Ciao everyone~ this week was a very busy (and somewhat tiring) week, but every moment was worth it with how much I learned and how many cool new things we got to experience! We started off the week strong with our visit to La Scala, which was my first ever opera, it was really nice to get to dress up and see everyone else dressed up for the occasion, and a very rare thing to see my professor and classmates in this type of environment that I haven’t really experienced in any of my other classes in college so far. We got to make a lot of studio and showroom visits this week as well, and got to see the behind-the-scenes and fabrication processes at Artemide and Kartell which got me really excited about industrial and product design despite being 100% set on pursuing graphic design after I graduate from the design program here! Despite considering myself to be a graphic designer through and through, I’ve come to learn that there’s still so much I can learn from other disciplines (such as industrial design and architecture, as we’ve focused on in this program so far) and it’s one of the things I’m grateful for that this program offers–the opportunity to gain a multidisciplinary skillset and become a truly well-rounded designer. There’s a lot of visits this week that I loved, but these would be my main highlights:
Achille Castiglioni’s studio was a great way to start off the week and get to explore how he used his curiosity of the world and childlike wonder to create some very beautiful and captivating designs centered around functionality, with our tour being led by his daughter Giovanna; she was extremely welcoming and entertaining of a guide, it got me so excited about the possibilities of design and gave me a fresh new perspective and approach to it that I hope to carry into my preparations for my senior capstone project!
Although I am not at all a car person, our visit to the Alfa Romeo Museum was far from boring; it was incredibly captivating getting to learn the history behind each car design we viewed and the reasonings behind how their designs came to be, and while some of my classmates were completely in awe by the shape and forms of the cars we viewed, I loved getting to view the different types and logos for each car model and their variations (and took some photos to save for me to replicate later in my sketchbook~) it was also very lovely getting to celebrate our dear professor Kate’s birthday during our lunch there as well! (happy late birthday Kate :) we all love you so much!)
And finally: Tipoteca Italiana!!! I had been looking forward to this visit from the very moment this was mentioned during an info session back in September I believe (!) as typography is one of my biggest passions and what got me into design in the first place. I had such a great time seeing all of the mono- and linotype equipment they had, cast type samples, and most importantly getting to do a letterpress demo with everyone and having a chance to show off my letterpress knowledge after having taken Print Studio in the Design Lab this past spring semester where I got to work with the RRK! I held myself back at the gift shop but I know that I could’ve easily spent 100 euros there if I had the ability to fit that many books and magazines on type in my suitcase back to Austin.
Overall it was a really great week, our busiest week in the program so far for sure, and now after taking this weekend to have a good long rest, I’m ready to see what this last week will bring us here in Milano! Arrivederci for now, and see you all for our final blogs next week!
