Ducati Unveil Monster 1200

And it's a beaut.

Domus Academy: Great School Of Design

The foundation of any great civilization is to have great schools keeping its heritage alive.

Domus Academy was founded on the premise that while Italian design spread across the world it was losing its essence at home. It was the first post-graduate school of design in the world.

From the website it explains its founding:

"In 1983, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi saw this as a tremendous opportunity to fill the design education void. So, along with Pierre Restany (one of the most important art critics of the 20th century), Alessandro Mendini, Valerio Castelli, Alessandro Guerriero and Andrea Branzi she founded Domus Academy.
 
From the very beginning, Domus Academy was designed to be a unique institution. The founders envisioned a school where different cultures and experiences would meet and exchange, and where education and research would be closely integrated. They planned a center that would promote an open environment conducive to reflection and criticism, and that would bring together students and companies to pursue real-world projects on the most important aspects of contemporary life."

Pasta Needs Technology

No technology needed to make pasta?

Think again.

That's some machine!

Cent'Anni Lamborghini

60 Minutes aired a report on Lamborghini turning 50. 

Rationalism, Neo-Rationalism And Design

It's not surprising Italy has produced or been a  part of several movements tied into industrial design to which architecture falls under.

Though having roots in various forms in Ancient Rome, France during the Enlightenment Rationalism and the Soviet Union in the early 20th century (ASNOVA being the most recent group of artists calling themselves "The Rationalists) an Italian branch developed in between the 1920s and 1940s led by the Gruppo 7. For Canadians, the name should be familiar as it translates into the Group of Seven. Their objective was to strike a balance between the Futurism and Classicism. Which couldn't have been too hard given the high octane level of impractical testosterone and vulgarity (one could add irrational) found in the Futurist movement.

It's important to note that rationalism was further pondered and incorporated into the works of French architects (like Henri Labrouste who lived in Rome for six years) as well leading to what was known as modernism (avant-garde). There's quite a bit of overlapping of influences between French and Italian designers during this period as you can see.

Rationalism emphasized less the science of architecture - focusing on only the functionality of a city for example - and more on the environment necessary to be incorporated into any construct. That is,  history and the physical environment, for instance, should be considered in the conceptualization of an architectural design.

In short, the solve any real world problems took reason and, well, rationalism.

This was especially true during the second wave of Rationalism in the 1960s called Neo-rationalism led mostly by a group called Tendenza (Tendency).

One such artist was Aldo Rossi who designed the Quartier Schutzenstrasse in Berlin, Germany (pictured).

Singing In The Shower

Interesting shower concepts and products from Almar. It's a company located in the province of Varese in the Lombardy region 60 km northwest of Milan. As with so many industrial manufacturers and design companies it operates in the "industrial triangle" consisting of Milan, Turin and Genoa.

Nice set of videos on their website.

I don't believe they operate in North America. 

 

White House Strong Arming Insurance Companies

Transparency we can count on!

Once again, government can't rely on voluntary action. It must coerce and intimidate.

How many time will we have to see this record play before we lift the needle and change the record?

Someone should compile a list of people or things or entities Obama has blamed for his actions.

 

  

Lego Robotics Engineering: Works Of Benedettelli

Guys like robotics engineer Daniele Benedettelli make my life easier when it comes to finding content for this blog. It's one thing to discover companies and quite another faces and people behind them which can be most interesting for readers.

Here's a link to some of his work on youtube.

Benedettelli recently gave a LEGO robotics demonstration (presented by Bricks 4 Kidz Piedmont) in Burlington, Vermont.

Too bad, had I known, I would have taken my daughter!

Robotics: The Octopus Project

From the website:

"OCTOPUS aims to investigate and understand the key principles of the octopus body and brain, by building a soft 8-arm robot capable of elongating its arms to reach and grasp while navigating submerged under water.
 
The octopus is a unique and paradigmatic example for bio-inspired soft robotics, because of its great motor capabilities and enhanced behavior, due to its particular muscular structure and sensory-motor system."

The project is coordinated and headed by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa, Italy) involving 6 European partners:
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI,Jerusalem, Israel)
- The Weizmann Institute of Science (Weizmann, Rehovot, Israel)
- The University of Zurich (UZH, Zurich, Switzerland)
- The Italian Institute of Science (IIT, Genova, Italy)
- The University of Reading (UREAD, Reading, United Kingdom)
- The Foundation for Research and Technologies (FORTH, Heraklion, Crete, Greece) 

See video here.

Note: Small-editing on my part.

Tracing Back History Of Home Decor In Italy

Nice summary of the history of Italian home decor in Life in Italy.

Technology and decor do go hand in hand.

Modern Kitchen Design

The Marchi Group offers high quality, hand-made, fitted kitchen concepts and design. I happen upon them perusing and browsing my way through the emerald forest otherwise known at the Internet.

Aside from the excellent kitchen concepts, this piece in their 'History' tab caught my eye:

"The history of our company goes back almost 40 years. A period which has seen a radical change in customs, taste and life-style not only in Italy, but throughout the whole world. 1977: the year we began the great adventure of setting up our company. This was the year of the first episode of "Star Wars", the world fell in love with a young star called John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever". It was the year I sat and listened to a mythical Pink Floyd at the Hallenstadion in Zurich. The Shuttle made its first test flight in space…from that moment on, the world began to evolve at a momentous pace."

The thing I've observed among contemporary Italian art and design is the reverence it holds for American (even British) culture and history - Americana if you will. 

The exotic pull of foreign ideas swings both ways of course. While there's no shortage of Italian companies opting for Americanized names, North American companies, for their part, sometimes like using Italian names.

The other thing is the poor English grammar. But we won't hold it against them. If I could convince companies I've featured here to clean up their English text, I'd have a nice side business going.

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I have no idea what this blog is about but it seems interesting enough (enigmatic titles like 'The syndrome of Influence of Italian Design'  help in that vain) and the pictures are cool.

The Perfection That Is Italian Marble

A friend of mine is in the hotel renovations business and has visited Italy's marble quarries. In his view, there's no question Italy produces the finest marble on earth. When his clients ask for the best marble, they mean Italian. 

For him, it all comes to attention to detail and technology of which Italy possesses in bunches.

Nice explanation here:

"Italian marble has earned its reputation primarily because the quarries in Italy have access to some of the best raw material in the world. Secondly, Italian quarries have set the highest standards for quality control and everything from selecting and cutting the blocks to packaging and shipping is done with precision."

Other marble producing countries include (in no particular order) the United States, India, Germany, China, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Turkey (which ranks second in production to Italy).

Pic: Carrara quarry in Tuscany.

Carrara marble was used by famous artists including Michelangelo and Donatello to create their magnificent sculptures.

Italians Dominate Kart Engineering

To our left is a Parilla motorcycle. Parilla operates under the Italian American Motor Engineering (IAME - The Heart of Kart) company. It is the largest manufacturing of kart engines in the world located in Bergamo, Italy.

Italians excel at the Karting World Championships.

Other Italian chassis constructors include engineering company Tecno (Bologna) which also entered Formula One in the early 1970s, CRG (pictured below),  Birel (Milan),  and Tony Kart (Brescia).

Mechanic Dino Chiesa - associated with CRG -  is known as the world's best kart mechanic.

Parilla pic courtesy of Motortopia.com.

CRG pic from Karts.com.

My U-Boat Watch

It's a big one - 52mm. It took some getting used to but in the right attire it's a sharp watch. I like the clean look - very much in the art-deco spirit.  
I tried to get a close-up but I couldn't get the glare out or into proper focus. This ain't my Nikon I was using!

Made In Canada By Italian Hands And Parts

When I was a young teenager, I bought my first serious bike. It was a black and Peugeot with gold trimmings back when they were still made in France.

(The elegant Gardin left)

A few years later in 1990, I took the money I saved up $1,200 making thermal windows and upgraded to a Gardin road bike. Gardin was a Canadian bike manufacturer in Ontario (I believe) founded by an Italian immigrant. It's no longer in operation.

Some elements and parts included: Vittoria tires, Mavic rims, Columbus frame, gear system Shimano 105. A Canadian-Italian bike with Italian, Japanese, German and French parts.

Needs a nice cleaning since I haven't used it in a couple of years but still a fine bicycle.

In between, I got my hands on a Specialized mountain bike for $500. A friend of mine knew a guy liquidating them and mine had an original price tag of $1000. Lucky deal.

This year, after a couple of years of talking about getting a new bike, I went out and got another Canadian bike manufactured this time in my hometown by another Italian owner. Marinoni bikes are known for its high, tailored quality.

Seeing I no longer have the time (or energy) to ride like I used to I had to keep my purchase modest. One can easily get swayed by that Italian made bike with a starting price of $3000. A friend of mine did just that and ended up with a $5000 road bike.

At first, I wasn't sure what type of bike I wanted. I was leaning towards a "touring bike" since I didn't think I was going to be racing. Right there, a steel framed bike was in the cards over an aluminum or  carbon one.

I settled on the Sportivo touring model at a reasonable price. All told about $2000.

Marinoni Sportivo parts include: Campagnolo (ultegra) gears, Columbus steel frame, Deda elementi handles, Selle Italia seat, Cadence tires, Khamsin (Campagnolo) rims.

This baby is essentially an Italian-Canadian bike with predominantly Italian and American parts.