On April 28th 2021 a partnership between Fondazione Cirulli and Triennale Milano has been signed. The agreement between the two Italian Institutions, one private and one public, comes as a pivotal recognition of Fondazione Cirulli’s identity, and it promises of being very productive for the years to come.

The agreement was made possible thanks to the close collaboration with Marco Sammicheli, Curator of Design, Fashion and Crafts Department, Director of Museo del Design Italiano at Triennale Milano, and member of the international scientific committee of Fondazione Cirulli, a body aimed to support the organization of exhibitions and cultural events promoted by the Foundation by means of a long-term and effective vision.

Thanks to his position, Marco Sammicheli is well aware of the quality of Fondazione Cirulli’s cultural holdings which boast an outstanding collection of paintings, drawings, photographs and advertising posters.

The partnership is the result of Triennale Milano’s new interest in organizing an embedded model of the Museo del Design Italiano, in order to allow a wider spread of design culture and make it integrate into the surroundings. That is also in full connection with Fondazione Cirulli’s mission of narrating the Italian Visual Culture of the Twentieth Century through the unusual testimonies offered by the multiple disciplinary fields of interest of the Institution - an inexhaustible source of study and research.

The richness of the Archive and the variety of its materials find in the exhibition renewal of the Museo del Design Italiano a precious enhancement that allow a wider audience to access and enjoy the artworks.

The new synergy between Fondazione Cirulli and Triennale Milano concretely comes to life on Thursday July 8th 2021, with the inauguration of the new permanent exhibition of the Museo del Design Italiano. On that occasion, Fondazione Cirulli participates with a selection of works created on the occasion of textiles competitions organised by companies from various productive sectors, and promoted by the X and XI Triennale exhibitions of 1954 and 1957 in Milan.

The first selection of works from the archives of Fondazione Cirulli exhibited at the Triennale Milano's Museo del Design Italiano consists of 28 mixed media drawings on paper, executed for the X and XI Triennale - 1954 and 1957 - the first international exhibitions dedicated to industrial design.

A result of the highly creative environment that characterized our country during the economic boom of the Fifties, Italian industrial design intercepted the growing need for collaboration between the arts and the industrial production, representing a valid field of experimentation for old and new generation of artists called to participate by the main companies of the time.

One of the emerging sectors was that of printed textiles for interior design, promoted by both small and medium craft businesses.

In the graphic projects for printed textiles produced by artists from different backgrounds such as Lucio Fontana, Piero Dorazio, Fausto Melotti, Roberto Crippa, Gianni Dova, Enrico Prampolini and many others, we are able to find today one of the most significant union of energies, where the great imagination displayed in the kaleidoscopic arrangement of shapes and colours recalls the historical moment of a country, boldly moving towards a substantial cultural, economic and social change.

Bruno Munari - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la X Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1954)

Ettore Sottsass - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la XI Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1957)

Roberto Sambonet - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la XI Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1957)

Piero Dorazio - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la X Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1954)

Lucio Fontana - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la X Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1954)

Fede (Federica Cheti) - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la X Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1954)

Enzo Mari - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la XI Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1957)

Gianni Dova - Progetto grafico di tessuto per la XI Triennale di Milano - esposizione internazionale delle arti decorative e industriali moderne e dell’architettura moderna (1957)