A journey through space, among restored Italian architecture in Milan, Venice, Florence and Capo Passero, and through time, through the design of the 1970s between experimentation and cultural revolutions

A common thread can be found in this issue’s architecture, and it not only concerns the fact that all of it has been created by Italian designers (or naturalized ones). From Milan to Venice, Florence, Siena, and Portopalo di Capo Passero, all of the work addresses the theme of restoration and opens up new possibilities for relationships with the materials of the locations. It doesn’t matter whether we are dealing with a historic building, an early 20th century urban villa, or a rural housing complex. Through a ‘subtractive approach’, each project brings out identities which have been concealed by time.

Graphic Motion: Daniele Basilico

A journey through the past

It’s as if we took a journey through the past, which in the pages dedicated to design leads us to the 1970s. This decade, with its experimentation and cultural revolutions, was highlighted in the new releases introduced at the most recent Salone del Mobile. There were not only products which borrowed the rounded forms, bright colors, and the nonconformist idea of home design from the Seventies, but also projects developed at the time and reissued which act as living proof of a hugely successful period for Italian design.

Design, architecture, music

As a reminder of this cultural ferment, we have Luigi Serafini, a representative of radical art and thinking to whom younger generations are exhibiting renewed interest. His story leads us to other characters who tell us about their unconventional conception of design within various disciplines: from William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, whose work for forty years has aimed at disrupting the consolidated languages of design with the approval of the biggest names in architecture, to Dardust, an outsider on the Italian music scene who blends music and architectural brutalism on his latest album.

The Icon Giorgio Armani

Lastly, we arrive at Giorgio Armani: with his eclectic work, the great stylist has created a powerfully identitarian aesthetic and applied it to every aspect of daily life, providing us with his own personal idea of life lived as a total work of art.

Kitchen systems made in Italy

The kitchen leaves the confines of the functional room and, like a Cinderella, is transformed into a sophisticated space, often associated with the living room. Central counters, invisible appliances, dedicated lighting, precious cladding materials such as stone, steel and wood. Extension kitchens, status symbol kitchens, family kitchens, but increasingly high-performance kitchens designed and manufactured in Italy. Manufacturers have achieved a level of quality in design that makes the kitchens unrivalled. Today, the world no longer aspires only to good Italian food: it also wants a kitchen system made in Italy, a space of comfort and work that can be interpreted in all the languages of the world.