Design Feels Right at Home in Milan

When you say Milan, you say Design. From the first Italian thermoelectric plant to home furnishings, from autos to the fashion boom in the 1980s, the city is known for its manufacturing excellence. However, there is a date that marks the start of an acceleration of creativity in the city. It is 28 August 1954 when the tenth Triennial is inaugurated, the expo where art mixes with daily life and the need for functionality - it is here that modern design is born. The war had ended only a short while before and an Italian miracle is about to start. Milan is the nerve centre of a new trend which encourages industry to embrace a functional aesthetic. This brings about the birth of the legendary objects of the era - from the collaboration of Ettore Sottsass with Olivetti, of Gio Ponti with Cassina and Venini, of Munari and Mari with Danese… And in 1954, the Premio Compasso d’Oro ADI, the most important prize in the field of Design worldwide is created. It was Ponti who proposed shining a light on the quality of the Made in Italy label in a competition and, for any serious designer, the Compasso represented an obligatory step. And for this, the ADI Design Museum, being inaugurated this year in town, readies itself to become a pilgrimage destination for those wanting to explore the history of the best of Italian Design.