The students in the 2013 Domus Academy Master in Design, the prestigious institute founded in Milan in 1982 as part of the Laureate International Universities network, faced a particular challenge: redesign professional coffee machines with an innovative touch, imagining new frontiers in consumer trends and a new, easily identifiable brand.

Astoria decided to sponsor the Master in Design by supporting a team of students from emerging markets like China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Portugal in a project called Dress me up, aimed at exploring new product entities in an international context. The young talents from Domus Academy collaborated closely with the company, working with the realities of this sector’s technological and productive limitations, interpreting design as an invaluable competitive factor and looking for a spark that would breathe life in to a new perception on the product.

The Master was launched with an inauguration in July 2013, and this compelling initiative came to fruition last Tuesday, November 26th, with the presentation of final theses at the Domus Academy in Milano. Federico Gallia, Sole Director of the Ryoma Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Astoria, Philippe Casens, Course leader for the Domus Academy Master in Design, Odoardo Fioravanti, designer and Project leader for the theses, and designer Lorenzo Bustillos presided over the event.

The final projects developed by the 2013 Master in Design students will be the focus of an exhibit called Open Doors, scheduled on Tuesday, December 10th, (6:00 p.m.) and Wednesday, December 11th (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) at the Domus Academy in via Darwin 20 (free admission).

For more information: www.domusacademy.com