Characterised by emphasis on research and innovation, this course provides participants with a unique professional ability to interpret socio-cultural developments through aesthetic research and integrating it as new product languages into highly-innovative projects, combined with a strategic attention to new technologies and materials. Participants will engage in front-runner projects for prominent Italian design brands under the supervision of top-level art directors.
Through lectures and design activities, students will learn how to navigate the design process from start to finish, combining technological skills with aesthetic experimentation to create highly innovative products. Through lessons on design tools, students will learn how to use software to create 3D models and professional-level product presentations. During the course, students will be involved in a series of research projects with a strong focus on innovation, in collaboration with some of the most successful design brands in Italy and accompanied in the development of their projects by top-level art directors. Students will thus live the full experience of an innovation-oriented design studio with the protagonists of the design system. They will be supported by a teaching body composed of experts in the various disciplines involved in professional design. Students will find themselves at the heart of a highly stimulating and fully immersive educational environment, with a focus on the authentic relationship between research and design, in line with the practices employed by some of the biggest international design partners today. With specific insights into project culture and the current design scene, and a unique analysis of design language, students will learn how to define products from a cultural, social and market-based perspective. Technical skills and specific research into color palettes, materials and their application will allow students to define their own personal approach, characterized by originality, individuality and high professional standards.
Throughout the year, students will have the opportunity to attend a number of design events in Milan, the international capital of design, where they’ll learn about project culture both within the Institute, which is an active part of Milan’s design network, and in the many spaces and showrooms run by leading brands in the immediate vicinity and in the beating heart of the design district. Students will also have the opportunity to attend Milan Furniture Fair and Milan Design Week in person, which are two of the largest and most imitated design events in the world, and see thousands of exhibitions gather to deliver product presentations over the course of one week.