A sketch, a pen on the table, a lamp: apparently silent objects, but ready to detonate their concentrate of creativity under the gaze of a student or a professional looking for inspiration. It happens in the studios of architects and designers who have written the history of made in Italy, spaces that have become foundations that preserve their heritage, feeding their sources of continuous inspiration. André Malraux wrote “the museum is the only place in the world that escapes death” and in the Milanese foundations this is profoundly true: among the creations and tools that have marked and accompanied their genesis, visitors are welcomed, workshops are organized (in times of pandemic especially online), there are paths that lead into the life of the city.
This is the formula, for example, of the Vico Magistretti Foundation, born in 2010 in the architect’s studio in via Conservatorio: led by his daughter Susanna, it offers itineraries among Magistretti’s most important Milanese works, accessible by public transport, and tours by bicycle, the architect’s favorite vehicle. The next is scheduled for 11 September, from the Church of Santa Maria Nascente to QT8. The Foundation also manages the “Vico Magistretti Original Design” brand, stamped on the re-editions of Magistretti’s creations that contribute to the maintenance of the foundation itself. And if there is time there until February 2022 to visit the “Magistretti Revisited” exhibition, at the Triennale “Vico Magistretti Milanese architect” will close on 12 September.
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Since the late 1990s, the Triennale itself has also been a foundation, which confirms the vitality of an exhibition in the 1,400 square meters of its Museum of Italian Design, opened in 2019 and already renovated and expanded last July. The collection was curated by Giampiero Bosoni, architect and lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano, who is also part of the Franco Albini Foundation committee: founded in 2007 and chaired by his son Marco, it collects thousands of drawings, photos and models in the studio in via Telesio. , writings, books that belonged to the architect three times awarded with the Compasso d’Oro. «We offer an immersive experience, a journey through small objects and large architectures – explains Paola Albini, Albini’s granddaughter and vice president of the foundation -. We are guided by the “Albini method”, a method of work but also of self-knowledge, therefore applicable to professional and personal areas ». The Franco Albini Academy took shape around the method, which organizes courses and workshops for students, professionals, companies, and onlookers: “The method is based on five points: decompose, seek the essence, recompose, verify, consider social responsibility – goes on -. It is a way to approach problems and solve them thanks to the creativity of design ».
The Achille Castiglioni Foundation has been located in nearby Piazza Castello since 2011, which preserves the processes and products of the architect’s over 60 years of creativity: over 40 thousand people have passed through the four rooms of his studio until 2020. On the other hand, one of the most active archives of its kind is located in Sesto San Giovanni, that of Giovanni Sacchi, the model maker most appreciated by Italian designers. Opened in 2009, four years after his death, a part of the Sacchi modeling laboratory has been refurbished inside, with original machinery and equipment, where you can also make models, take courses in turning and woodworking, running your hands over veins of creativity never exhausted.