The ADI Compasso d’Oro Award

The Compasso d’Oro Award is the oldest and most prestigious accolade dedicated to Italian design. Established in 1954 by La Rinascente from an idea by Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli, the award was created to recognize and promote the best achievements of the emerging Italian industrial design scene. From its very first edition, the Compasso d’Oro stood out for its intent to reward products that, through an original synthesis of function, aesthetics, and innovation, represent excellence in industrial production. While the award is given to the product itself, it also acknowledges and celebrates the joint role of both the manufacturer and the designer.

The visual identity of the Compasso d’Oro was created by Albe Steiner, who drew inspiration from Adalbert Goeringer’s golden compass—an instrument used by sculptors to define harmonious proportions based on the golden ratio.

After the first four editions, organized directly by La Rinascente between 1954 and 1957, the award’s organization was entrusted in 1959 to ADI – the Association for Industrial Design, which gained full ownership of it in 1967. Since then, ADI has overseen the award and managed the Historical Collection through the work of the ADI Foundation, established in 2001. In 2004, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities declared the Compasso d’Oro Historical Collection to be of “exceptional artistic and historical interest,” formally recognizing it as part of Italy’s national cultural heritage.

The award is presented biennially by an international jury, composed for each edition of experts in design and various cultural disciplines. The jury selects the most deserving projects from those identified by the ADI Permanent Design Observatory and featured annually in the ADI Design Index. Selection criteria are grounded in scientific and cultural principles: design quality, innovation, environmental sustainability, use of advanced materials and technologies, formal coherence, and the social value of the product.

Today, the Compasso d’Oro Collection, preserved and showcased at the ADI Design Museum, includes over 2,300 products and projects that have received the award or an honorable mention in the various editions. It represents a unique heritage for understanding the evolution of both Italian and international design—from home and mobility products to material and service design, communication, social innovation, business, food design, and theoretical and critical research.