MOSTRO Graphic Design Camp Debuts at Brera Design Days in Milan

The first edition of MOSTRO Graphic Design Camp, a festival of graphic arts and visual communication, runs until October 12 as part of the Brera Design Days in Milan. Curated by Marco Sammicheli with Maria A. Di Pierro coordinating and Zup Design handling art direction, the festival explores contemporary graphic design in Europe through five international studios: Sarp Sozdinler (Istanbul), Maltatype (Valletta), Onka Allmayer-Beck (Vienna), Zaven (Venice), and Undesign (Turin). Their works are displayed in five paths at Laboratorio Formentini, the main venue. The program includes talks on graphic design applications ranging from water bottles to cities. In an interview, Sammicheli explained the name 'Mostro' as a double entendre: the first-person present of 'to show' and a monstrous creature, aiming to combine different souls. He cited five reasons to attend: seeing rarely exhibited authors, exploring graphic design's multiple aspects, discovering Laboratorio Formentini, content horizons from tattoos to Murano glass, and evening openings until 11 PM with over half the talks in English. On trends, Sammicheli said 'the trend is talent' and praised Italian designers David Moretti, Massimo Pitis, and Mauro Bubbico. A workshop called Quadentro, curated by Emilio Lonardo, focuses on creating personalized analog notebooks. Sammicheli sees no competition between tradition and innovation, calling them complementary. The festival is open every evening of Brera Design Days until 11 PM.