81
T’Journal 8
Rêveries
80
The fact that Italy’s iconic design firms
are tied to a name and to a family that
has kept them running for generations,
taking in new master designers like
members of the family, is one of the
most crucial factors in the Italian way of
design. This generation of entrepreneurs
and designers met in the flower of their
youth and drive, and together made
a pact to design and produce a better
world.
MI LAN
Milan is the southernmost point of
a triangle called Brianza, whose
other vertices are Como and Lecco.
For centuries, this territory has
produced outstanding builders
(remember the Comacine masters
from over a millennium ago, and the
seven young architects from Como who
founded Italian Rationalism in 1926)
and craftsmen ready to furnish these
architectural marvels. A vast number of
villas, for the aristocracy or the upper
middle class, still stand as witnesses
to how these gentle slopes and
valleys were privileged vacation spots
for the genteel in days gone by.
Throughout Brianza, many special
events over the last century lent solidity
and pride to the design community: in
Cantù, the Selettive del Mobile started in
1955; in Lissone, the Settimane Lissonesi
dell’Arredamento began in 1936; and
in Monza, Villa Reale has hosted the
first University of Decorative Arts since
1922 and the Biennial of Decorative and
Modern Arts since 1923. This research
and development spanning applied arts
and modern industry, along with the
cultural and commercial exposure, gave
all of Brianza — first its craftspeople
and then its businesses — a focal
point and source of inspiration that
stayed in place for an entire century,
with some ups and downs, until 2014
when Monza’s Villa Reale once again
became the epicenter with its Permanent
Collection of Italian Design.
The city of Milan, then, is simply where
the head of all this activity became
concentrated over the years, while its
dynamic body, and most importantly its
skilled hands, were distributed neatly in
the area stretching out to Lake Como.
An event that helped make Milan
the capital of design was the 1893
founding of the Società Umanitaria,
the first major starting point in this
long history. The Società Umanitaria
was a philanthropic society, formed at
the bequest of Prospero Moisé Loria,
a Milanese benefactor who wished
to create a “house of work” for the
professional training and social and
cultural advancement of the young
working poor. Together with the Cities of
Milan and Monza, it was also one of the
founders of the University of Decorative
Arts set up inside Monza’s Villa Reale.
After this first institution, which along
with better known European guilds and
associations of the time (Arts & Crafts
in England, Werkbund in Germany,
Secession and Werkstätte in Austria) laid
the foundations for a culture of design
and product tied to modern society,
throughout the 20th century Milan saw
an endless succession of places, entities
and events that gave structure to this
complex system. The year 1917 marked
the opening of La Rinascente, the first
large department store for clothing and
furnishings, a place for high-end yet
democratic shopping. In 1920 came
the Fiera Campionaria (trade fair), the
largest and most important promotional
