“As an expression of the design world, the Compasso d’Oro cannot be limited to aspirations: it must act concretely through visions and proposals, without falling into comfortable relativism”. Luciano Galimberti, ADI president, captures the essence of this 29th edition, where the award created over 70 years ago by Gio Ponti, Alberto Rosselli, and Albe Steiner reasserts the value of design as a force that can unite in a present of tension, instability, and change.

Design as a critical tool for interpreting reality shaped the jury’s selection, which included Giovanna Carnevali, Lorenza Baroncelli, Giovanni Brugnoli, Luciano Galimberti, and Jasper Morrison.

Above all, design emerges as a field far broader than the product itself. This is reflected in the 20 awarded projects and 38 honorable mentions, all explorations of new needs or fresh interpretations of timeless ones, responding to contemporary challenges. Furniture as well as connection, service as well as solution, integration of functions alongside responses to social and global urgencies, efficiency in components yet celebrating modularity and architecture.

The Compasso d’Oro also recognized emerging talent with three Young Awards and ten university student project certificates, reinforcing the connection between the design industry and those stepping into it for the first time. Targhe Memorabili tributes honored those we lost  – Claudio de Albertis, Rodolfo Dordoni, and Francesco Trabucco – while lifetime achievement awards celebrated nine individuals with diverse paths, from Alberto Meda and Paola Lenti in design, Patrizia Moroso in product, Aldo Colonetti in research, as well as three long-selling products that have become Italian icons over decades: AG Fronzoni’s Sedia ’64 for Cappellini, Angelo Mangiarotti’s Eros table for Agape, and Gae Aulenti’s Rolling Table for FontanaArte.

“The responsibility of design in contributing to more balanced and cohesive scenarios” was at the heart of the jury’s criteria, highlighting projects that transcend a purely functional role to assume a broader cultural significance, generating shared meaning and an inclusive vision of difference. A cultural, productive, and civic practice, whose social responsibility and presence is not “still” but “more than ever”.

Opening image: Trespolo, by Giulio Iacchetti for Orografie by Giorgia Bartolini . Photo Irene Tranchina.

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