Finally out of lockdown, Italy’s design world reboots

Northern Italy was an early epicentre of the pandemic. Freed from quarantine, design leaders are using their pent-up energy to reimagine their industries.

Pedestrians pass by a screen on the Duomo cathedral showing a Moschino model during Milan Digital Fashion Week on July 14. AP Photo

Tony DavisMotoring writer

Jul 31, 2020 – 12.00am

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Among the grand projects that acclaimed architect and designer Piero Lissoni has under way is the transformation of an old steelworks outside Beijing into an outdoor museum and five-star hotel for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Making this project particularly unforgettable: Lissoni has been overseeing the project on his iPad from his “girlfriend’s country house” on the seaside in Tuscany.

This is the strange world of Italian design in the age of coronavirus, where top practitioners have found new ways to stay creative and productive through a long and severe lockdown.