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Haystacks

A small exhibit at the Nivola Museum in Orani, Sardinia, unveils an original and intimate side of the formal research of the italian designer Michele de Lucchi.

September 2017

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Lussu House, conversing with the loom

In the home of Emilio Lussu, Italian writer and politician, a small workshop pursues the rediscovery of Sardinian traditional handmade weaving. To secure an existing knowledge, but looking forward.

July 2017

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Harvesting chairs: Full Grown

Thanks to a research effort lasting a decade, English artist and designer Gavin Munro combines the production of objects with agricultural growing and pruning, offering a inspiring reflection on new ways to use resources between nature and design.

July 2017

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Cucula, to ‘do something’, together

An association, a workshop and an educational project, this first ‘Refugees Company for Craft and Design’ works in Berlin for new possible forms of integration, by exploring the social and political value of doing-designing.

July 2017

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SimpleFormsDesign: a sustainable nest for cork design

Cork, a material that is as difficult to work with as capable of incorporating the ideas of natural, local, organic and sustainable, is at the centre of the work of Porto’s SimpleFormsDesign studio. Where cork is back, between tradition and innovation.

July 2017

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Sughero PORTOGHESE _NICOLO' ENG

Sughero PORTOGHESE _NICOLO' ENG

July 2017

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Communicating quality, sustainably

Is it possible to promote local foods through a ‘sustainable approach’ towards a communication capable to encorporate design’s usefulness and ethical values?

July 2017

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Signpainting in Malta: one day with a Master calligrapher

Handwritten shopsigns in a documentary by Sabrina Melis and Michela Anedda on the work of Maltese master calligrapher Joe Farrugia.

June 2017

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Tactical Urbanism 5 . Italy

How can we combine the process of promoting day-to-day city space’s quality and accessibility and Tactical Urbanism: an approach to local urban regeneration based on short-term, low-cost, readily replicable actions and scalable transformations?

June 2017

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Spontaneous creativity and anonymous design

Anonymous ingenuity in a study by Daniele Pario Perra, that has resulted in two books, one exhibit, a website and a thematic park. From North Europe to the South of the Mediterranean, for a project permanently ‘in progress’.

May 2017

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Spacesuit. Fashioning Apollo. A book by Nicholas de Monchaux

Two different approaches to problem solving, in a beautiful volume on the genesis of the Apollo spacesuits. An example that can remind us how expertise, sensitivity and passion are the key elements for any successful human design.

May 2017

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The Green film: Sustainable Research

Two minutes for four micro stories narrating ways to combine creatively technology and sustainability.

May 2017

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Tribute to ‘Inventario’ (Inventory) 12th anniversary

Conceived and directed by Beppe Finessi, ‘Inventario’ magazine is an indispensable tool for thinking about design beyond its disciplinary’s borders, and getting some orientation in a world where ‘everything is design’.

April 2017

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The Condado discreet flagship

A smart new home for a project aiming at re-evaluating the rural world, combining small-scale social innovation projects for the local community with events of international profile.

April 2017

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Magazines: ‘Artigianato’ (Craftsmanship), between art and design

A magazine that has critically explored the fields of craftsmanship and applied arts, looking for possible intersections with the design culture.

April 2017

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Spanish graphic Pioneers

A blog by Emilio Gil dedicated to the work of the pioneers of Spanish graphic design.

April 2017

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A multiscreen video-installation to present the magic of Sardinian contemporary craft

The multi-screen installation by the Alghero’s AnimazioneDesign lab brings an original interpretation of Sardinia’s artistic contemporary craft to the public of Milan’s Design Week.

April 2017

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Dvelas ‘reusail’ project: new courses towards fruitful re-use

Used boat sail fabric has inspired a Spanish company that re-use it for developing a line of furniture. Smart design that tastes like the sea.

April 2017

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Past Future, culture and artifacts of Sardinia’s crafts

Despite being mainly thought as a summer holiday paradise, Sardinia encompasses a diversified cultural landscape in which past and future overlap. Within this framework, craftmanship provides the foundation for a contemporary reflection about design.

April 2017

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Affordable and valuable. Sardinian jewelry between tradition and innovation

By confronting with the rich tradition of Sardinia jewelry, a kit for auto-construction that involves a participation by the users and re-opens the dialogue with some craft’s skills otherwise isolated.

March 2017

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Examples: Massimiliano Adami

Waste and swarf: turning leftovers into key design elements, in the conceptual practice of a design approach combining experimentation with auto-production.

March 2017

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Pierluigi Ghianda: workshop as a symposium

Milan’s Triennale sets up a new exhibit in Monza to pay homage to Pierluigi Ghianda, a great woodworker and a key figure in the scene of Italian design.

March 2017

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Design and Identity. Designing for places

A book by Stefano Follesa re-writes a map for designing things, beyond modern’s euphoria for the uniform and the global.

February 2017

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Design as an open piece: Cyrcus, by Denis Santachiara

An online platform to explore the potential of new ways to design, produce and distribute goods.

December 2016

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A creative laboratory to reposition the identity of the Sardinia Region

A new corporate identity for Sardinia. A brand new layout for the strategic positioning the Region as ‘quality of life island’.

February 2016

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Through the images

How can we use images to convey Sardinia’s meaning, identity and quality to the Expo visitors?

February 2016

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Going Social

A series of social network-related events have been at the heart of a strategy for igniting on-line attention and for involving virtual visitors in the project.

February 2016

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Integrating Sound

Expressly produced music tracks rhythmically support our films, combining traditional and contemporary sound.

February 2016

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The Grey Film: the island of a long life

An experimental film to present Sardinia as the island of longevity, starting form its inhabitant’s good way of life.

February 2016

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The Blue Film: communicating landscapes

The language of cinema to describe the environmental, historical and cultural values of the island.

February 2016

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The Black Film: digital counterpoints

A graphic ‘style exercise’, the black film is both a motion-graphics product presenting the virtual and social dimension of Sardinia’s participation to the Expo, and a subtle way to play with multimedia and exhibit design.

February 2016

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The White Film: welcome to Sardinia

Thought as a welcome postcard for the Expo visitors, the white film presents Sardinia through the four macro-topics selected to characterize the idea of the ‘Island of the Quality of Life’.

February 2016

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The web interface

A thin digital surface between the exhibit and the social media.

February 2016

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The Temporary Pavillion

The exhibit was designed to communicate the island’s qualities through an evocative and emotional experience.

February 2016

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Designing the Corporate Identity

Guidelines for the graphic design for the Sardinian Region at the Expo, an equation between pixel and loom.

February 2016

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Four Short Films

As part of the project we experimented at Expo 2015, the task of designing a family of short films has been a great opportunity to explore the potential of the contemporary language of the moving image.

February 2016

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The World of Charles and Ray Eames

A new exhibition on Charles and Ray Eames traces the main steps and projects of one of the most important and versatile design couples on the twentieth century.

December 2015

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Neo-Local Design Summer School 2015

A survey on the 2015 Summer School’s design workshops: Souveniring, Communication Machines, Video Mapping.

November 2015

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A Mediterranean Crafts Archive (Archivio dei Saperi Artigianali)

The result of an accurate fieldwork carried out in Sardinia, Morocco and Egypt, Mediterranean Crafts Archive (Archivio dei Saperi Artigianali) is an on-line resource on craftsmanship knowledge in the Mediterranean.

November 2015

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Wood, Design and Tradition: a book by Tibor Uhrin

A beautiful illustrated book by Tibor Uhrin exploring wood as a versatile material in the history of crafts, from the work of unknown early craftsmen to contemporary design re-interpretations.

November 2015

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Picturing Genius Loci

Two projects in Morocco and Palestine on local identities exploring visual design as a key to spark debate between planners, designers and local communities.

July 2015

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Design on the thread of tradition. A book by Federica Vacca

As a consequence of market’s globalization and of the delocalization of production Italy faces a process of homologation of its regional identities and the de-personalization of production activities.

June 2015

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Copper in Isili, Sardinia

Isili is a small Sardinian town home of a strong and ancient craft tradition, particularly in copperware. Today the small Marate museum keeps this tradition alive and offers to us ideas for the future.

June 2015

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Design explorations of Sardinian cork

A natural, renewable and sustainable material, cork is the outer bark of Quercus suber species which can be found growing throughout the Mediterranean basin, where it is often central to the local economy.

June 2015

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The future craftsman, a book by Stefano Micelli

An invitation to rethink craftsmanship, not as as a survivor from the past, but as an active resource, looking at the very core of Italian small and medium-sized companies. To respond to the crisis, innovation is here: in our own hands.

June 2015

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Beyond Adornment. Exploring concrete as a material for jewelry and accessories

To what extent can concrete, whose accustomed proximity to the human body is limited by a certain distance, get closer to us?

June 2015

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Re-Designing designed objects: a laboratory about reuse

Extending the thing’s life through maintenance and re-using what has already been designed: ways to respond responsibly to the waste crisis, beyond recycling. Because either the work and the time embedded in any existing artifact are valuable resources.

May 2015

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Orbacè, footwear design

Orbacè: footwear design for orbace – a wool-based traditional material – aimed at rediscovering the good in local tradition. Looking for a new way to beauty, while re-thinking on an almost forgotten material.

May 2015

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Vetro da Usare (Glass to use)

Glass artifacts produced in the workshops of the Venetian Murano’s glassmasters are among the most famous examples of artistic craftsmanship, celebrated by the work of brands such as Venini, and by designers as Carlo Scarpa…

February 2015

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Sardegna Artigianato / Sardinian Craftsmanship: an archive

A database-showcase of Sardinia’s artistic craftsmanship, Sardegna Artigianato offers an interesting insight on the island's lively contemporary craft scene.

January 2015