The doors of the ADI Design Museum were supposed to open to the public last April, but due to the pandemic this inauguration of great historical value had been canceled. The lockdown, the uncertainty, then a courageous restart in which our companies are demonstrating all their value and the trust they have internationally. And on the 9th of September, on the occasion of the Compasso d'Oro award ceremony, the museum finally opened, even if only for a limited number of people, in compliance with the necessary health measures. In December, the museum is expected to open permanently. The first turning point represented by this edition of the award is therefore the museum, the meaning of which is precisely to keep the award alive all year round and to disseminate its history, the history of design, through objects and projects that can be known by all visitors. A point of reference in the city of Milan which, moreover, has entitled the square in front of Piazza del Compasso d'Oro to underline the institutionality of this initiative, which has reached its twenty-sixth year of life.

Arco by Flos

The second novelty of this edition is the Lifetime Achievement Award assigned to three products by the international jury, chaired by Denis Santachiara and composed of Luca Bressan, Virginio Briatore, Jin Kuramoto, Päivi Tahkokallio. These are three iconic projects with an undisputed and shared value: the  Arco lamp by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni for  Flos (1962) with the motivation "it has been able over time to become an icon for the entire Italian design in the world"; the  Nathalie bed by  Vico Magistretti for  Flou (1978) with the motivation "represents over time an example of functionality and poetics" and the  Sacco armchair by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro for  Zanotta (1968) with the motivation "represents in time the freedom from conventional styles of use ". The three projects share the ability to have brought typological innovation in their respective sectors - lighting, textile and upholstered bed - and therefore to have represented a new concept of contemporary furniture that still prevails today.

Nathalie by Flou

Sacco by Zanotta

The new category of Product Career Award therefore represents a moment of reflection on the changes that the sector has experienced, a reflection of the change in lifestyle habits and aesthetic taste. And it is an official recognition to the icons of our design. In the category dedicated to new projects, Food for Soul stands out, the social project by Massimo Bottura and Laura Gilmore to combat food waste, in which  Piero Lissoni has created with the  Salvatori company the Design for soul table: made using the waste elements from the marble processing and therefore requires further extractions.

Food for Soul by Massimo Bottura and Laura Gilmore

For lighting the winner is  Arrangements by  Michael Anastasiades for  Flos defined as "A dance of minimalism, geometry and technology; he interprets LEDs well and knows how to transform them into emotion ": the innovative and deserving scope of the project lies precisely in the ability to attribute a refined aesthetic to the technical element of the LED, normally hidden and considered only for its function. The Compasso d'oro for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Rossella Bertolazzi, Gilda Bojardi, Marco Ferreri, Carlo Forcolini, Carlo and Piero Molteni, Anty Pansera, Vanny Pasca Raymondi, Eugenio Perazza and Nanda Vigo.

 Arrangements by Michael Anastasiades for Flos

Compasso d'oro for the international career to Jasper Morrison (in the picture his  Hal chair for  Vitra ), because “He was able to look at the world where others limited themselves to seeing it. A path through projects for product types that are often very distant from each other, which he has developed in the concreteness of daily work, far from the self-referential and self-congratulatory rhetoric ". Emilio Ambasz and Nasir and Nagis Kassamali were also awarded in the same category.

Hal chair for Vitra

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