What I love about studying in Europe are the fieldtrips we get to go on. How many American students can say that went somewhere in Italy for a week with school? We get a lot of awesome opportunities, especially when companies are kind enough to open their factory doors to let us have a peek inside.

We learn about the design process, but when seeing it actually put into reality with your own eyes, it’s cool. A few weeks ago my program and I went to Torino and Biella for a week, both in the region of Piemonte. Biella is in the countryside and Torino is a city. Both are smaller than Milano, quaint and intimate. They were both a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Milano.

My personal favorite visit we did was at “Casa Zegna”, which is the company that produces and designs the Italian men’s company Ermenegildo Zegna. The “casa” aka house is in the city of Trivero, which is in the province of Biella. The entire land was once the family’s home, now converted into an archive type of museum.  They are extremely proud of their products, and the quality of wool they produce.

It was interesting to hear how they begin to design the collection for Ermenegildo Zegna, and this type of treatment they do to the suits to make them water and stain resistant. The design even poured ketchup, soy sauce, and highlighter to prove his point!  It makes a huge difference when the quality of a garment is not only high, but also well developed in terms of concept. The Zegna family is extremely innovative in that sense, as well as helping the area of Trivero.  They have created tons of jobs with this concept of “Casa Zegna”, and trying to enhance the agriculture in the mountains of the area. They are concerned with their product, as well as helping the area of their origin. Here are some photos.. 

For more information on Casa Zegna.. 

http://www.casazegna.org/eng/

Today my program and I attended the lecture by the trend forecaster Li Edelkoort at Politecnico di Como. Lago di Como is only a forty-five minute train ride from Milano. To be able to see Ms.Edelkoort speak about trends in general is a great opportunity, and this was my second time. I am beyond lucky. 

She is practically the “guru” of trends, like the chosen one for it in the field of design. She is highly respected and listened to.  Her company “Trend Union” has worked with all different types of companies, ranging from cosmetics to Coca-Cola. Season after season she has influenced not only the fashion world, but also the world of industrial design, packaging, etc.

She opened up the lecture with a review from last year’s lecture, which is not really last year seeing as trends are forecasted two years in advance, therefore 2013. I had been to this specific lecture last year. During the review, she spoke about which designers had applied these trends during fashion week. The trends included lots of light colors, pastels and the idea of the “gift of light”. To see a trend actually applied to a garment is interesting and enlightening, it shows the magic of her work put into realistic situations. She also emphasized that trends are not about personal taste, what you and I prefer, but they are based upon what is to come in the near future. 

For 2014 she focused mainly on “nomadism”, which is the idea that as humans we are beginning to live in a nomadic lifestyle. We have the desire to go on the road and continue our lives in this manner. We are now free; we all have access to Wi-Fi and Internet. We can work from the desert, the countryside, our bed; no one will know the difference. The office is no longer a necessity.

The concept that we are now “free” will signify that we would like to gain even more freedom in the future. She applied this to the concept of not having an actual bed, substituting it for possibly choosing to sleep in the garden or guestroom.  The need to constantly travel, see other cultures and have constant movement in our lives. I agreed with her opening statements about this nomadic lifestyle, we are constantly on the move with all of our gadgets. She also publishes a magazine titled, “Bloom” which follows the changing trends in flowers, I find it really inspiring. Here are some images from the site.. 

Here is the link to explore the world of Ms. Edelkoort a bit more in depth..

http://www.edelkoort.com/

*Photos courtesy of Bloom Magazine's site 

Do you know what I love? Being happily surprised… first impressions can always be misleading. This past week at my abroad university, Politecnico di Milano, held a workshop. All of the students at the design campus were assigned to a company depending on their major. My program was assigned to do the workshop with the Italian company, Tucano. It is a company based in Milano that designs accessories for computers, ipads, iphones, etcera.

When I walked into the room, sat down, and looked at all the people around me, I was kind of intimidated. Once the workshop leader began to speak, and I realized, oh, this is all in Italian, I thought I was screwed for sure. I guess it was silly of me to think it would be in English, I mean I’m studying in Italy, I should be expected to speak Italian, no?

Gino Finizio was the workshop leader, he is a designer based in Milano, who has written books and lectured in many different countries on the subject of design, marketing and communication.  He really has a passion for educating young people, as we are the future of the design world.

I thought that being a fashion designer would never mean that I would be designing a product for technology, but when I think about it now, how could I assume that? The world of design is a vast one, architecture, apparel, product design; they all overlap and influence one another. The world we live in today depends on design, we’re always digging deeper for innovation, creativity, to go more forward with an idea, to improve and look beyond what has already been done. I had believed that most accessories for technological products had been designed before, but in reality the possibilities will always be endless.

Our task was to, in one week, design an innovative type of carrying case for Tucan, with a particular technological product in mind. I ended up meeting two lovely Italian girls from Naples and working with them, it really was a great experience. They come from a different background of design; their program is a lot more about conceptual thinking, where my program at FIT is more about construction. It was a nice balance. We were able to bounce ideas off of one another well. They were extremely patient with me and my (poooor) Italian, and I even got to learn some Napolitano dialect! Like, statt buono/buona, it means stay well.

We had to stay up the entire night before the project was due to finish, but it was worth it. In the Italian culture, it is extremely important to them to make a figura bella, meaning, a good figure, the way they present themselves is something of upmost importance. So we pulled through the night, filled with a lot of laughter, tea, and some delicious pasta! I definitely dozed off a few times, but in the end we got it done. 

They encouraged me to say my part of the presentation in Italian, reassuring me that I am well spoken, and it took a lot of courage, but I did it. My presentation wasn’t a hundred-perfect grammatically correct, but it was nice to see how supportive everyone in the room was. The son of the owner of Tucano shook my hand after my group’s presentation, and told me that I had officially received a honorary degree in Italian from the presentation. It was a gesture that I will always remember. Sometimes, being a little bit afraid and putting your self out there is a positive thing. I’m trying to figure out this whole experience one little brave American step at a time..

So overall from this past week, I have a few new friends, good memories, and a great innovative project to add to my portfolio.  This is the photo of the product we designed called the IPhand, specifically for the Ipad 2, oh and that's my hand! They woke me up at 3 in the morning to take the photos, ha..

P. S.. here's the company's website if you're curious...

http://www.tucano.com/

Do you know what I love? Being happily surprised… first impressions can always be misleading. This past week at my abroad university, Politecnico di Milano, held a workshop. All of the students at the design campus were assigned to a company depending on their major. My program was assigned to do the workshop with the Italian company, Tucano. It is a company based in Milano that designs accessories for computers, ipads, iphones, etcera.

When I walked into the room, sat down, and looked at all the people around me, I was kind of intimidated. Once the workshop leader began to speak, and I realized, oh, this is all in Italian, I thought I was screwed for sure. I guess it was silly of me to think it would be in English, I mean I’m studying in Italy, I should be expected to speak Italian, no?

Gino Finizio was the workshop leader, he is a designer based in Milano, who has written books and lectured in many different countries on the subject of design, marketing and communication.  He really has a passion for educating young people, as we are the future of the design world.

I thought that being a fashion designer would never mean that I would be designing a product for technology, but when I think about it now, how could I assume that? The world of design is a vast one, architecture, apparel, product design; they all overlap and influence one another. The world we live in today depends on design, we’re always digging deeper for innovation, creativity, to go more forward with an idea, to improve and look beyond what has already been done. I had believed that most accessories for technological products had been designed before, but in reality the possibilities will always be endless.

Our task was to, in one week, design an innovative type of carrying case for Tucan, with a particular technological product in mind. I ended up meeting two lovely Italian girls from Naples and working with them, it really was a great experience. They come from a different background of design; their program is a lot more about conceptual thinking, where my program at FIT is more about construction. It was a nice balance. We were able to bounce ideas off of one another well. They were extremely patient with me and my (poooor) Italian, and I even got to learn some Napolitano dialect! Like, statt buono/buona, it means stay well.

We had to stay up the entire night before the project was due to finish, but it was worth it. In the Italian culture, it is extremely important to them to make a figura bella, meaning, a good figure, the way they present themselves is something of upmost importance. So we pulled through the night, filled with a lot of laughter, tea, and some delicious pasta! I definitely dozed off a few times, but in the end we got it done. 

They encouraged me to say my part of the presentation in Italian, reassuring me that I am well spoken, and it took a lot of courage, but I did it. My presentation wasn’t a hundred-perfect grammatically correct, but it was nice to see how supportive everyone in the room was. The son of the owner of Tucano shook my hand after my group’s presentation, and told me that I had officially received a honorary degree in Italian from the presentation. It was a gesture that I will always remember. Sometimes, being a little bit afraid and putting your self out there is a positive thing. I’m trying to figure out this whole experience one little brave American step at a time..

So overall from this past week, I have a few new friends, good memories, and a great innovative project to add to my portfolio.  This is the photo of the product we designed called the IPhand, specifically for the Ipad 2, oh and that's my hand! They woke me up at 3 in the morning to take the photos, ha..

P. S.. here's the company's website if you're curious...

http://www.tucano.com/