Compasso d'Oro is the name of an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954 by the La Rinascente company from an original idea of Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli. From 1964 it has been hosted exclusively by Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI). It is the first, and among the most recognized, awards in its field. The prize aims to acknowledge and promote quality in the field of industrial designs made in Italy and is awarded by ADI.
ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale) is an association of about 1.100 designers, manufacturers, trade newspeople, schools and researchers on design based in Italy.
Achille Castiglioni was an Italian architect and designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. As a professor of design, he advised his students "If you are not curious, forget it. If you are not interested in others, what they do and how they act, then being a designer is not the right job for you."
Technogym is a company selling equipment and digital technologies for fitness, sport and health based in Cesena, Italy. Technogym has been Official Supplier to eight Olympic Games including the Tokyo 2020 games. The company was founded in 1983 by Nerio Alessandri.
Angelo Mangiarotti was an Italian architect and industrial designer. His designs were mostly for industrial buildings and railway stations. In 1994 he received the Compasso d'Oro award of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale for his lifetime of achievement.
ISIA - Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche, is the name of four Italian universities, which train students in the field of design. The ISIAs are in Rome, Florence, Faenza and Urbino. They are public institutions under the umbrella of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, AFAM division.
Scuola Italiana Design was the first higher education Institute established in the Northeast of Italy.
Roberto Pezzetta is an Italian artist and industrial designer.
Piero Lissoni is an Italian architect and designer, best known for his contemporary furniture design.
Anna Castelli Ferrieri was an Italian architect and industrial designer. She is most known for her influence in the use of plastics as a mainstream design material and her cofounding of Kartell, an Italian contemporary furniture company.
Margherita Servetto, better known as Mara, is an Italian architect and designer.
Vito Noto is a born Italian, naturalized Swiss industrial designer.
Salvatori is an Italian design brand specialising in natural stone such as marble, limestone and sandstone.
Nanni Strada is a Milan based fashion and textile designer who has produced collections for Dolomite, Ermenegildo Zegna, Fiorucci, La Perla, Max Mara, Nordica, and Visconti di Modrone among others. Strada produced the first plastic sandals and injected-molded footwear for Fiorucci in 1966.
Studio Alchimia was a post-radical avant-garde group founded in Milan in 1976 by Alessandro Guerriero and his sister Adriana with the stated mission of "materializing a non-existent thing into being."
Zanotta is an Italian furniture company particularly known for the iconic pieces of Italian design it produced in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. These include the "Sacco" bean bag chair and "Blow", the first mass-produced inflatable chair. The company was founded in 1954 and has its main plant in Nova Milanese. In 1984 Zanotta established its experimental division, Zabro, headed by Alessandro Guerriero, with Alessandro Mendini and Stefano Casciani. Since the death of its founder, Aurelio Zanotta, in 1991, it has been run by members of his family. Zanotta's products were awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2020.
Sergio Asti was an Italian designer and architect, primarily known for his industrial designs for firms such as Artemide, Brionvega, FontanaArte, Gabbianelli, Heller, Knoll, Salviati, and Zanotta.
Pino Grimaldi, born Giuseppe Grimaldi, was an Italian designer and academic.
Ernesto Gismondi was an Italian designer, founder of Artemide. Gismondi was best known for designing light fixtures.
Livio Castiglioni was an Italian architect and designer. He made a significant contribution to twentieth-century Italian lighting design and was an early proponent of the practice of industrial design in Italy.
