2017: Emanuele Magini
Milanese Furniture Designer and Politecnico di Milano Lecturer, Emanuele Magini travelled to Melbourne in September 2017 to run a two-week Furniture Studio Masterclass. He was joined by Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, Dr MalteWagenfeld and RMIT Industrial Design students.
Mr Magini’s design philosophy is ‘form follows function x fun’. The Masterclass based its brief on Mr Magini’s playful style and conceived pieces for Italian Furniture company, Campeggi. Beginning with the famous design principle ‘form follows function’, the workshop focused on an important contemporary design trend: the idea of ‘fun’ as a multiplier: ironic, surprising, sporty, oversized, etc., for furniture and product design.
Dr Wagenfeld, who assisted Mr Magini with the Masterclass activities, discussed the importance of exposing the students to international designers.
“Italian furniture design companies, or ‘design factories’, have been the international leaders for furniture and object design, quality and innovation for well over half a century. Emanuele Magini may be part of the ‘young Italian design movement’ but he works solidly within this rich design and manufacturing tradition.
“This was a tremendous opportunity for students to be exposed to and for two weeks immersed in this design industry with quite different cultural expectations from Australia. The brief was to find a finely balanced hybrid between function and fun whilst also adhering to the production logic, brand identity and market reality of Campeggi for whom they were designing.
“The students were required to work in teams at a furious pace and focus with high intensity for two weeks, developing two separate projects through research, sketching, modelling and prototyping. This intensity is a real test and similar to what professional designers experience when delivering high quality concepts in condensed timeframes. A very valuable experience for the group with Emanuele not only bringing his experience and knowledge but also his unique sense of humour, not only to design but also to the classroom. A playful project with serious intent!”
Learn more about Emanuele Magini
