and consistency as soon as they are freed from their packaging, to the “Rag Chair” (1972) and the “Sit Down” seat furniture (1975), based on the intriguing idea of having no two pieces alike. Other notable works include the “Dalila” chairs (1980), whose sensuous shape intentionally evokes the soft forms of the female body, the humorous “Umbrella” chair (1995), which folds up like an umbrella and opens out like its namesake, and “Sessantuna” (2010), sixty-one different tables, all of them unique, to celebrate Italy on the 150th anniversary of its unification.