Milano si autoproduce

Workshops, small-scale factories, design studios, ateliers, galleries and shops. The isolated production of sophisticated objects. Hundreds of talents are hidden in small manufacturing facilities located all throughout the metropolitan area of Milan. Hundreds of values and ideals. The initiative of self-production. Machines and goods. Micro entrepreneurship. Digital craftsmanship. Brilliant creators, young and old, unassociated. These scattered initiatives, unorganized, strewn out over the territory of Milan, call for the creation of a system. Not only to become visible, fertile and useful to society, but also to be part of a multiplicative act that renders them the protagonists of a new bright future for Milanese design.

During the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair, Milanosiautoproducedesign (Misiad) – the Association founded by Camillo Agnoletto, Laura Agnoletto, Cesare Castelli and Alessandro Mendini – presented an experimental exhibition that was a first survey of self-producing designers in Milan.

This book gathers all 202 authors that took part in the exhibition that can therefore be seen together, forming the fascinating prospect of a pulsating organism.