Compasso d'Oro

Compasso d'Oro is the name of an Industrial Design award originated in Italy in 1954 by the La Rinascente company from an original idea of Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli. From 1964 it has been hosted exclusively by Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI). It is the first and most recognized award in its field. The prize aims to acknowledge and promote quality in the field of industrial designs Made in Italy and is awarded by ADI.

History

The Castiglioni brothers contributed to establish the ADI and the Compasso d’Oro awards. Enzo Mari was president of the ADI from 1976 to 1979. It was the first award of its kind in Europe and soon took on an international dimension and relevance, multiplying the occasions on which the exhibitions of award-winning objects were held in Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan.

List of Compasso d'Oro Awards

	Year	Jury	Entries	ADI president	Winners
1st	1954	Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, Gio Ponti, Alberto Rosselli, Marco Zanuso	5700		15
2nd	1955	Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, E. N. Rogers, Alberto Rosselli, Marco Zanuso	1300		12
3rd	1956	Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, Franco Albini, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Alberto Rosselli	1450	Alberto Rosselli (Birth of the ADI)	9
4th	1957	Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, Franco Albini, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Ignazio Gardella	1200	Giulio Castelli	5
5th	1959	Bruno Alfieri, Vico Magistretti, Giulio Minoletti, Augusto Morello, Giovanni Romano	1200	Livio Castiglioni	6
6th	1960	Ludovico Belgiojoso, Vico Magistretti, Augusto Magnaghi, Augusto Morello, Marco Zanuso	800	Franco Albini	10
7th	1962	Giulio Castelli, Franco Momigliano, Augusto Morello, Bruno Munari, Gian Battista Pininfarina		Roberto Olivetti	9
8th	1964	Dante Giacosa, Vittorio Gregotti, Augusto Morello, Bruno Munari, Gino Valle		Aldo Basetti	6
9th	1967	Aldo Basetti, Felice Dessi, Gillo Dorfles, Tomas Maldonado, Edoardo Vittoria		Marco Zanuso	13
10th	1970	Franco Albini, Jean Baudrillard, Achille Castiglioni, Federico Correa, Vittorio Gregotti, Roberto Guiducci, Albe Steiner		Anna Castelli Ferrieri	10
11th	1979	Angelo Cortesi, Gillo Dorfles, Augusto Morello, Arthur Pulos, Yuri Soloviev	1167	Enzo Mari	39
12th	1981	François Barrè, Cesare De Seta, Martin Kelm, Ugo La Pietra, Pierluigi Spadolini		Rodolfo Bonetto	16
13th	1984	Cino Boeri, Douglas Kelley, Antti Nurmesniemi, Giotto Stoppino, Bruno Zevi		Giotto Stoppino	11
14th	1987	Angelo Cortesi, Rodolfo Bonetto, Marino Marini, Cara Mc Carty, Philippe Starck		Angelo Cortesi	16
15th	1989	Pierliugi Molinari, Fredrik Wildhagen, Hans Wichmann, Cesare Stevan, Tomas Maldonado		Pierlugi Molinari	12
16th	1991	Silvio Ceccato, Marcello Inghilesi, Victor Margolin, Pierlugi Molinari, Antti Nurmesniemi		Angelo Cortesi	14
17th	1994	Dante Giacosa, Vittoriano Viganò, Giovanni Anceschi, Paola Antonelli, Uta Brandes, Jacob Gantenbein, Marja Heemskerk, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Marco Migliari, Gianemiglio Monti, Mario Trimarchi		Augusto Morello	13
18th	1998	Achille Castiglioni, Giuseppe De Rita, Marianne Frandsen, Fritz Frenkler, Sadik Karamustafa, Tomas Maldonado, Marco Zanuso		Augusto Morello	15
19th	2001	Marie-Laure Jousset, Filippo Alison, François Burkhardt, Omar Calabrese, Francisco Jarauta, Maurizio Morgantini, Erik Spiekermann		Giancarlo Iliprandi	13
20th	2004	Tomas Maldonado, Fulya Erdemci, Robert Fitzpatrick, Yutaka Mino, Pietro Petraroia, Richard Sapper, Angela Schönberger, Tomàš Vlček		Carlo Forcolini	16

Designers who have won a Compasso d'Oro prize

Designer	Nationality	Years	Producer	Object
Bruno Munari	Italy	1954 1955 1979	Robots, Zani & Zani, Pigoma	Zizi, Abitacolo, Ice bucket "TMT"
Kaj Franck	Finland	1957		Career
Emilio Ambasz	Argentina	1991		Qualis Chairs
Mario Bellini	Italy	1962 1964 1970 1979 2001	Olivetti	Divisumma 18
Philippe Starck	France	2001	Kartell
Joe Cesare Colombo	Italy	1967 1970	Kartell
Marco Zanuso	Italy	1979	Vortice, Italy	Ariante Fan
Gino Colombini	Italy	1955	Kartell	Trashcan
George Sowden	UK	1991	Olivetti	Fax OFX420
Konstantin Grcic	Germany	2001	Flos	Mayday Lamp
Harri Koskinen	Finland	2004		Muu chair
Eero Aarnio	Finland	2008	Magis	Trioli childrens' chair

Trivia

The award is given as a Compass, the one invented by Adalbert Goeringer in 1893 to measure the Golden Section.

See also

• Industrial Design
• List of notable industrial designers

References

• ADI homepage The official web page of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (Italian).
• DolceVita A web page dedicated to lifestyle. Contains an online design museum.
• San Pellegrino Article about the origin of the Compasso d'Oro prize.
• Fiell, Charlotte & Peter (2001). Industrial Design A-Z. London: Taschen.