Icon Design

Green October for Icon Design

A new green season is opening for ICON DESIGN.  From this month, and for the whole of 2020, the magazine edited by Annalisa Rosso with editor-at-large Maria Cristina Didero, will explore the world of environmental sustaiability, looking at detail – together with leading figures from the world of design, interiors and architecture – at the ecologically-related challenges that the sector will be required to face in the coming years.

In this way the Mondadori Group’s upscale furnishing brand, a point of reference for the design world,  will inaugurate the new editorial path with which it aims to become a privileged channel of analysis and debate to help companies in the sector to interpret and respond to the changes and new needs for the future of the environment.

This issue will be the running theme for the whole of next year, along with a number of new features, including a special edition to be published with the March 2020 issue of ICON DESIGN that will present the most innovative brands and projects in this area.

“As Leonardo Di Caprio said when he received his Oscar: climate change is real! However absurd it may seem, in 2019 there are still people who don’t believe it and there is still a need to reiterate the fact that we must dramatically and immediately change course – tomorrow is already too late – change our behaviour and activate our efforts and determination to avoid a catastrophe and continue to have faith in humanity and the future,” commented Annalisa Rosso and Maria Cristina Didero.

Ti inaugurate this new path, the new issue of ICON DESIGN, on newsstands from 8 October, will appear with the headline Luce, Energia e Bellezza (Light, energy and Beauty), three key words which together summarise and represent different visions of what can more generally be taken to be green. There is a visit to Longhouse, near Melbourne, Australia, a biological design farm, cooking school and private residence all at once; two homes such as Villa Cardo, which is perfectly integrated in the surrounding Salento countryside, and an apartment in the heart of Brussels  redesigned by the French architect Pierre Yovanovitch following a play of light. Alongside the unmissable events at the  design festivals of Milan and Eindhoven, there are interviews with protagonists with green souls: la primatologist and activist Jane Goodwall, the light designer Ingo Maurer, the artist Linda Tegg and the architect Norman Foster. And then there is also the Natural Beauties project, curated by Felix Burrichter, Valentina Cameranesi and Enrico Pompili along with photographer Pim Top. “Why can’t we surround ourselves with beauty?”, asks Burrichter in his introduction to a feature that looks at 11 brands through the same number of surreal images and high-impact slogans, like “energy without meaning is an impossibility” and “love me now, love me forever”.

A fourth edition of ICON DESIGN Talks will also be dedicated to environmental sustainability during the 2020 Milano Design Week – with general coordination by Andrea Boschetti and guest curator Marco Sammicheli: a cycle of conferences, master-classes and debates with architects, designers and professionals who, in their work, are striving to redefine the relationship between the individual and the city, intercepting future needs and necessities in order to build a better world.

New Icon Design

Icon Design, the Mondadori Group’s upscale architecture and interior design magazine which, in just three years, has become a point of reference in the world of design trends, is evolving and re-launching on the occasion of the Milan design Week 2019 with a new formula.

The new Icon Design edited by Annalisa Rosso, with Maria Cristina Didero in the role of editor-at-large, will devote more attention to the people on the periphery of the design world, in particular the inhabitants of the homes featured in the magazine, conversations and exchanges between the different personalities that give life to a design project.

“It will be an inclusive, open and international magazine. The image we have selected fro the cover, taken in an apartment in Milan’s Torre Velasca, is a manifesto, a synthesis of freedom, energy and innovation. The same vibe one feels at the Furniture Fair during the Milan Design Week, the city where we are based, have deep roots and from where we want to speak to and interact with the world, enabling the emergence of a range of voices, inspirations and provenances  that characterise the pages of the new Icon Design,” declared Annalisa Rosso, editor-in-chief of Icon Design.

Entirely bilingual, in Italian and English, and redesigned by Frank Studio, the new Icon Design reflects the cosmopolitan community that surrounds contemporary design and language, providing an account of what’s happening in the world from a range of particular perspectives.

In the issue of 6 April, entitled The Aesthetic of Freedom – L’Estetica della Libertà, Humberto Campana, with photographer Stefano Ferroni, has produced the main story which is about the Foundation created together with his brother Fernando in Brazil, in order to make a significant contribution to the improvement of the villages surrounding Sao Paolo. Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, who is the curator of the first project by Yona Friedman, recently presented in a Miami, reports on a conversation with the great architect, born in 1923. While Beatrice Galilee interviews Shohei Shigematsu, in 2008 the youngest partner of the OMA studio, and now directing the headquarters in New York.

Each issue will focus on a different subject: in May America, in June contemporary art, and in July and August Japan.

Among new columns, The Design Marathon will each month examine in more detail at an international Design Week. After Italy, and Milan, to which a number of features are included in the new issue, we will move to the ICFF in New York. Don’t skip the adv, edited by Simona Angioni, will take a broader look at image with a discussion about advertising from the perspective of the creators. Meanwhile, Postcards will provide a brand new vision of places and cities through the pictures shot by well-known individuals from the international world of design.

Also the site has a new look, with a visual appearance in line with  the innovation of the brand, and conceived for users who are always on the move in the urban space. Social media in general and Instagram in particular, offer an additional opportunity to talk about companies in the sector, new products and the most exclusive events in a fresh and immediate language.

A cross-over, international and open approach to different issues, will enable Icon Design to address a much wider audience of readers and advertisers. The magazine’s new formula, becoming a point of reference in the segment with 10 issues per year, has ensured significant advertising sales, with a total of 120 ad pages out of a total foliation of 426 pages.

With a circulation of 90,000 copies, Icon Design will reinforce its distribution also in qualifying locations, such as design and interiors showrooms, the SEA lounges at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports, upscale hotels, Mondadori bookstores, and abroad on newsstands and in the airports of the leading capitals of design, including New York, Miami, Paris, Basel, Berlin and  Monaco, as well as at important sector trade fairs.

The launch will also be accompanied by an advertising campaign planned across the main daily newspapers and in iDD Magazine, the DOOH (Digital out of home) circuit, which combines advertising with the editorial content of Mondadori’s lifestyle titles.

Icon Design will also play a leading role in the upcoming Design Week with the third edition of Icon Design Talks,  from 8 to 13 April in Milan: with a cycle of conferences, master-classes  and debates, featuring architects, designers and professionals who, through their efforts, work to redefine the relationship between people and cities and to identify our future needs and necessities.

Mondadori Group leader in digital

A year of changes for Giallozafferano, Donna Moderna, MyPersonalTrainer, Icon, Interni and Icon Design

The Mondadori Group continues to pursue digital innovation. The leading publisher for the passions and interests of Italians currently attracts 26.5 million unique users per month (Source: Audiweb, November 2018) and a competitive positioning that makes it a leaders also in social media, with a total of 26.3 million fans through130 profiles.

Every second 300 new users visit a Mondadori Group site 14 people interact on the brands’ social network pages.

OUR STRONG POINTS

  • Video factory: an annual production of 10.000 videos 4 different formats, generating over 200 million views per month.
  • People: an internal team of 180 talents, including content editor, videomakers, cooks, product designers and data scientists.
  • Innovation is in our DNA: from proprietary semantic search engines to Altervista, Italy’s leading blogging platform prima. Mondadori is also among the first Italian publishers to test and adopt innovating conversational interfaces, such as chatbots, intelligent speakers and connected devices.

CONTINUING TO EVOLVE OUR PRODUCTS

The development of languages and engagement systems for users, from the use of video to the valorisation of new web-based talents such as influencers and YouTubers, to the control of all of the touchpoints: our business models makes it possible to respond to new challenges and development opportunities, while constantly focusing on the real needs of users.

Today, our brands are authentic multimedia systems ranged across print, the web, social media, apps, smart speakers, TV and events.

In 2019 the evolution of our products will affect some of the iconic brands in the high-value vertical markets: food, women, beauty, health and wellbeing, design, male lifestyle.

FOOD

Giallozafferano:

  • From April, a new look for the web site and a new Giallozafferano Benessere channel, with over 4,000 recipes, enhanced with information about nutritional values and calories.
  • The first vocal site with integrated Google Assistant.
  • The first on vocal devices: Google Home, Amazon Alexa’s Echo Show, Samsung’s Bixby.

WOMEN AND BEAUTY

Donna Moderna:

  • Donna Moderna Beauty: a new social magazine will be launched after the summer dedicated to the world of beauty and conceived by millennials for millennials, with the special participation of Beauty Influencers.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Mypersonaltrainer:

  • a complete overhaul of the site affecting all of its touchpoints from September.
  • A new series of videos involving Fitness Influencers.

MALE LIFESTYLE

Icon:

  • A new format for the site from March: ideas, inspirations and and models, with the style and shopping guides that today’s man needs.
  • Icon Wheels: the creation of a new channel dedicated to luxury and exclusive car.
  • Fashion, beauty, grooming, how-to-spend with videos, tutorials and a selection of the best products.

DESIGN

Icon Design and Interni:

  • A restyling of the sites to coincide with Milan’s Design Week 2019.

Icon Design: Annalisa Rosso to be the new editor. Maria Cristina Didero editor-at-large

From January Annalisa Rosso will be the new editor of Icon Design, the upscale magazine of design, architecture and interiors of the Mondadori Group; at the same time Maria Cristina Didero will take on the role of di editor-at-large.

With this new team, Icon Design will cover the world of design in all its varied facets through stories about cutting edge personalities, objects, homes and projects.
A multi-disciplinary and international approach open to the broadest range of issues and aimed at an expanding target of readers and advertisers, who have rewarded a formula that has become a point of reference with excellent results in terms of advertising revenues.

Design journalist and independent curator, Annalisa Rosso has written for and overseen production for numerous national and international titles, including Casa Vogue Brasil, Living, Alla Carta, Wallpaper, Ideat, 032c, Architektur und Wohnen. She led the launch of the new Domusweb designed by Mark Porter in 2017 and has worked as a consultant for numerous brands in the sector.
She has been a guest lecturer at the Design Canberra Festival 2018, the University of Genoa, TEDx Talks, the Salone del Mobile.Milano Shanghai and the Triennale in Milan.
She curated the seventh edition of Operae, the independent design fair in Turin, and the personal exhibition of Valentina Cameranesi in Milan’s 5VIE district, during Miart and the Milano Design Week in 2018.

Maria Cristina Didero is an independent curator, author and freelance journalist. She has worked with national and international institutions and a number of titles, including VogueDomus and Icon Design.
Her most recent projects include the exhibition SuperDesign in New York about radical Italian design; one-man show of Erez Nevi Pana entitled Vegan Design – Or The Art of Reduction for the Milan Design Week 2018; Fun House, an anthology dedicated to the Snarkitecture  collective, at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.. During the latest edition of the Design Week in Prague, OKOLO has dedicated and curated an exhibition of her texts, graphically visualised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icon Design makes its debut in Spain

In 2017 two issues of the first international edition of the Mondadori Group brand dedicated to the world of architecture and international design with a spotlight on the protagonists and emerging talent on the Spanish scene

Icon Design, the Mondadori Group’s upscale design and furnishing magazine launches in Spain in a completely autonomous version, edited by Lucas Arraut, formerly the editor of the local edition of Icon.

The launch of this first international edition continues the success of the title which, in addition to Italy, will this year also publish two special issues in Spain. The first, on newsstands as a free supplement to the top selling Spanish daily, El País, will be available until the publication of the second issue, in September, a the price of €3. The launch issue is made up of 154 editorial pages, including interviews, background and overviews of the objects, places and images that define international design. The issue will also have 32 pages of advertising featuring high profile clients and an expected circulation of 200,000 copies.

“The Spanish brother of Icon Design – declared Lucas Arraut – has been created with the same desire to combine a precise and focused journalistic approach with the most fascinating images of architecture and interior design, bringing such content to a wider public beyond professionals from the sector. We set of on a search for exciting stories to tell, new talent to discover and great masters to celebrate, while making sure to use the best editors and photographers. The whole project starts from a very simple premise: interesting people live in interesting homes and have interesting things to say.”

With regard to masters to celebrate, the cover of the first issue of Icon Design Spain features Giorgio Armani the founder and leader of the fashion house, who opened his home to the editor of the first international edition of the Mondadori Group magazine, that describes it as a “an unpretentious Milanese palace, but decorated with the same radical simplicity that the designer uses for his clothes, fragrances and even the furniture he designs.” Because “between beautiful but uncomfortable and ugly but comfortable, the first is by far best,” says Armani in the interview with the editor Lucas Arraut.

The first issue also features a number of Spanish designers who are making an important mark on the international scene, including Miguel Milá, Patricia Urquiola, Lázaro Rosa-Violán, Pascua Ortega and many more.

Icon Design presents Icon Design Talks

A new appointment with architecture and design during the Milano Design Week

  • In Milan from 4 to 9 April master classes, lectures and round table discussions with big names from the world of design
  • Special event: Friday 7 April Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Stefano Boeri

Tomorrow, as part of the Milano Design Week, sees the start of Icon Design Talks, an important appointment in the world of architecture and design, produced by Icon Design, featuring the protagonists who are re-designing our cities, our homes and our lifestyles.

A special event of the meetings will take place on Friday 7 April at 11.30 am, “Writing and the city”: a talk between Rem Koolhaas, winner of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, and Stefano Boeri, the Italian architect and urban designer.

The Icon Design Talks, that will continue to Sunday 9 April at the Microsoft House, spring from the desire of Icon Design, the Mondadori Group magazine edited by Michele Lupi, to offer the city an authoritative, useful and curious overview of the future of design, and to speak to the many international visitors who come to Milan for one of the most eagerly awaited weeks of the year.

“A laboratory of ideas to extend our reach in the design area,” said the editor Michele Lupi, “giving the entire city the opportunity to know the personalities and stories of some of the leading protagonists of the world of architecture, a characteristic trait of a magazine with a unique formula, that is widely appreciated by both enthusiasts and professionals.”

This is the spirit that has led to the first edition of Icon Design Talks, an extensive programme of events that will enliven Milan during the Design Week. The heart of the event will be at the new Microsoft headquarters, in Viale Pasubio 21, in the dynamic Porta Nuova – Porta Volta district, a brand new space which aims to welcome over 200,000 visitors by offering technologies, skills, as well as opportunities for training and exchange in the digital area. This is where the six days of meetings, open to the public, will take place with more than 20 events including master classes, lectures and round table discussions featuring more than 40 guests from all over the world.

In addition to Rem Koolhaas and Stefano Boeri, taking turns on the stage of Icon Design Talks will be Mario Bellini, Alberto Alessi, Piero Lissoni and Antonio Citterio, Patrik Schumacher – Zaha Hadid Studio, Gregg Jones – Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Marcel Wanders, Max Lamb, Alice Rawsthorn and the chef Bruno Barbieri, Massimiliano Locatelli Barber & Osgerby, Michele Brunello, Dror, Barbara Radice, Giovanni Gastel, Marco Amosso, Silvia Robertazzi, Patricia Urquiola and Alberto Zontone.

THE PROGRAMME

The Icon Design Talks will officially begin on Tuesday 4th at 6:30 pm with “Unconfined: The New Galaxy Design” at the presence of Patrik Schumacher, director of the Zaha Hadid Studio since 2016, Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Marketing, at Samsung Electronics. Moderator: Michele Lupi.

The marathon will begin on Wednesday 5 April at 10:30 am with the first master class  “Porta Nuova: sustainability and innovation in architecture and design” in the presence of Alida Catella, CEO of Coima Image, Kelly Russell, Managing Director and Marketing & Investor Relations Manager of Coima and the architect Gregg Jones, of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Together they will talk about the great adventure that began many years ago involving the Porta Nuova project, one of the biggest architectural and urban redevelopment projects in Europe, developed and managed by COIMA SGR, and now a symbol of the new Milan which has transformed the Garibaldi, Isola and Varesine districts. Moderator: Michele Lupi.

Then at 5:30 pm, the second master class entitled “Timeless Design” promoted by B&B Italia where, under the guidance of Manolo De Giorgi, architect and professor of interior architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, three key figures of Italian architecture and design: Mario Bellini, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni will discuss how the concept of timeless design can change compared to a historical period characterised by rapid technological development and the contamination of increasingly expanding multiculturalism.

On Thursday 6 April  at 10:30 am Alice Rawsthorn, the New York Times design critic, will give a lecture entitled “Design Now” followed by a series of lectures by Max Lamb, Massimiliano Locatelli and Barber & Osgerby.

The afternoon begins with a round table that will launch “Manifesto for Urban Creative District“ promoted by China House Vision between Asia and Europe: neighbourhoods conceived on the basis of high aesthetic canons, functional, sustainable and socially inclusive. Live bodies linked to the territory, flexible enough to adapt to changes in a society in continuous transformation. These are the objectives that House Vision Future Life Lab, the Sino-European Innovation Centre, and Dontstop architecture, sponsored by UNESCO ICSSD, brought together in a manifesto with guidelines for new standards of design, for use in thinking about the development potential and urban renewal of Asian countries. Host: Michele Brunello, architect and co-founder of the Sino-European Innovation Centre, together with Vittorio Sun Qun and Caterina Fumagalli.

The afternoon continues with a lecture by Dror Benshetrit at 5:30 pm, followed by another round table dedicated to “Smart working: transparency and dynamism in the workplace” that will focus on the Microsoft case and the AGC Glass Europe Headquarters, and featuring Paola Cavallero, Marketing & Operations director of Microsoft Italia.

At 5.30 pm, Alberto Alessi will talk about “Italian Design Factories and the Alessi case history (1921-2017)” and at 6.30 pm Giovanni Gastel will take part in the presentation of the book “Why death doesn’t separate us” by Barbara Radice, published by Mondadori Electa.

Friday 7 April – Special Event

On Friday 7 April, at 11:30 am, “Writing and the City”, an unmissable conversation between Rem Koolhaas and Stefano Boeri, moderated by Manuel Orazi.

Starting from the their publications, the two ‘archistars’ will discuss the relationship between architecture and the city while trying to answer the question “Why should an architect write about a city when the modifications that he or she makes are already a powerful act of writing on the physical body of the city itself?”

“Language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of narrow streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; all surrounded by a network of new suburbs with straight regular streets and uniform houses”.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen, 1953

 

Rem Koolhaas is one of the most influential and discussed theorists of contemporary architecture, some of his books have even become genuine best sellers. In 1975, with Madelon Vriesendorp and Elia and Zoe Zenghelis, he founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), of which in 1977 also Zaha Hadid become a member. In addition to designing buildings around the world with OMA, Koolhaas works in non-architectural disciplines – including politics, publishing, media, fashion and sociology – through the AMO think tank, founded in 1999, which is a counterpart of OMA on the research side. In 2000 he was awarded the Pritzker Price for Architecture.

Stefano Boeri is professor of urban design at the Politecnico di Milano and has taught as a visiting professor at many international universities, including the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Strelka Institute in Moscow, the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio and the Politecnique du Lausanna. He is the architect of many notable buildings , such as the Bosco Verticale in Milan (winner of numerous international prizes), the Villa Mediterranée in Marseille and the Casa del Mare on La Maddalena. His studio, Stefano Boeri Architetti, is currently working on urban development plans around Europe and in other parts of the world.

The location for this special event will be the Maria Teresa Room at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense (Maria Teresa room), in Via Brera 28.

Friday 7 April afternoon continues with a series of lectures and conversations in the Microsoft House.

At 2:30 pm “The Art of Living” with Vincent Van Duysen; at 3:30 pm “This will be the place” featuring Felix Burrichter, Editor/Creative Director of Pin-Up magazine and the journalist Marco Morello, and at 4:30 pm “Designing designers” with Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of IED Italy. At 5:30 pm the designer Marcel Wanders with Michele Lupi and Arraut Lucas, director of Icon Design Spain will animate a discussion on “Fashion, Media, Design – parallel convergences”.

Finally at 6:30 pm “Car design: back to the future” a conversation on the design of the cars of the future with Carlo Leoni, Director of Communications of the PSA Group Italy and Michele Lupi. Moderator: Angelo Pannofino, journalist.

Saturday 8 April at 10:30 am “Tailor-made design”, a panel discussion on new customised design with Eugenio Cecchin, CEO of Ideal Standard, Marco Grillo of ABITARE IN, and moderated by Michele Brunello, Dontstop Architecture.

At 2:30 pm “Design tales. Video storytelling”, Patricia Urquiola and Alberto Zontone, guest curators of the fifth edition of the Milan Design Film Festival, will talk about new video narratives with Silvia Robertazzi, founder and curator, with Antonella Dedini, of MDFF. Moderated by Michele Lupi.

At 3:30 pm “Masters in the mirror”. An original confrontation between two undisputed masters of contemporary communication, who have created, in light and graphic design, respectively, a descriptive language for their personal vision of art: Italo Lupi and Ingo Maurer. The two maestri will be interviewed by the designer Giulio Iacchetti.

At 4:30 pm the chef Bruno Barbieri and Filippo Polidori (CEO Polidori & partners) will discuss Food: between storytelling and design. Moderated by Michele Lupi.

The Moderator of Icon Design Talks is Gianluigi Ricuperati, a la Repubblica contributor and the author of “La scomparsa di me” and seven other books, translated in France by Gallimard and by other European publishing houses.

Participants must register at: eventi.icondesign.it. All events are free.

The launch of Icon Design Talks also gives life to IDD – Innovation Design District Porta Nuova – Porta Volta. This project, created to support initiatives related to innovation and creativity and sponsored by the City of Milan, was conceived by the Mondadori Group and Mediamond and the creative drive of Icon Design.

All of the events of Icon Design Talks and the Innovation Design District during the FuoriSalone are outlined in the guide produced for the current issue of Icon Design, on newsstands now.

PARTNERS

The participation of partner companies has actively contributed to the creation of Icon Design Talks and the invitation of speakers of international standing to enrich the programme.

Peugeot, the main sponsor of the event, will present for the first time in Italy Onyx, a concept car the prototype of which has opened the way towards the revolutionary i-Cockpit – a distinctive feature of the new Peugeot cars – as well as the use of innovative materials in car making. Onyx is the highest expression of the typical experience behind the wheel of a Peugeot and is characterised also by a dynamic design and the innovative coupe franche colour, adopted by the company’s other sports models. The discussion around the Onyx will focus on the car of the future, which must be able to excite consumers, with a round table discussion “Car design, back to the future”.

Alessi has pursued a policy of design excellence that has made the company one of the leading examples of the phenomenon known as “Italian design factories” at an international level. As part of the Talks Alberto Alessi will discuss his vision of design, as the magical world of the circus, with five characters in a limited series designed by Marcel Wanders for the Alessi Circus series, which will form a part of the background of the events.

B&B Italia an authentic example of an “industry for design” has asked three masters of Italian design who work with the company – Antonio Citterio, Mario Bellini and Piero Lissoni to exchange ideas on the theme of “Timeless Design”, starting from the anniversary of the Charles seating system, designed by Citterio in1977, that this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. B&B Italia has also overseen the outdoor look of the Talks and, in the spaces of Microsoft House, presents its Ray Outdoor Natural and Ray Outdoor Fabric systems, both launched in 2017 and  designed by Antonio Citterio.

Arclinea, leader in high-end kitchen design, presents its outdoor kitchen concept, which integrates perfectly with the outdoor setting designed by B&B Italy. The Artusi stove and preparation counter Flox, designed by Antonio Citterio, will be on show during a live cooking event featuring the chef Luca Marchini – of the Michelin star restaurant “L’Erba del Re” in Modena – a precious testimonial, with his Amaltea school, the Arclinea Design Cooking School, the international network of culinary schools, designed by Arclinea.

Food: between storytelling and design” is the title of the conversation in which Bruno Barbieri, star chef and ambassador of Franke, talks about food. The combination of the world’s leading manufacturer of sinks and high-end appliances and a chef with seven Michelin stars is based on a common passion for cooking, the pursuit of excellence and an ability to tell stories.

Design and technology are the elements that unite the work of Samsung with that of Zaha Hadid Architects. Patrik Schumacher, director of the Studio since 2016 will talk about  “Unconfined the new Galaxy Design“, drawing inspiration from the new Galaxy smartphone design, the heirs of Zaha Hadid, will explore the infinite possibilities that are the result of the union of design and technology.

AGC Glass Europe, European leader in flat glass production, supplied 1224 windows, a total of over 10,000 square metres of glass, for the Feltrinelli Foundation complex. An excellent example of how this material has an increasingly important role to play in architectural design and interiors, the theme of the talk “Smart-working, transparency and dynamism in the workplace” featuring Liesbeth Brake of AGC Europe, Marco Amosso architect of the Lombardini 22 studio which designed the interiors of Microsoft House, Luca Pasqualotto of Copernico and Paola Cavallero, General Manager of  Microsoft Italy.

Tailor-made design: customisation as the new language of ‘living” is a theme of the greatest relevance involving contemporary modes of production in architectural and engineering design, linked to BIM technology. It changes the perspective on spaces, which are no longer rigid containers to be filled with interior design and customised furniture, but a whole environment becomes customised, personalised and designed in a single space. Leading the discussion: architects Michele Brunello, Marco Brega and Alessandro Agosti, of Dontstop Architecture, pioneers of tailor-made design, with Eugenio Cecchin, CEO of the best known Made in Italy brand in bathroom furniture, Ideal Standard.

Kartell, one of the symbolic companies that represent Made in Italy design, brings light to the Icon Design Talks. For the occasion, the external lighting set-up will be made with Kabuki lamps, designed by Ferruccio Laviani in the new outdoor version and characterised by an outline structure, inspired by lace and recreated thanks to a highly sophisticated injection technology, with a perforated surface that diffuses the light. Meanwhile, in the interiors the protagonists will be the Aledin LED table lamps, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda, in the flathead Tec version, with polycarbonate articulated arms, which have two aluminium slats that act as the conductors in place of wires, for workspaces.

In the January-April period, Icon Design’s advertising revenues grew by 31%, with one issue more than in 2016.
The Icon Design Talks event has further improved the result of the brand, which ended the period up by +78%.

Main Sponsor: Peugeot
Design Partner: Alessi, Arclinea, B&B Italia, Franke, Kartell, Samsung
Architecture Partner: AGC, Ideal Standard
Technical Partner: KE, Renson, Verso
Media Partner: Tgcom 24

Icon Design draws up a list of 100 international talents from the world of design

The names of a hundred talents that have left a special mark in the design world and reflected its various facets: a new project of the new issue of Icon Design, which presents a special edition called Icon Design 100, out Friday 3 March.

The Mondadori Group’s upscale design and decor, edited by Michele Lupi, presents the protagonists of the design world, including established figures and surprising choices, with a selection of essential contemporary work, from architecture to visual communication, with great masters, influencers and young turks to follow in 2017.

It is an ambitious task, which Icon Design intends repeat every year, involving the identification of those who – and how – are generating ideas of value in the world of design and beyond.

The new project for the international mapping and selection of Icon Design 100 was overseen by seven jurors who are themselves leading figures in different areas of the design world: Alexandra Midal (lecturer at HEAD in Geneva and the Federal Polytechnic in Lausanne), Jan Boelen (artistic director of Z33 House for Contemporary Art in Hasselt and the Atelier LUMA in Arles, and head of the Master Department of Social Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven), Domitilla Dardi (curator for the design of MAXXI Architecture in Rome and since 2007 lecturer at IED Rome), Greg Lynn (winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale and Chief Creative Officer of Piaggio Fast Forward), Michael Rock (Associate Professor of Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design), Penny Martin (the award-winning editor of the women’s magazine The Gentlewoman).

The seventh juror is the editor of Icon Design, Michele Lupi, who explains the genesis of the project: “It took seven months of continuous work to build an authoritative international jury. The result is an extremely varied – and in some senses unexpected – “database”, which will certainly be appreciated by both curious readers and well-prepared professionals. In fact, we achieved our objective of drawing a map of the territory, i.e. of design, within a clearly defined temporal scope (the 2016/17 season), to produce a detailed picture of the contemporary scene.”

The seven critics and designers were invited to express their views on ten categories: Architecture, Art, Furniture, Interior Design, Visual Communication, Food, Mobility, High Tech & Innovation, Fashion and Thinking. Ten categories and free reflection: not so much a ranking, as an invitation to look with curiosity at the different universes of contemporary design given that on the pages of Icon Design 100 a big name in contemporary art such as Philippe Parreno can fall into the same category as the young Helen Marten.

Seven is also the number of the graphic design and art direction studios that asked to create the cover for Icon Design 100, which will be distributed on newsstands in seven different versions, with a distribution logic in 2017 that will feature an extra issue.

The seven jurors, in addition to the seven art directors, as well as all of the other 100 nominated in the list, are now the first “members” of the Icon Design Club, which officially takes shape with the project.

The Icon Design 100 special opens the way for the brand’s commitment for the upcoming Milan Design Week (Salone del Mobile), during which, from 5 to 9 April a series of events open to the public will take place featuring the best of world design and architecture.

Also the figures the magazine’s advertising revenues, managed by Mediamond, are very positive, with an increase for this issue of Icon Design of 27.5% compared with last year.

Icon Design goes monthly: the first issue of 2016 on newsstands tomorrow

From tomorrow, Icon Design, Mondadori’s upscale design and furniture magazine, becomes a real monthly: a magazine with a sophisticated personality reporting on the world of design through stories about the talent that characterise it.

Confirming the original formula of the editor Michele Lupi, with a design approach and a focus on architecture and design as a starting point for cross-sectoral storytelling that looks at design design also in adjacent worlds of fashion, art and technology. The upscale positioning of Icon Design is consolidated also by its international dimension, with the collaboration of photographers and world-renowned writers, as well as the presence in every issue of an English translation of the main stories, combined with distribution in major cities in Europe, the US and Asia.
There will be eight issues this year that will come out between March and December.

This year’s first issue, on newsstands from tomorrow, features on the cover Jasper Morrison, the world-class English icon from the world of design, with a retrospective of his work (Thingness) and his highly personal selection of objects (MyCollection) from the Museum für Gestaltung collection: Also in this issue is Frenchman Didier Faustino, a designer sui generis and a “nomad among the arts” who blurs the boundaries of design with film, literature and painting, and thereby avoiding definition.
As editor Michele Lupi explained. “We want to emphasise, on the one hand, our interest in icons – it’s not a coincidence that call ourselves Icon Design – and, on the other, our vocation for research aimed at enabling our readers to discover always interesting worlds. The role of a magazine is certainly to highlight the quality of the great, but also to uncover stories that the general public does not know, and giving both the same dignity,” Lupi concluded.

Icon Design will also take its content online with icondesign.it, which, in line with the editorial content of the magazine, selects and reports what’s new in the world of design, with particular attention to the stories that hide behind the most creative objects and personalities of the design world.
The site has a responsive layout and four thematic channels: News (with events and the latest news from the world of design), Products (objects of style, cutting-edge design projects and iconic products), Storytelling (stories of artists, designers, internationally-renowned architects, emerging creatives and great photographers), Places (design places and districts, artists’ workshops, the most beautiful houses and places to discover).
The title’s offer is completed with editorial specials, with news, photos and in-depth coverage of the most important forthcoming events: e.g. the Milan Design Week and Milan Design Film Festival. Icon Design is also on Facebook (facebook.com/icondesignIT) and Instagram (instagram.com/icondesignIT).
The first issue of 2016 is published with 65 advertising pages with over 50 of the best brands from the sector.

Icon Design makes its first appearance on newsstands as a standalone title

Including the most original stories relating to the world of design, the cover of the new issue features Martino Gamper

On newsstands on October 15th, the new issue of Icon Design, magazine the design, architecture and interiors magazine, a spin-off of Icon, Mondadori’s upscale male fashion and lifestyle title, edited by Michele Lupi.

Following the success of the first issue, published in April as a free supplement with Panorama to mark the Milan Design Week, the magazine will now hit the newsstands as a stand-alone title with a launch price of €3.50. After three weeks on newsstands, it will then be distributed as a free supplement with Panorama from 12 November, in addition to targeted distribution at a 150 design and fashion showrooms and luxury and super luxury hotels in Milan.

Once again the focus of Icon Design is the stories behind the objects, homes and cutting edge design projects, covered in the now consolidated Icon style, with a special focus on the development of some of the design world’s most creative personalities: architects visionaries, as well as great photographers, artists and designers of outstanding talent, among the most original creations from around the world.

The cover story of this second issue of Icon Design features Martino Gamper, the Italian interpreter of artisanal design 2.0, who, from his studio in London, discusses how the design profession must keep freedom, curiosity and research at the core of its vocation.

On the advertising front, the new issue of Icon Design has had an excellent response from the market with 77 pages and the inclusion of over fifty leading Italian and international brands from the ‘living’ and other sectors. The launch will coincide with the Milano Design Film Festival (for which the magazine is a media partner), at which the editor Michele Lupi will present, on, 18 October at 6 pm at the Anteo Spazio Cinema, the film Andermatt – Global Village by Leonidas Bieri, selected, in collaboration with Samsung, among the films on the festival programme.