Meet the new participants

From November 2018, a new group of professionals joined the Open Design School team.

According to the ODS principles, the team is made up of 1/3 local professionals, 1/3 coming from other Italian regions and 1/3 from abroad. The participants of Open Design School, all selected professionals, exchange knowledge and experience through work, becoming students and teachers at the same time.

Stefano Battaglini

Architect

from Napoli, Italy

Stefano was born in 1989 in Naples, where he lives and works. He graduated in Architecture at the Federico II University of Naples. During his studies he focused his attention on the technological and constructive aspect of the project. He worked for seven years in set-up company that allowed him to get closer to the craft work. Through the degree program, he has access to a training period at the company Holzbau Sud, specialized in the sector of laminated wood structures. The course of study concludes with a design thesis in which he experiments with the application of small installations on the large scale landscape. After graduating, he founded Zapoi, a seven architects collective, with whom he gave life to a design studio/atelier. With Zapoi designs and builds lines of furniture, fittings, small architectures and installations serving the public space.

Elisa Bertron

Exhibition Designer

from Paris, France 

Elisa Bertron was born in 1992 in Paris. After a bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts at  the Ecole Boulle, she started a sculpture diploma in Arts and Crafts, at Olivier de Serres School of arts and design, where she developed a special interest for space and material. In 2014 she started at the Lyon School of Fine Arts, where she push further her experiments in installation, incorporating new techniques and theory into her practice. Whether in a collective or in her personal projects, she questions our perception and definition of the public spaces. Her projects, ranging from the performance to the exhibition scenography through photography, are often at the intersection between art and design. Her diploma project explores the links between design and cinema, inspired by the language and movements of cinema to create narrative spaces.

 Anna Cellamare

Scenographer

from Trani, Italy

Designs actions to engage local communities ( artistic installations / events) and informal learning experiences using design as a medium to improve citizens life. Training set designer at Laboratorio Teatro alla Scala, she left the theatrical scenes to use cities as a laboratory for civic experimentation. After numerous experiences of urban regeneration, public design and food design; she begins to deepen in recent years the use of tools for the involvement of communities and students in the co-design and creation of services. Trainer, event planner and researcher in the inclusive and civic design, Anna uses the techniques of craftsmanship as facilitating elements among the participants in the workshops. Co-founder of Cozinha Nomade, an atelier and neighborhood Kitchen where people are allowed to test their ideas and visions of a future feasible community raising model through a bottom-up approach and valorizing difference.

Sofia Coutsoucos

Architect

from Milano, Italy

Sofia Coutsoucos is an architect, born and raised in Milan, Italy. She graduated in 2016 in Architecture at Politecnico di Milano, with previous study experience at Bauhaus Universität, Weimar. She has been working between research, interiors and temporary architecture design, being interested in cross-disciplinary environments and often in a close relationship with crafts. She worked in many interior studios between Milan and Madrid (Elii - oficina de arquitectura), and has three years experience in academics as teaching assistant at Politecnico di Milano. Over the years she collaborated with Terraforma - Experimental and Sustainable Music Festival where, for its fifth edition, she designed the new temporary architecture set-up of Villa Arconati garden, to host the three days festival.

Antonio Elettrico

Architect

from Matera, Italy

Born in 1979, freelance architect works in the field of architecture and design, he graduated in architecture at the University of Naples, Federico II. In 2004 he took part in the workshop: ”Anàlisis e intervenciòn en el boulevard Parque de Genil” in Granada. Subsequently, he undertook various professional collaborations with architectural studies dealing with the design of residential, commercial and hospitality spaces, both nationally and internationally. Starting in 2009, he started his career as a freelancer, focusing on interior design and product design with particular attention to research, innovation and prototyping.  His approach to an architectural design as a field of experimentation and intersection of different disciplines leads him to participate in cultural innovation projects with various subjects at local and international level.

Cecilia Gonzalez Torres

Architect

from Jaén, Spain

Cecilia Gonzalez Torres (Jaén, 1986) is an architect specialized in temporary architecture. She has lived and worked in Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid. In 2011 she cofounded Madstock, a open collective focused on experimentation and construction at 1:1 scale, whose work includes workshops, exhibitions, and furniture design among others. Madstock organized the spanish edition (from 2012 to 2014) of Bellastock: an ephemeral art and architecture festival, which has been shown at the spanish pavilion in Venice Biennale 18. Cecilia is also executive producer at Cuarto: Architecture Playground magazine, a serial publication which issue n 3 is about to be published. She is permanently learning how to play clarinet and she dreams of playing in a big women fanfare.

Antonio Guerrieri

Designer

from Altamura, Italy

Engaging with (stone) sculpture and woodwork as part of a family tradition, Antonio was brought up with a strong appreciation and tradition for arts and crafts. As an Architect graduate Antonio has developed a deeper interest in investigating the relationship between art installation and the architectural space, unveiling new ways in perceiving the psychology and cultural nuances of place. In his 12 month residency, in 2015, at New Art Exchange (NAE) art gallery, Nottingham (UK), Antonio worked on site-specific installations, art exhibitions, events management and public engagement. He successfully managed Doug Fishbone’s Leisure Land Golf pavilion at 56th Biennale di Arte di Venezia on behalf of the EM15 partnership led by NAE. Between 2016 and 2017 he lived and worked in Germany and Florence where he explored new artistic forms and languages such as analog photography and hand drawing. Finally, he made his return to his hometown Altamura where he is actively involved in developing cultural and architectural projects.

Giovanni Martemucci 

Architect

from Matera, Italy

Born in 1973, he lives and works in Matera. In 1999 he graduated in Architecture, with a focus on industrial design and interior design, at the Polytechnic of Milan. He elaborated a thesis on the evolution of motorcycle design in collaboration with Ducati Motor.
After some experiences as an interior architect, he worked until 2002 in a design and communication studio, becoming a partner, and dealing with the design of exhibition stands, industrial design, and public relations. He also works as a journalist. Since 2004 he has been a member of the Association of Journalists of Basilicata and since February 2005 he has been the editor of the magazine Basilicata Magazine (www.basilicatamagazine.it). In 2004 he founded the agency "Martemix" that deals with communication, journalism, media relations, social media marketing, and design management. In 2007, with the project of the ergonomic Raro Bonus Pack, he won the Innovation Award at the Verona International Cleaning Exhibition.

  Gabriella Mastrangelo 

Designer

 from Massafra, Italy

Gabriella Mastrangelo graduated in Interior Design from Politecnico di Milano in 2009, after graduation she worked for a practice specialized in interior and interaction design, based in London, for one year. Upon her return to Italy she started her personal research about space as a place of relations, experiences, and participation and in 2011 she started  Make People Do Lab a research project on crafts and participatory design practices, based in the Apulian region. In 2014 she joined Entropika, a multidisciplinary design practice based in Athens as a designer. In 2015 she has gained a bursary at Consorzio CETMA, Brindisi, where she specialized in sustainable materials for manufacturing industries and design. Since October 2016 she founded Bordo, an interior and visual design practice based in Taranto. 

 Artemis Papageorgiu

Designer

from Athens, Greece

Artemis Papageorgiou is an architect, multimedia artist and educator exploring the repercussions of play and computational media inside the urban landscape. Her work spans interactive installations, hybrid furniture and urban games, aiming at the active participation of audiences. After graduating from the Patras School of Architecture (2006), she moved to London to pursue her passion about interactive architecture. There she completed her MFA in Computational Studio Arts at Goldsmiths College (2009) and collaborated with various designers before moving to Athens. In 2011, Artemis co-founded Athens Plaython, the first street games festival in Athens, which run for three years. In 2014 she founded Entropika, an interdisciplinary design lab specialising in urban interventions and playful experiences, along with educational programmes on art, architecture and technology. 

Francesca Raimondi 

Architect

from Teana, Italy

Graduated at the faculty of building engineering-architecture of Matera, she focused her research and her professional experiences on the city. From the large scale of Urban Planning, to the detail of Exhibition Design, to practical experiments on materials, she works following the principles of Universal Design and the challenges of Inclusive and participated Planning.

Francesco Santarsia 

Urbanist

from Matera, Italy 

Francesco Santarsia, born in 1986, he got his master degree in Architecture in the Sapienza University, Rome, cum laude and academic publication. He works as a freelancer and in association with design studios. Since 2011 he’s a consultant of Rome Mobility Services - Roma Capitale, and for other Public Bodies, he deals with mobility planning and traffic planning, in particular in the areas of road safety, pedestrian and cycle mobility and wayfinding systems within historic centers. He wins the contest "Fund for the Creativity - 2016 "of Regione Lazio, for his startup idea, focus on sustainable fashion design. His startup was counted among one of 100 best reality in Lazio, in terms of innovation, on the Volume of Lazio Creative "100 stories of creativity".

 Martha Schwindling 

Exhibition Designer

from Berlin, Germany

Martha Schwindling studied product design at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and Visual and Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 2011 she established her own design studio. Martha has since worked on furniture and products for various international brands as well as on exhibition and display designs for cultural institutions like the PAC in Milan and the ZKM in Karlsruhe. Her projects are rooted in the common and everyday: she looks at the objects surrounding us, and tries to improve them, aiming towards self-evidence of concept, construction and use. The rationality and the character of an object are equally important to her. When she’s not in Matera she lives and works in Berlin.

Davide Tagliabue 

Artisan

from Monza, Italy

Born in Monza in 1988, he is attracted to art since the early years of childhood. Despite this, he decides to direct his studies in the field of construction. Graduated in Building Engineering-Architecture at Politecnico di Milano in 2016 after the high school diploma as a surveyor, he cultivated meantime a strong interest in design and in the use of wood in its various forms that led him in the field of arts&crafts. He had the first contact with the temporary architecture in 2015 thanks to setting up of Terraforma music festival, experience that he also repeated in later editions. From there comes the passion for ephemeral architecture, seen as a perfect combination of architecture, art and crafts, which will make its main field of research and production. Since 2016 he is a member of the Camposaz association, with which he creates a pavilion in Rotterdam and one in Romania for WWF. From 2017 he collaborates with Periferica, a Sicilian urban regeneration center, now recognized nationwide. In the same year, together with his brother, he won the Box336am call, which brings to the creation of "cultural containers" a support for the initiatives present in the areas of central Italy hit by the earthquake.

 Find here the former participants bio (Venues of Matera project)

Find here the former participants bio (Stages project)