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ALBANESE, GRANELLI, MENDINI, MORACE, VERSACE and WINKLER talk about us

On January 17, the academic year has been inaugurated with a discussion on the design world and Domus Academy’s value.Maria Grazia Mazzocchi, president and founder of Domus Academy, coordinated the debate “25 years at Domus Academy” in which Flavio Albanese, director of Domus Magazine, Andrea Granelli, Scientific Director of Domus Academy, Alessandro Mendini, designer, Francesco Morace, Future Concept Lab, Santo Versace, President of Gianni Versace SpA, and Gianluca Winkler, Pirelli RE, took part.

During the meeting Alessandro Mendini declared: “There was no design school in Milan, and with Domus Academy a real lab for design and theoretical education was created. These remain priceless values and experiences, capable of producing and promoting the growth of people and companies”.

Santo Versace highlighted the importance of three fundamental factors in the field of education: the manual work, the teamwork and solidarity. He mentioned renowned examples from Salvatore Ferragamo to Gianni Versace to Walter Albini.

Flavio Albanese emphasises the synergies between Domus Academy and Domus magazine, focusing on the topic of liquidity. As a boat on the sea, the new Domus will follow not just one direction, but it will be open to listen to different voices: it will be a magazine which can change, according to where the wind blows…

Gianluca Winkler talked about the customers as a good starting point for the project. He mentioned Oscar Niemeyer, famous architect, which invites weekly a philosopher and an astrologist in his studios, to discuss with them and the young architects working with him the critical current topics. According to Winkler, the era of hyper-specialisation is over, and we should reconsider the values of the humanistic topics.

Andrea Granelli made some interesting comments on Italian design, highlighting the rebirth of a spread high interest for this world. Granelli focused on three main topics: the relationship between past and future; the importance of the user which becomes the centre of the design process and participate to it, and the importance of the experience that the product allows to live.

Francesco Morace, which has been collaborating with Domus Academy for over 20 years, declared: “the main element that differentiates the growth of the Domus Academy students is ‘passion’, as a positive energy leading to the discovery of new horizons”