Design Convivio, the installation inaugurated in October 2023 at the Historical Library of the Politecnico di Milano, lands at the ADI Design Museum. An inevitable stop that pays tribute to the special bond between the eight masters on display and the Association for Industrial Design. There are many connections that have linked ADI and the Compasso d'Oro to the vicissitudes of the chosen protagonists, recalling the central role played by the Association in shaping and fostering the identity of the Italian design system and its progressive international recognition.

The exhibition stages an imaginary "first supper" among eight protagonists of Italian design history: Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, Carlo De Carli, Marco Zanuso, Achille Castiglioni, Vittoriano Viganò, Alberto Rosselli, and Raffaella Crespi, all graduates of Politecnico and later Full Professors at the same university.

The set design is conceived and designed by Ico Migliore, Associate Professor of Design Department who also created the illustrations of the eight masters. It visualizes a table set with words, sounds, images, and references to the projects of the protagonists

Some keywords, suspended and luminous, frequently recur in the dialogues of the protagonists, and even today, these words constitute the language of the design discipline from which the vision for creating a course of study entirely dedicated to design.

The exhibition is curated by Giampiero Bosoni and Paola Bertola, Full Professors of the Department of Design.
The dialogues are curated by writer Gianni Biondillo and actress and director Paola Albini, inspired by original writings and quotes from the eight characters selected by Giampiero Bosoni and Marta Elisa Cecchi.

Design Convivio is part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary since the establishment of the first Industrial Design Degree program at the Polytechnic University of Milan. It is a part of the broader Design Philology project, a historical and philological research that narrates the evolution of the design culture at the Politecnico di Milano starting from the first course in Artistic Design for Industry in 1963.

Visit the Design Philology platform, its interactive timeline, and its narrative pathways.

To book a guided tour of the exhibition, write an email to comunicazione-design@polimi.it