# Compasso d'Oro

The Compasso d'Oro (Italian pronunciation:; 'Golden Compass') is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) since 1964. The Compasso d'Oro is the first, and among the most recognized and respected design awards. It aims to acknowledge and promote quality in its field in Italy and internationally, and has been called both the "Nobel" and the "Oscar" of design.

## History

The Compasso d′Oro was established in 1954, and now it is the highest honour in the field of industrial design in Italy, comparable to other prestigious international awards such as the Good Design award, iF Design Award, Red Dot Award, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards, and the Good Design Award (Japan). 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.
The original idea for the award is credited to Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli [it]. Many other leading architects and designers of the era including the Castiglioni brothers (Livio, Pier Giacomo, and Achille), Albe Steiner [it], Enzo Mari and Marco Zanuso were involved in aspects of its inception and early development. The Compasso d'Oro logo (designed by Steiner) and award trophy itself invoke a drafting compass invented by Adalbert Göringer in 1893 to measure the Golden Section.
At present the management department of the Compasso d'Oro is Italy Industrial Designing Association, and it is also the members of the International Industrial Designing Committee and the European Designing Bureau.
Since its inception, approximately 350 designers have been honoured with the Award, for designs covering a wide range – from automobiles and bicycles to furniture and household objects, portable sewing machines, typewriters, calculators, clocks, lighting as well as concepts and systems, technical equipment, and yachts.
For the first time, the 2020 Compasso d'Oro included a "Products Career Award" which was given to three historical designs that have proven to be highly successful over time but were not awarded at the time of their inception: a 1962 floor lamp called Arco by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni; a bed design by Vico Magistretti from 1978 called "Nahalie"; and the now famous "Sacco" bean-bag chair designed by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, and Franco Teodoro in 1968.
The ADI Design Museum in Milan houses the historical collection of the ADI Compasso d’Oro Foundation, as well as temporary exhibitions, public talks and initiatives. On 22 April 2004, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – through its Superintendency for Lombardy – declared the collection of "exceptional artistic and historical interest", thus making it part of the national cultural heritage. In 2020, the Milan square where the ADI Design Museum is situated was renamed "Piazza Compasso d'Oro" to honour the cultural and historical significance of the award.
The inaugural ADI "Compasso d'Oro International Award" will be held at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. The winning entries will be exhibited in the Italian pavilion.

## List of Compasso d'Oro Awards

| | Year | Jury | President | Entries | Winners |
| 1st | 1954 | Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, Gio Ponti, Alberto Rosselli [it], 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 | Alberto Rosselli (Birth of the ADI) | 1450 | 9 |
| 4th | 1957 | Aldo Bassetti, Cesare Brustio, Franco Albini, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Ignazio Gardella | Giulio Castelli | 1200 | 5 |
| 5th | 1959 | Bruno Alfieri, Vico Magistretti, Giulio Minoletti [it], Augusto Morello, Giovanni Romano | Livio Castiglioni | 1200 | 6 |
| 6th | 1960 | Ludovico Belgiojoso, Vico Magistretti, Augusto Magnaghi, Augusto Morello, Marco Zanuso | Franco Albini | 800 | 10 |
| 7th | 1962 | Giulio Castelli, Franco Momigliano, Augusto Morello, Bruno Munari, Battista Pininfarina | Roberto Olivetti | | 9 |
| 8th | 1964 | Massimo Vignelli, Dante Giacosa, Vittorio Gregotti, Augusto Morello, Bruno Munari, Gino Valle [it] | Aldo Basetti | | 6 |
| 9th | 1967 | Aldo Basetti, Felice Dessi, Gillo Dorfles, Tomás Maldonado, Edoardo Vittoria | Marco Zanuso | | 13 |
| 10th | 1970 | Francesco Mazzucca, Franco Albini, Jean Baudrillard, Achille Castiglioni, Federico Correa, Vittorio Gregotti, Roberto Guiducci, Albe Steiner | Anna Castelli Ferrieri | | 10 |
| 11th | 1979 | Andrea Branzi, Clino Trini Castelli, Massimo Morozzi, Angelo Cortesi, Gillo Dorfles, Augusto Morello, Arthur Pulos, Yuri Soloviev, Nanni Strada | Enzo Mari | 1167 | 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, Tomás Maldonado | Pierluigi Molinari | | 12 |
| 16th | 1991 | Silvio Ceccato, Marcello Inghilesi, Victor Margolin, Pierluigi Molinari, Antti Nurmesniemi, Vito Noto | 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, Vito Noto | Augusto Morello | | 13 |
| 18th | 1998 | Achille Castiglioni, Giuseppe De Rita, Marianne Frandsen, Fritz Frenkler, Sadik Karamustafa, Tomás 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 | | 17 |
| 20th | 2004 | Tomas Maldonado, Fulya Erdemci, Robert Fitzpatrick, Yutaka Mino, Pietro Petraroia, Richard Sapper, Angela Schönberger, Tomàš Vlček | Carlo Forcolini | | 15 |
| 21st | 2008 | Mario Bellini, Moh-Jin Chew, Lieven Daenens, Carla Di Francesco, Carlo Forcolini, Norbert Linke, Emanuele Pirella, Richard R. Whitaker, | Miguel Milá | | 12 |
| 22nd | 2011 | Arturo Dell'Acqua Bellavitis, Chantal Clavier Hamaide, Umberto Croppi, Guto Indio Da Costa, Pierre Keller [fr], Cecilie Manz, Clive Roux, Shiling Zheng | | | 22 |
| 23rd | 2014 | Anders Byriel, Vivian Cheng, Giorgio De Ferrari, Stefan Diez, Defne Koz, Mario Gagnon, Paolo Lomazzi, Laura Traldi | | | 23 |
| 24th | 2016 | Gabriella Bottini, Toshiyuki Kita, Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Marc Sadler, Cinzia Anguissola d’Altoè Scacchetti, Yossef Schvetz, Walter Maria de Silva | | | |
| 25th | 2018 | Carlo Galimberti, Nevio Di Giusto, Yongqi Lu, Francesco Trabucco, Motoki Yoshio | Francesco Trabucco | | |
| 26th | 2020 | Luca Bressan, Virginio Briatore, Jin Kuramoto, Denis Santachiara [it], Päivi Tahkokallio | Denis Santachiara | | 18 |
| 27th | 2022 | Mario Cucinella [it], Stefano Micelli [it], Cloe Piccoli, Annachiara Sacchi, Mirko Zardini | Annachiara Sacchi | 292 | 20 |
| 28th | 2024 | Maria Cristina Didero, Luciano Galimberti, Francisco Gomez Paz [es], Renata Cristina Mazzantini, Toshiyuki Kita | Luciano Galimberti | | 20 |

## Gallery

* Selection of winning designs
* Cassina Model 683 chair by Carlo De Carli [it] (1954 award)
* Olivetti Lettera 22 by Marcello Nizzoli (1954 award)
* Borletti [it] Model 1102 "Super-automatic" sewing machine by Marco Zanuso (1956 award)
* Solari Cifra 5 electric split-flap clock by Nani and Gino Valle [it] (1956 Award)
* Fiat Nuova 500 by Dante Giacosa (1959 award)
* Olivetti ELEA electric calculator by Ettore Sottsass et al. (1959 award)
* Abarth 1000 Bialbero by Ugo Zagato (1960 award)
* Brionvega Doney portable television by Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso (1962 award)
* Grillo telephone by Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso (1967 award)
* Zanotta Sacco chair by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, Franco Teodoro (1968 design; 2020 award)
* Olivetti SUMMA 19 by Ettore Sottsass and Hans Von Klier (1970 award)
* Oluce Atollo 233/D lamp by Vico Magistretti (1979 award)
* Alessi 9090 espresso maker by Richard Sapper (1979 award)
* FLOS [it] Parentesi lamp by Achille Castiglioni from a Pio Manzù concept sketch (1979 award)
* Vertabrae chair by Emilio Ambasz and Giancarlo Piretti for Castelli (1981 award)
* Nomos table and office desk system by Foster + Partners for Tecno [it] (1987 award)
* Alessi Nuovo Milano cutlery by Ettore Sottsass with Alberto Gozzi (1989 award)
* 1:1 scale model, Alfa Romeo Brera concept by Giorgetto Giugiaro (2004 award)
* Ducati 1199 Panigale by Giandrea Fabbro and Ducati Design Center (2014 award)
* Fondazione Prada by Rem Koolhaas/OMA (2018 award)
* Photographs from Paolo Monti archive (1956-1960)
* Cifra 5 electric "split-flap" clock (on shelf)
* Sewing machine Mirella designed by Marcello Nizzoli for V. Necchi Spa.
* Franco Albini photographed by Paolo Monti at Compasso d'Oro Award, Milan, circa 1960.