Interior and Furniture Design

Undergraduate Courses - Florence

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The global market has a growing demand for evolved Interior Designers with competences both in the architectural composition of a space and in the design of furniture elements, in order to organise and improve the relation among space, objects and people.

The three-year course in Interior and Furniture Design trains professionals able to participate in the whole design process: from the first sketches to the final project. The goal is training The course trains Interior Designers specialised in furniture, who are able both to manage and carry out a project focused on the organisation of spaces and interior decoration, with a design-oriented attitude.

Title – The First Level Academic Diploma is recognized by MIUR (Ministry for Education, University and Research) and equated with the Bachelor’s Degree issued by Universities.

  • Credits
    180
  • Start date
    October 2020
  • Duration
    3 years
  • Attendance
    full-time
  • Language
    English

Get an insight into the creative professions: Interior Designer | Product Designer

Context – The third millennium designer is a professional who can deal either with craftsmanship and new technologies. The markets are demanding more and more customisation possibilities boasting technology in the production chain. The recent makers phenomenon set the interaction between the new open-source technologies and self-production design processes, making innovation more attainable and affordable.

Methodology and structure – The methodology alternates frontal lectures and lab activity through individual or multidisciplinary team projects. The project activity, which is both theoretical and technical is developed in close collaboration with professors and asserted professionals of the industry.

The programme develops theoretical and practical knowledge of domestic and living spaces, focusing on technological tools, production processes and materials. A proper understanding of the company values, according to the contemporary market, is required.

The course has a specific focus on the craftsmanship process of Italian production from a cultural and historical perspective, analyzing the subsequent economic impact on Italian small-medium enterprises and for the international luxury market.

Students learn tools and techniques related to the formal and functional representation of the product from freehand drawing to technical design, up to the production of three-dimensional models of the product, exploring the digital image, visual works and perceptive paradigms to develop artistic languages.

Students also learn the project methodologies, products distribution and marketing strategies and they get a deep in materials and prototyping techniques. Moreover, the program focuseses on supply-chain technologies and technological manufacturing processing, giving a complete overview on the Made in Italy production chain.

Career opportunities - Interior Designer, Furniture Designer, Product Designer, Concept Designer, Materials, Components and Technical Devices Researcher.

Remarkable is that teacher who accomplishes himself what he teaches to others.
(Italian proverb)

IED faculty are professionals that daily face the market. Here you can read their bios.

Javier Deferrari - Course Coordinator

Javier Deferrari - Course Coordinator
Designer with an international experience. In 2008 he joined Stefano Boeri’s office, which led to his involvement in the redevelopment project for La Maddalena’s Ex Arsenale Militare. In 2010, together with Lavinia Modesti, he founded DEFERRARI+MODESTI, a multidisciplinary office based in Florence. Their research covers several fields, from interior design to product design and communication, encompassing every phase of the design process down to the meticulous study of each architectural detail.

Lavinia Modesti - Course Coordinator

Lavinia Modesti - Course Coordinator
She started her professional career as  Enzo Mari's assistant, collaborating on furniture elements and artistic reproductions. Her professional experience continued in Barcelona at Actar-Arquitectura and then in Milan at Boeri Studio. In 2010, together with Javier Deferrari, she founded DEFERRARI+MODESTI, a multidisciplinary office based in Florence. Their research covers several fields, from interior design to product design and communication, encompassing every phase of the design process down to the meticulous study of each architectural detail.

Giuseppe Bartolini

Giuseppe Bartolini
Co-founder of BFA, architectural company that works on the enhancement of Cultural Heritage: 18 exhibitions, 16 museums, 6 archaeological parks, 2 urban restoration, 22 video installations and 7 video documentary. BFA designs also exhibitions for brands and products: 1 temporary store, 6 nomadic shops as travelling pavillons, and 6 events and interior installations.

Giovanni Iozzi

Giovanni Iozzi
Founder of Volumio, a multimedia start up, his fields of work are Interaction Design, Web Design, Digital Marketing and Growth Hacking. He cooperates with several R&D international teams, ranging from multimedia applications to technology innovation in hi-end products. Graduated in Psychology, his main interest is technological innovation, about which he is particularly interested in the human and cognitive aspects, for national and international fashion brands.

Alberto Morselli

Alberto Morselli
Architect. He worked in Rome, London and Genoa, collaborating with Rogers Stirk Harbors + Partners and Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Since 2011, he has been working as a freelance Designer in Florence in the fields of interior design, architecture and virtual reality.

Andrea Lanzini

Andrea Lanzini
Architect, specialised in automated design, computer graphics and prototyping applied to architectural design. Since 2006, he has been a freelance Professor. He collaborates mainly with Pitti Immagine where he coordinates the production of exhibition fittings and event halls.

Andrea Sicuro

Andrea Sicuro
Architect and Co-founder of the knitwear fashion brand Architect and Co-founder of the knitwear fashion brand Patafisic, his main activities are interior and fashion design. He mainly deals with the technical aspects of fashion products' creation and distribution, interior design, design of furniture on commission and research and purchase of pieces of furniture and decoration. He collaborates with Flair Home Collection and with the Firma Prima Design in Florence.

Francesca Sorgato

Francesca Sorgato
Professor of Interior Design and Fashion Theory. Graduated in Architecture, she collaborated for some years with the Arabeschi di Latte collective in the production of events and installations. In 2009 she moved to London where she began teaching and obtained the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice at Manchester Metropolitan University. She carries on the research also deepening the sociological and semiological aspects related to creativity.

Francesco Toselli

Francesco Toselli
Product Designer based in Florence, currently working for Palomar Design Company, and as freelance. His design research is aimed to the coexistence of the product and a continuous experimentation with materials and technology.

Veronica Caciolli

Veronica Caciolli
After her Master's Degree in Phenomenology of Styles in Bologna, she completed a series of advanced studies in Curating, Art and Anthropology, History of Religions in Berlin, Rome and Milan. She has written for art magazines such as Segno and Exibart. From 2005 to 2007 she was in charge of institutional exhibitions and publications for Photology, organizing projects involving Mario Giacomelli, Enzo Cucchi, Joel-Peter Witkin, Claudio Abate and Achille Bonito Oliva, among others.. For museums, from 2008 to 2015 she has curated the XX and XXI centuries collections and contemporary art exhibitions at Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary art of Rovereto. From 2016 to 2019, on leave at Palazzo Pretorio Museum in Prato, she worked on symbolic stratifications of time throughout Pretorio Studio: artists residencies and exhibits collection-specific. As independent curator, she keeps on researching the relationships between art and anthropology throughout local and international exhibits, essays, lectures. She has published, among others, with Silvana Editoriale, Electa Mondadori, Gli Ori and Mousse Publishing.

Cosimo Balestri

Cosimo Balestri
Architect. His main involvement is now the study of urban dynamics through the activity of ECÒL, architecture office and research platform of which he’s partner and the cultural association [chì-na], both based in the Macrolotto 0, Prato. He’s also interested in graphics and web, as a quick response to his need to translate systems into visual entities.

Alfredo Cisternino

Alfredo Cisternino
PhD in history of architecture. He participated to international congresses and published several essays on modern architecture.

Filippo Garofalo

Filippo Garofalo
For more than 15 years he has worked in the field of 3D Modeling, Rendering and  industrial and interior design. ART (Authorized Rhinoceros Trainer) since 2008, specializes in the design of industrial, architectural and jewelry products. Autodesk Certified Professional for 3ds Max since 2013, he has worked in several Autodesk Training Centers in Tuscany and Lombardy. Expert in 3D printing and milling; from this year he is Vray Certified Trainer.

Manfredi Mannucci

Manfredi Mannucci
Architect, in 2011 he started working at Architetti Mannucci Associati studio where he became an associate in 2016. The Studio focuses on restoration work of historical buildings, from concept to completion. In 2015 he has been appointed safety coordinator on construction sites, furthermore in 2018 he started teaching technical drawing techniques at IED.

Francesco Scanu

Francesco Scanu
Architect specialised in retail architecture and visual branding. He is Managing Partner at Area-17 Architecture and Interiors, an international architectural firm operating in Europe and Asia, where he currently leads the retail design and graphic design departments. He had been investigating for more than 20 years the dynamics among architecture, communication and media and their interaction to meet the needs of a contemporary retail space.

Michela Tonelli

Michela Tonelli
Graduated in Architecture, in 2014 she founded MTSYS, a studio based in Florence that deals with project communication in the architectural field. Didactics and teaching are integrated activities of the studio. From 2017 he is official Trainer V-RayforC4D. Her work has been published on the book Great talk about photorealism, curated by Bogdan Sasu, the very first project uniting world-renowned artists in the 3D community.

Elvira Muntoni

Elvira Muntoni
Architect, she has been working with architectural firms in Barcelona, Brussels and Florence, and in New York with the artist Tom Sachs. Since 2013 she collaborates with an international interior design firm in Florence. Besides her activity as Architect, she moves among different disciplines such as graphic design, illustration and art.

Alessandra Castellani

Alessandra Castellani
PhD in Cultural Anthropology of Complex Societies and a master’s degree in Sociology. Consultant for multinational corporations, such as P&G, J&J and Unilever. She is the author of Storia Sociale dei Tatuaggi (2014), Roma:Donzelli; Vestire Degenere: moda e culture giovanili (2010), Roma:Donzelli; Piacevole è la notte: cultura e mercato dell'intrattenimento notturno (2003), Roma:ManifestoLibri; I ragazzi di Tokyo: le poetiche zen di una metropoli (1997). Her current research focuses on: Media, Gender, Popular Culture and Fashion.

Fabio Barluzzi

Fabio Barluzzi
He is an architect graduated with honours in 1994. Before his degree he spent four months in Kevin Roche Office (New Haven, Massachusetts), analyzing Roche’s approach to office space design. After several years in the residential, retail and office architecture, in 2009 he co-founded MetroOffice Architetti with Barbara Ponticelli.

Erica De Candido

Erica De Candido
Graduated in Industrial Design in Florence, she first founded the AnAtomicFactory design and communication studio and later worked as a freelance designer. In 2016 she became partner of e-ggs studio that deals with architecture, interior, and product design. Over the years, the studio has received several national and international awards such as the Archiproduct Design Award (best of category 2016), the Red Dot Award (winner 2017), the German Design Award (winner 2017), the IF Product Design Award (winner 2017).

Giovanni Franceschelli

Giovanni Franceschelli
Architect with a post-graduate degree in Advanced Architecture obtained in Spain. He is specialized in green building projects and interior design, especially in hospitality and food&beverage sectors. He founded Rizoma Architetture firm in 2009, after 10 years working with other firms. Rizoma Architetture projects have been published in several magazines and websites of architecture all over the world, some of them won international competitions and awards, like the interior design project for The Student Hotel Florence, that won the 2019 MIPIM Award in Cannes as Best Mixed-Use Development.

Martino Margheri

Martino Margheri
Graduated in Contemporary Art History, he is in charge of educational activities for university and art academy students at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi. Between 2007 and 2013 he was in charge of the educational activities and public program at CCC Strozzina (Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina) in Florence. His work focuses on the development of participatory-based art projects. In 2018 he collaborated with Manifesa (The European Nomadic Biennial) to train the art mediators team.

Anna Positano

Anna Positano
Photographer and independent researcher, she graduated in Architecture and then achieved a MA in Photography from the London College of Communication. Her works are regularly published in architectural magazines, including Casabella, Domus, and Werk Bauen+Wohnen. Her projects have been shown internationally at Milan Triennale, Cornell University, and MAO Ljubljana. She is recipient of the Graham Foundation’s grant in 2019.  

Giulia Flavia Baczynski

Giulia Flavia Baczynski
Graduated in Architecture in Milan, she has been directing the Models Laboratory at the Mantova Campus for ten years. Alongside teaching in the classroom and in the Laboratory,  she teaches the history and technique of the architectural model, she creates models for exhibitions and museums, university research, and workshops. She also deals with model restoration and her works include the restoration of the models by Gaetano Pesce and Pier Luigi Nervi.

Colomba Pecchioli

Colomba Pecchioli
Architect, founding member of “acmearchitetture”, a young professional firm that was awarded in many design competitions and projects. In 2005 she founded ottoperotto, a collaborative network promoting urban installations and exhibit design. In 2012 she co-founded p+p architetti associati, a professional firm whose projects range from residential and commercial interiors design, temporary installations and reuse of historical buildings. Since 2017 she is a member in the Board of FAF- Florence Architect Foundation.

Cecilia Marzocchi

Cecilia Marzocchi
Over the years, among others, she’s taken part in projects for Starbucks, Friends of the Highline, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Centro Studi Poltronova, Ordine degli Architetti Firenze, Regione Toscana, Pitti Immagine, Regione Veneto, Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico San Marino, Centro Pecci Prato.