The Domus Academy in Milan boasts an all-star faculty. It’s one of eight top-ranking programs around the world that we have identified as shaping the next generation of interior visionaries. (See our first two instalments, on NYSID and the University of Manitoba).
In 1982, the Domus Academy was established by the elite of the design world, including Alessandro Mendini and Andrea Branzi, and it has since nurtured generations of successful talents. Students still have front-row access to the most illustrious creative minds. Until 2014, Spanish furniture and interior designer Patricia Urquiola mentored the master’s in interior and living design; since then, course leader Francesca Vargiu (along with the school’s creative director, Gianluigi Ricuperati) has established the Metaphysical Club, where various luminaries – from curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist to designer-architect Italo Rota – give lectures, run workshops and introduce students to their professional networks.
The program is heavily weighted toward collaborations with such major brands as Moroso, Agape, Alessi, Veuve Cliquot and Haworth, and special emphasis is placed on developing what the school describes as the “multidisciplinary Italian approach to space set-up and design.”
For Expo Milano, which ended in October, students worked with Haworth on pop-up office concepts; in another project, they developed a Chinese-inspired outdoor restaurant with tile brand Mutina. Other manufacturers have hosted scholarship competitions, such as Bitossi Home’s recent Social Kitchen contest, where applicants were invited to design a convivial kitchen of the future. Winners will be announced in January 2016.
FAST FACTS
Location: Via Carlo Darwin, 20, Milan, Italy
Program: MFA, 10 months
Tuition: €16,990 EU students, €25,490 international
Notable alumni: Christophe Pillet (product and interior designer), Ryosuke Fukusada (product designer), Anupriya Diwan (founder of Innovatio, New Delhi)
For more information about education in architecture, industrial design, interaction design, interior design and landscape architecture, visit our Top Schools section.