Milan is creativity, a mix of imagination and innovation applied not only to the design but also to the technology and the efficient management of resources. Students of the Master of Product Design Labs could take in all the ideas that this city spread in the best time of the year for it: the design week.

During these days, Milan becomes another city, a nerve centre of the European design that gives room to a multitude of exhibitions of different nature and dimensions which house all kinds of works.

Apart from the essential visit to the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the students didn’t miss any of the zones of the Fuorisalone dedicated to the design.

Ventura Lambrate offered a place to renowned designers who showed interesting initiatives with exciting presentations. On the other hand, the Salone Satellite was dedicated to young designers with ideas that refresh and renew the community of this sector. Students also visited the zona Tortona, an entire district turned into a laboratory of ideas in which to test solutions and formulas to design the contemporary city.

On this trip, the students of the Master of Product Design Labs were introduced into the daily life of two world famous studios: Piero Lissoni Studio and Michele de Lucchi Studio. There was also space for more cultural stops such as the Triennale Design Museum, the Rossana Orlandi Gallery or Most Salone.

During this busy week, there was also the successful inauguration of the MADtastic , where students from the previous promotion of the Masters of Design and Innovation 2012 showed their thesis creations chosen to be exhibited as example of design made ​​in Madrid. A complete program to use up Milan to the limit also thanks to Frédéric Misik, tutor of the master, who was present at all times to guide and propose them the challenge to find the inspiration for their thesis projects.

MASTER OF PRODUCT DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Clive van Heerden.
Start: January 2014.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9. 30 to 18.00 h, distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

Photos: Marcela Cáceres

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Although it was the first time that some students of the Master of Communication Design Labs faced a briefing, they did not disappoint the results of the Performance & Challenge workshop led by Marçal Moliné and Miquel Royo, two of the most outstanding publicity agents of the country.

Secret Sensations, the new Häagen Dazs ice cream was the protagonist of the brief, and therefore, of all the proposals developed by students. The challenge was not easy, how to convince the public to wait ten minutes before to taste it? The creative ways to address the objective were very varied and original. The mood, sensuality, romanticism or the purest Spanish-style, were some of the approaches adopted to curb the impatient instinct of the consumer.

Moliné and Royo promoted the experimentation among students, as with print media as with the visual format, generating high quality results that proved their creativity and care for the three pillars of the advertising language: word, image and movement.

MASTER OF COMMUNICATION DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Toni Segarra
Start: January 2014. The registration period is now open.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9:30 to 18:00h, distributed between lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: all the lessons are taught in English.

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATIONS
a.pacifico@madrid.ied.es
(+34) 91 448 04 44
Skype: master.iedmadrid

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MDI Lab, the creative workspace of the Masters of Design and Innovation, hadn’t been the same after the workshop of Creative Problem Solving with Juan Prego, director of Actitud Creativa. Omar, Luis Alejandro, Juan Felipe, Javier, Humberto and Marcela tell it us in the program of Gestiona Radio.

The development of the creative thinking that Juan Prego promoted in the Masters of Design and Innovation, gave life to an innovative system of problem solving that, at the same time, answered to the necessities that were at the IED Master headquarter. The MDI Lab space turned, more than ever, into a area in which ideas flow and different synergies are created thanks to the coexistence of all type of nationalities and design specializations.

In small groups which joined different profiles, without time and resources, results, that reached perfectly the objective, were achieved: to transform a real space. In addition, all of the participants formalized and tightened the discipline of creativity, thanks to the use of a particular methodology and tools.

The projects range from a slate interactive strip which runs entirely the room, to a hanging mobile to promote both the integration and introduction among students. Some projects were developed with sustainable materials, as the room divider made with pallets, and other works were a lot more atypical, as the idea of a lot of balloons that drop inspiring messages to students for their moments of block.

RELATED NEWS
Developing creative thinking, under the guidance of Juan Prego
Juan Prego and Dario Assante speak about innovation on Gestiona Radio
Juan Prego and the D Day. Inspiration for Creative Thinking and Innovation

MASTERS OF DESIGN AND INNOVATION
Program Leaders: Jaime Hayon, Clive van Heerden, Toni Segarra and Carlos Barrabés
Start: January, 2014 Last places for the 2013 edition!
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9:30 to 18:00h. Distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English and /or Spanish.

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATIONS
a.pacifico@madrid.ied.es
(+34) 91 448 04 44
Skype: master.iedmadrid

Photos: Sergio Fernández and Farah Salwa Mawlawi

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Do you want to give more than books? Due to the World Book Day, the Area of Sustainability of the IED Madrid, in collaboration with the NGO AIDA and its project of solidarity bookshop Books&More, launches a used book recycling campaign.

Giving your books you will contribute to the education and health of disadvantaged children in Morocco and Guinea-Bissau. You can deliver them at the reception of our IED Madrid headquarters (C/ Flor Alta,8) and IED Master (C/ Larra, 14) from April 23^rd to May 13^th.

In this case, Silvia Marchena, Daniela Goicoechea and Omar Santiago, students of the Master of Strategic Design Labs, together with Juan Felipe Dueñas, student of the Master of Communication Design Labs, have shown their solidarity aspect taking part in the organization and design of this event.

MASTERS OF DESIGN AND INNOVATION
Program Leaders: Jaime Hayon, Clive van Heerden, Toni Segarra and Carlos Barrabés
Start: January, 2014 Last places for the 2013 edition!
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9:30 to 18:00h. Distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

Alberto Marcos (Madrid, 1973), architect and creative director of Ninetonine, is specialist in child furniture design. In less than a week, he has been able to instill students with certain techniques of retrospection to get gratifying results in this field with students of the Master of Product Design Labs.

Students used wood as essential material to create prototypes of products and toys for children between 3 and 5 years of age.  In all of them, his vital experiences and his identity as designer should be present. We talk with the students Laura Roca and Marcela Cáceres to talk about their experiences and sensations after this workshop.

How has your conception of the child furniture design changed after this workshop?
L: Truthfully, I had very little experience working with children. Moreover, I believe to remember that I don’t like them in the least, but this workshop, of just only a week, has kept my mouth shut. It is an exciting field, full of histories to discover.

M: I loved to discover that the simplicity can be immersed within the child furniture design. In this market, a person is being always bombarded by thousands of colors, shapes, elements and complicated concepts. But with this workshop the vision was the contrary and connected perfectly with my design style. The child product design does not have to be simplistic in concept and complicated in execution. This field can be conceptually rich and has a simplest execution that leads to the use of the imagination, which favours children development.

What potential has wood for the child design?
L: Wood has great potential, because it is a warm, soft and natural material.   A material with many possibilities of use and production, apart from being aesthetically incredible.

M: I think that its potential is enormous. It is a material that can be used, touched and manipulated. Children need elements which are able to withstand their sometimes rough treatment and one that awakes their senses. Wood has these properties and moreover, it is simple and elegant, what makes it has the potential to turn into an interesting element in the home.

What design strategies has you followed up to find your prototype? Is your childhood vision or your own identity represented in it?
L: The strategy that we used for its design was to make a time-space retrospection, placing ourselves in the first memories of our childhood to lead a concept related to our own experience as children. Through this methodology, we achieved to go into our own past and to develop a series of alternative creative exercises in a normal process of design. In the case of Laika (my project name), I tried to give life to many of my childhood experiences (the game of the broken telephone, to walk stepping on an adult’s feet or the kaleidoscope, among others), turning them into a series of objects that give child the freedom to play with his creativity.

M: We brought memories from the past to take inspiration, flew through ideas, land on a concept, sketch the design and go mad in the workshop creating the prototype. During the first part of this workshop, I remembered things that made me happy and I wanted to incorporate them into my product. I believe I achieved it, I am happy with the final result. If I had my family here, this prototype would be in the room of a small child.

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MASTER OF PRODUCT DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Clive van Heerden.
Start: January 2014.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9. 30 to 18.00 h, distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

The architect Paloma Cañizares is already a habitual visitor of the Masters of Design and Innovation. In this edition of 2013, she visits the Master of Product Design Labs to bring her work closer to students, a work developed mainly around three disciplines: architecture, interior design and furniture design.

In particular, they did researches on the Reused History project, a collaboration between her edition brand PCM and Tomas Kral, with the Real Fábrica de Cristales of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia (Spain).
We talk with her to know more about this innovative initiative that tries to promote the legacy of the Spanish craftsmanship from a contemporary point of view.

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What is the case Reused History?
The Reused History collection is a project of collaboration that I proposed to Tomas Kral after having seen his glass designs. He is Slovakian and in his work it is possible to see how he has investigated with engraving techniques from his own region, known as the zone of the Bohemian glass. Reused History began as an experiment in which to join traditions with different ways to understand the work on glass. La Granja has a collection of more than 5000 outdated moulds and among them there were some with absolutely contemporary shapes, in spite of being more than 200 years old. We decide to use them again modifying their original use and to make pieces in which craftsmen force their knowledge to work in a new way. The result is a glassware and a series of contemporary vases based on old techniques.

What are the main advantages to carry out a project with collaborations such as those of Tomas Kral or the Real Fábrica de Cristales of San Ildefonso?
During the development of the project we faced up to very interesting situations, such as the relationship between the composition of the glass and the decorations that can be done. The main interest of these projects is how it is possible to reach a non-predetermined result through the research and limitations.

Is it possible to consider today the self-production as a value added in the design?
The self-production is a stage through which many designers had to pass to materialize their ideas. It is a matter of necessity, but in the self-production the process of design is not completed. From the manufacture of the product to its access to the final customer, there is still a long way to go. Luckily, the digital tools are helping a lot to cut down these distances.

What had carried you to create your own brand, PCM Design?
PCM Design had been created in 2009 to research and develop building systems for furniture and architecture able to offer endless possibilities. I spent time designing basic pieces that can reach, by chance, a degree of complexity and adaptability capable of solving many spatial situations. It was an exhaustive work of research and I faced up to innumerable problems of manufacture. Seeing what was designed in that moment and what the world of the product design consisted of, I realized that my project was a very ambitious project which can mark a turning point for the company I had set up. The idea was to begin producing smaller product of designers, who anyone had brought onto the market and who had a very important potential.

What projects do you have in mind for the future?
We are already working on very interesting collections. On the other hand, the objectives of the brand go always towards two directions. One of them is the awareness and promotion of our designers and their work, searching workshops, interviews, exhibitions and lectures for them. Now, our pieces are in five exhibitions and before the summer we will take part in other three ones. The other direction is commercial, getting in touch with new shops and customers.

What are the keys to be different and be successful in a context of crisis as the present one?
PCM is a very personal project based on the intuition and the work. It is very hard to foresee its success. We have bet on the quality in every way. The future will tell.

RELATED NEWS
Paloma Cañizares, Premio Heineken 2012 para Nuevos Valores
Diseñador, producto y fábrica establecen sinergias en “Reused history”

MASTER OF PRODUCT DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Clive van Heerden.
Start: January 2014.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9. 30 to 18.00 h, distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

The experiences lived in the Masters of Design and Innovation go from the merely academic aspect to the personal one, Carmen Alía, Mai Quant, Caroline Beatriz and Juliana Marín are a perfect example of it.

These four ex students of the Master of Strategic Design Labs 2011 have started up 3sixtygrados, a blog that joins two purposes. On the one hand, they have created a point of reference for businessmen and people interested in the innovation, design and fashion. Additionally, this initiative is born from the idea to keep in touch and continue with the friendships and the philosophy they adopted after their passage through the IED Madrid.
We have interviewed them to know more about this new adventure.

 
Where did the idea of creating 3sixtygrados come from?
The idea is born from the necessity to maintain our friendships that we had during the Master of Strategic Design Labs and to continue to share contents among us and the rest of the world. We live different realities in our countries, so that we consider this blog as an opportunity to stay up to date about local and world trends.

What do you want transmit with this project?
From different places of the planet really interesting changes are taking place and all of these can be a source of inspiration for businessmen. With 3sixtygrados we want to create a laboratory of trends that can be extrapolated to every kind of places and markets.

What topics do you write about? What do you offer to reader to be different from the rest of blogs?
Principally we write about topics that call us attention and we consider relevant in the change of paradigm that we are living. Govern initiatives, strategies of prominent leaders or projects that simply we like.

Why would we recommend the Master of Strategic Design Labs? What did you learn studying it?
As designers, it is essential to have a holistic vision of the world. This master has given us the tools to create a habit of research that allow us to stay up to date from a critical perspective. Additionally, it promotes a proactive attitude, training professionals able to begin their own businesses from their passions.

MASTER OF STRATEGIC DESING LABS
Program Leader: Carlos Barrabés
Start: January, 2014 Last places for the 2013 edition!
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 18.00 h. Distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English and /or Spanish.

Her inventiveness and passion for experimentation are Johanna Tammsalu’s greatest strengths. After taking a Master of European Design Labs 2012 and carrying out a successful thesis project, Solid Spin Lamp Collection, which will be on display at MADtastic during the Salone del Mobile, she has just joined National Geographic.

Creative by nature, she began to find her place in the fashion world with her original brand Joti Knot: a range of handmade jewellery collections made from high-tech climbing ropes and decorated with chains and Swarovski crystals. In the meantime, she has positioned her work in the sector, and has now been taken on as a junior designer of womenswear. She tells us about her experience and the unique aspects of her job.

How are you dealing with your new role at National Geographic? What is your position within the fashion department?
I feel very excited and blessed with my new position at National Geographic as Junior Designer of their women and girls range. This involves designing everything from outerwear to swimwear and everything in between. I have always had respect for and an interest in the company. The amount of new knowledge I receive every day is unimaginable, and the position has really brought to my attention how much effort and time goes into making garments. Fashion design is not too different from design as a whole. The thought process is the same, although the execution methods are different. I feel quite at home.

Inspired by craftsmanship and ethnic culture, National Geographic offers a wide range of garments and accessories with a lot of personality. What characterises this brand? Do they use organic or artisan fabrics?
National Geographic is putting a lot of emphasis into designing comfortable and practical clothing that would serve you well when traveling and exploring new places. At the moment we are working on a new organic line, which should be really great once it hits the stores. I myself buy handmade and organic products every time I travel, as they have more character and feel great to the touch.

What would you highlight about your time at the Master of European Design Labs del IED Madrid?
I truly enjoyed meeting different designers and being able to work closely with them during the workshops. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and make sure that you do everything to the highest quality possible, so that it can be used for your portfolio later on.

MASTER OF EUROPEAN DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Jaime Hayon.
Start date: January 2014.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 18.00 h, distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER
a.pacifico@madrid.ied.es
(+34) 91 448 04 44
Skype: master.iedmadrid

The oldest traditions applied to innovative design always have a space in the Masters of Design and Innovation. On this occasion, a ceramics workshop has been carried out along with the expert Ana Ferichola, from the firm Anuscapetrusca, who allowed the students to enjoy first-hand experience of the Raku oven technique.

During the various sessions, the students of the Master of Product Design Labs delved into ceramics theory, beginning with its history and learning about the times and processes required by this material from the initial idea to the final project. The most practical part of the workshop involved the production of small clay pieces which were subsequently enamelled.

The Rakú process is based on the introduction of ceramic pieces in an oven at a temperature of 1000 °C. The pieces are taken out when they are red hot and placed in buckets of sawdust. This sudden change gives rise to interesting transformations in the material’s colour, cracks in the enamel, metallic colours, etc.

As Ferichola pointed out, “If you understand the process, it is easier to adapt the design, so that it suits the manufacturing process”. It is vitally important for designers to understand every stage of production, so that they can adapt to the process, give the appropriate instructions to artisans and ensure that the final product matches their original idea.

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MASTER OF PRODUCT DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Clive van Heerden.
Start: January 2014.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9. 30 to 18.00 h, distributed into lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: the lessons are taught in English.

The creative director of *S,C,P,F…, Miguel Madariaga, arrived at the IED Madrid looking forward to revealing the secrets of the advertising world. Thanks to his wide experience, both at Contrapunto and at Toni Segarra’s agency, he understands first-hand the way in which the advertising world really works, and wanted to share his knowledge with the students of the Master of Communication Design Labs.

The advice given was varied, from the importance of a good portfolio that can function as a passport to the best companies, to the need to be ready for adversity and last-minute changes, which are very common in the advertising world.

Madariaga emphasises the fact that the main difference between *S,C,P,F… with regard to other agencies is its commitment to the creation of creative concepts based on strategy and planning. In his opinion, it is necessary to go beyond differentiating and striking creativity; the true value within advertising involves promoting communication paths for brands that are powerful and sustainable over time. We took advantage of his visit to the IED Master to conduct a brief interview.

What are the keys that must be taken into account before entering the professional advertising world?
I think it is necessary to have an intuition (it is difficult to “know” when you haven’t yet started work) that it is a profession that you enjoy. You will devote many hours to it and it is hard to do if you don’t love what you do.

In which ways has the Spanish communication scene changed? What kind of training is necessary to adapt to its constant changes?
The Spanish advertising world, like that in the rest of the world, has gone from being a relatively simple scenario, where there was a hegemonic medium (TV) and a couple of extra players (mainly printed advertising and radio), to a tremendously complex one (the irruption of the internet, multi-channel TV, highly fragmented audiences).

In Spain, additionally, the crisis has complicated the situation, because of the prevailing uncertainty and the need for immediate sales it has generated in a majority of customers. Paradoxically, I think it is a good time to be entrepreneurial and inventive; established agencies don’t enjoy such a firm and clear position, and customers are more willing than ever to listen to solutions, whatever their source.

What advice would you give to our students of the Master of Communication Design Labs so that they can stand out in such a competitive environment?

They should be curious about what is happening around them, so that they don’t lose their enthusiasm and desire to creative. With these ingredients and a bit of common sense I believe they can face this competitive environment and succeed.

MASTER OF COMMUNICATION DESIGN LABS
Program Leader: Toni Segarra
Start: 29^th of January 2013. The registration period is now open.
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 9:30 to 18:00h, distributed between lessons, tutorials, research and trips.
Language: all the lessons are taught in English and/or Spanish.