Triennale Design Museum. Storie. Il design italiano

The Triennale Design Museum, the first museum of its kind in Italy, was opened at La Triennale in December 2007. It is a metamorphic museum, and each year for the past 10 years it has changed its display and layout, giving ever-different answers to the same basic question: “what is Italian design?”.

The eleventh edition of the Triennale Design Museum tells the story of Italian design by using a whole series of stories, which together illustrate its complex nature. 

The display goes in two directions: on the one hand, the story unfolds diachronically, while on the other, five themes are examined in a way that allows design to be interpreted through the lens of other disciplines. 

180 works dating from 1902 to 1998 – most of which come from the Permanent Collection of the Triennale Design Museum – have been selected as the most representative of Italian design. The choice is based on their innovative technology and shapes, their aesthetic qualities, experimental nature, iconic appeal, and success among the public. They introduce the debate about which pieces no museum of design should ever be without and which ones can be considered as “icons” – and also if this term is actually appropriate when talking about design.