The Compasso d’Oro turns 70. From the first edition in 1954 – born from an idea of Gio Ponti – at this year’s XXVIII, the award has become one of the main recognitions of design quality. The 2024 Compasso d’Oro awards were awarded to designers and producers yesterday evening, 20 June, atADI Design Museum, in the Milanese square named after the award. The president of the Lombardy Region was present Attilio Fontana and the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala.
ADI and the ADI Foundation remembered some figures who recently passed away, who stood out for their great contribution to the culture of the project, with the presentation of a special plaque. The recognition went to Manlio Armelliniwho passed away in 2020, who with FederlegnoArredo he was among the creators and promoters of Milan Furniture Fairand to designers Gaetano Pesce And Italo Rota, disappeared in April this year.
The Compasso d’Oro awards for this edition went to 20 products, in addition to the Compassi d’Oro for lifetime achievement, awarded to 9 Italian and 2 international personalities and to 3 products long sellers, design successes that have been on the market for decades. Among the awarded companies, Acea, Davide Groppi, CMR project, Talents, Propeller, Viabizzuno, Ferrari, Saint Lawrence And Zanotta. In addition to the awards, 39 honorable mentions were awarded to products chosen for their qualities. For the Targa Giovani, the recognition reserved for projects by students of Italian design universities, 3 prizes and 9 certificates were awarded. 311 other products included in the catalogue.
“The Compasso d’Oro award”, declared the ADI president Luciano Galimberti, “over time it has developed the methods of analysis and judgment, as well as the organizational structure which today presents itself as a permanent multidisciplinary observatory, distributed throughout the national territory. An evolutionary path that has always interpreted with great responsibility the commitment to building a concrete scale of value for the quality of Italian design in the world, to be offered both to professionals and to the general public.”
The awarded objects and those that have obtained the Honorable Mention will become part of the Compasso d’Oro Collection, permanently exhibited at the ADI Design Museum, which, says Umberto Cabini, president of the ADI Foundation, “it is also constantly evolving and each edition of the award increases its heritage. It is a continuous evolution, which is expressed and realized with the variety of interpretations it offers to its visitors and its ability to re-present well-known objects in new contexts. The challenge that is never won is the ability to interpret history in the light of the present with an eye to the future.”
The XXVIII edition of the Compasso d’Oro was created with the patronage and thanks to the contribution of the Lombardy Region. “Lombard pride emerges with the awarding of the ADI Compasso d’Oro award to Sozzi Arredamenti of Lecco, which produces some of the most precious furniture in the world,” he declared Barbara MazzaliCouncilor for Tourism, Territorial Marketing and Fashion of the Lombardy Region. “The Farfallina chair, which weighs only 3.7 kilos, represents the creativity of Lombard design. This year the Compasso d’Oro ADI celebrates its 70 years of history, coinciding with the evolution of Italian design, deeply rooted in Lombardy”. Mazzali thanked the president of ADI, Luciano Galimberti, for the invitation, underlining the hope that all the winning projects will become as iconic as some of the objects hosted at the ADI Design Museum, such as the Eclisse lamp (1967 Compasso d’Oro award) , the Kartell chest of drawers (1999) and the Mirella sewing machine. “When an artifact combines functionality and aesthetic value, it becomes an element of utility but also of taste, art and even well-being,” concluded the councilor.
On the same occasion, a novelty was presented which marks an important step in the development of the award: ADI launches an international edition in partnership with the General Commissariat for Italy in Expo 2025 Osaka. The Deputy Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka spoke on the initiative, Elena Sgarbi.
The exhibition set up at the ADI Design Museum, which will remain open until 16 September 2024, presents 174 of the products from this edition of the award to the public.
