Going back to the idea of a renaissance workshop to create a new way of doing business in the internet era. This was Roberto Hoz and Marta Bernstein’s inspiration when they founded in 2013 Incipit, a Milan-based creative lab and business whose aim is to nurture young talent in the design field, teaching them the art and the craft of beeing a designer. Incipit’s new way of doing business uses the web to run crowdfunding campaigns to involve people personally in the production of the objects and to share with them the process of their creation, from the idea to the distribution.

Incipit is not just a school, it is a real factory, financing itself by producing and distributing its own products through traditional selling channels, such as showrooms or temporary shows, and e-commerce platforms.
Also their production’s quality standards is typically industrial, but at the same time it is inspired by the ancient italian manufacturing tradition.

Since its birth and its official debut in Aprile 2014 at the Design Week of Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2014, Incipit’s mission is the professional growth of young designers, thanks also to “Amici di Incipit” (Incipit’s Friends), a network made by experts in the design, communication and industrial fields, and to the collaboration with local factories that really gives to students the opportunity to challenge themselves, increasing, at the same time, the Made in Italy’s value.

Incipit’s mission is also the creation of a network based on the sharing of knowledges and experiences, a community always opened to new young designers.
In addition, Incipit wants for all its products to be made of selected materials and by traditional craft tecniques, such as the ancient ones used by the venetian glassmakers: these techniques, as Incipit believes, can still play an important role in contemporary design.
Text by Gabriele Masi.

Captions:
1. Incipit’s keywords.
2. Still life.
3. Muselet, bowls, design by Ilaria Innocenti.
4. Tull, lamp, design by Tommaso Caldera.