ADI System
ADI: three tools, just one system
ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (Association for Industrial Design) was founded in Milan in 1956 by a collective will of architects, designers, companies, and intellectuals—including De Carli, Gardella, Magistretti, Munari, Nizzoli, Peressutti, Rosselli, Steiner, the companies Kartell and Officine Pellizzari, and the critic Gillo Dorfles—united by the goal of promoting a design culture and renewing the industrial aesthetics of modernity.
Today, ADI brings together over a thousand members: designers, companies, researchers, schools, publishers, journalists, and students (the latter admitted as “Aspirants”), forming a national network active through 14 regional delegations and 4 thematic departments. The Association promotes design as a cultural and economic phenomenon, closely tied to technological innovation, social evolution, and environmental sustainability. It encourages dialogue among key players in the field and supports the recognition of the designer’s role, also by advocating for intellectual property rights and the development of specific regulations.
Since 1958, ADI has overseen the Compasso d’Oro Award, the most prestigious European accolade in the field of design. To preserve and promote its cultural legacy, the ADI Compasso d’Oro Collection Foundation was established in 2001. The Foundation manages the Historical Collection and oversees the activities of the ADI Design Museum. Complementing these institutions is ADIper srl, the ADI system’s service company, responsible, among other things, for its editorial production.
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ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale extends its gratitude to the Municipality of Milan, which on December 5, 2011, granted the current building on a 30-year free loan, enabling the realization of a museum dedicated to the Compasso d’Oro Historical Collection.
The ADI Compasso d’Oro Foundation thanks the Ministry of Culture, which on April 22, 2004, declared the Compasso d’Oro Historical Collection to be “of exceptional artistic and historical interest,” thereby including it in the national cultural heritage and providing significant support for the creation of the ADI Design Museum.
The ADI Compasso d’Oro Foundation also thanks the Lombardy Region for joining the Board of Directors and becoming an institutional member on February 15, 2021, fostering a fruitful collaboration between the public and private sectors.