Italian and Milanese design

Italian industrial design encompasses many practitioners and styles, making it difficult to define in a single way. Yet certain recurring elements unite it: the home as a stage on which objects engage with the people who live there; light as an expressive gesture; upholstered furniture as an expression of comfort; and a sophisticated simplicity rooted in everyday culture. It is concerned with objects produced in series and designed for use, where function and aesthetics meet.

Milan has always been its centre of gravity. Here, design developed around a distinctive model: the company acts as publisher, the designer as author. Companies commission designs from independent professionals and release them under their own brands, much as publishing houses do with the work of their writers.

These authors were mostly architects trained at the Politecnico. For them, the design of an object grows out of the design of space. This is what distinguishes Milanese design from German functionalism, Scandinavian craftsmanship and American styling.

Supporting this model is a local network of medium-sized manufacturers and specialist craftspeople willing to take risks on research developed through prototypes. The proximity of designers and makers allows a rapid transition from drawing to model, with repeated iterations until the solution works.

None of these characteristics is exclusive to Milanese design on its own. What makes it unique is their enduring combination over seventy years: the publishing model, architectural training, the manufacturing network, a culture of design criticism and the Salone del Mobile. This is why ‘Made in Milan’ refers less to where an object is manufactured than to where it is conceived, discussed and launched.