A few weeks ago, I went to the Dominican Republic for three days, to look at some gardens for a new book. Now owned by Italian brand Boffi, De Padova, set up in the 1950s by Fernando and Maddalena De Padova, is in a position to collaborate as part of an international joint distribution programme, sharing its design passion and Italian heritage with one of Italy’s revered luxury design companies.
You get to see objects from design powerhouses like Patricia Urquiola and Gae Aulenti along with ambitious and sometimes eccentric works from relatively ignored Italian designers of the past—the presentation intentionally presents no hierarchy between the two groups, again for the purpose of highlighting ideas as opposed to names and singular authorship.
It is an essential figure, requested by firms belonging to several industrial fields, from furniture to automotive, from household appliances to gymnastic equipments, medical instruments, tools and generally any serial product interacting with man. Following plenty of requests and two years of design development later, the small brand launched in order to produce and sell the handcrafted products and simultaneously form a platform for promoting Italian craftsmanship. He is the author of Design History: Understanding Theory and Method (Bloomsbury Academic, 2010) and the editor of Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2012) and is also an editor of the Journal of Design History.
It’s already September which means the year is winding down, but this month you can take advantage of our proximity to the Industrial Designers Prize – Slow Design Exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York. The focus of the movement was the design of surfaces and colourful surfaces, the multi-functionality instead of mono -functionality and the communicative aspect of the products. Their online service allows you an opportunity to design your space from the comfort of your home, your office, or even on-the-go using your internet-accessible device! Dolce & Gabbana is a luxury Italian fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
They look at new influences in the industry including sustainability, renewable resources, and innovative materials, as well as high profile designer case studies; researching the key steps in project development to obtain a full ‘360°’ vision of product design.