Turin is the cradle of incredible, fascinating and unexpected stories Archivi d’Affetto brings out stories of designers and designers, experimenters, artists who have developed highly valuable professional paths, outside the box, ahead of their time and also for this reason often little known and valued. With a curatorial and polyphonic approach, which collects testimonies, follows documentary traces and rereads these stories by activating unpublished productions from authors and authors of today, Archivi d'Affetto is made up of episodes, each dedicated to the narration of a figure in a poetic and emotional dimension, in which private life intersects and overlaps with the professional one.

A project by: Circolo del Design Curated by: Maurizio Cilli and Stefano Mirti Under the patronage of: City of Turin Major supporter: Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo With the contribution of: Regione Piemonte Funded by the European Union - Next Generation EU

Ask to Design It is a free service that facilitates meetings between companies and designers, increasing the awareness of the former regarding the value of design as a tool for business development and giving designers the opportunity to explore the corporate culture of the area and, at the same time, enhances the Piedmontese design community. It is a platform where companies can find more than 150 design firms as well as freelance designers active in Piedmont and specializing in communication projects, digital tools, fittings, products, spaces, services, and strategies. Designers can create a profile and promote themselves, companies can publish an ad, or a Call to Design, to find the most suitable designer for the realization of their projects. It is a system of services that companies can use, with an accompanying path, a self-assessment and a dedicated tutoring, both online and offline, with the aim of making the match between company and designer more effective.  It is an opportunity for companies and designers to gather, participating in meetings, talks and dedicated interviews.

A project by: Circolo del Design and Chamber of Commerce of Turin Scientific partnership of: Politecnico di Torino.

The third edition of the Earthrise - Design for a Living Planet.

The 2026 edition will explore clay-based materials – ceramics, earthenware and their derivatives – as cultural, environmental and design resources for the present.

The exploration will extend beyond the functional object, approaching the material as a narrative, spatial, and critical element. The focus shifts from products to states of transformation, from results to processes, from innovative or traditional forms to the imaginaries they activate. What can clay still communicate when freed from its function and brought back into a space of investigation? The Residency

The selected designer will collaborate with local design and artisan communities, companies, researchers and transdisciplinary experts active across Turin and the wider Piedmont area.

The residency combines site visits, exchanges and hands-on experimentation with materials. Both the final output and the designer’s logbook will be presented as part of the Earthrise 26 exhibition and showcased during international design events.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must:

• be under 35 years old
• demonstrate an international dimension in their practice through research, professional experiences, collaborations, cultural exchanges, mobility or involvement in transnational networks and contexts in Europe
• present a well-structured project proposal with clear goals
• develop a project aligned with the themes and objectives of Earthrise 2026
• demonstrate an experimental and/or innovative approach

For further information, please contact: programma@circolodeldesign.it

To read all the details, you can download the complete Open Call.

Applications closed

A project by: Circolo del Design Major supporter: Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo With the contribution of: Fondazione CRT and Regione Piemonte Partners: Designregio Kortrijk and BASE Milano

Design Skills It is the Circolo del Design program that, through different paths, develops the transversal skills of high school students, introducing them to the world of contemporary design.
Through hands-on experiences and meetings with artisans and professionals, students discover design methodologies, develop transversal skills, and explore design as a tool for imagining their future. The programs:

● New technologies production with Fab Lab Turin Design and production of custom 3D printed chess sets

● Space design with Cristina Ortali Designing the visual identity and layout of a space ● Designing a visual identity with Studio Grand Hotel Enter the world of graphics starting from the elements that compose it: shapes, typographic characters, colors and composition ● Digital storytelling with Eleonora Diana Construction of an audiovisual narrative

→ 20 hours 5 appointments

The appointments will be held in different locations depending on the chosen route: ● Circolo del Design ● Headquarters of the training institute ● Company headquarters, professional businesses and artisan workshops

Project promoted by the Turin Chamber of Commerce - New Businesses and Career Guidance Sector.

Are you an institution interested in this initiative? Contact us: dana.segovia@circolodeldesign.it

An annual event dedicated to the relationship between design and sustainability, it helps articulate possible responses and scenarios and foster collective and shared dialogue, contributing to the cultural shift needed to develop a new shared ecological awareness. Each edition presents a new proposed theme from a curator coming from the world of design, explored through an exhibition and a schedule of dedicated events.

Green Culture is a free training and capacity building course to respond to the challenges of environmental sustainability in the cultural field. Dedicated, on the one hand, to Italian cultural bodies that want to undertake a path of change and innovation to design their own ecological transition and, on the other, to future Green Coordinators, professionals who want to acquire the skills to lead cultural and creative businesses in this field. The ecological transition is a complex challenge to which Green Culture responds by building a path rooted in the encounter between three disciplines: scientific environmentalism, economics of culture and design.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUbK5_T48kg&t=372s  

Green Culture is among the winning projects of the Ministry of Culture's call for proposals TOCC - Capacity building for the ecological transition, is created by Circolo del Design, Fondazione Santagata per l'Economia della Cultura, Legambiente Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta and financed by the European Union - Next Generation EU.

Numbers, people, design directions in Piedmont MIRA is a regional observatory on design in Piedmont that supports the study, economic research, processing and use of data on the design sector at a regional level. MIRA arises from the need to provide the Piedmontese territory with a tool for analysis and understanding of the design sector capable of collecting qualitative and quantitative data in a systematic and continuous manner, analysing them and making them available to companies and professionals, institutions and decision-makers, to encourage the use of design as a lever for innovation and to produce increasingly informed policies. MIRA produces reports on the design sector in Piedmont to provide an up-to-date picture of the region's design economy, and also develops thematic research to focus on emerging phenomena, define the physiognomy of specific areas and design professions and capture the dynamics, fragility and quality of the sector in Piedmont.

A project by Circolo del Design Partners: Camera di commercio di Torino, Città di Torino, Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis” of the University of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design of Politecnico di Torino, IRES Piemonte, CNR-IRCrES, Unioncamere Piemonte In collaboration with: Santagata Foundation for the Economy of Culture With the support of: Turin Chamber of Commerce, Unioncamere Piemonte

The Circolo del Design offers a residency program aimed at supporting the research of emerging talents and enhancing their work, giving space to a generation of designers capable of offering clear and complex interpretations of contemporary art.

The residencies are designed as opportunities for research, production, and discussion, in which designers and artists are invited to develop projects in dialogue with the Circle's themes, audiences, and lines of inquiry. Each program is built around a shared work schedule and finds its first public presentation within the Circle's cultural programming.

The projects resulting from the residencies were presented during Turin's Art Weeks and then began to circulate in national and international contexts. Among these, the Fuorisalone Milano 2025, where Jannis Zell presented the project Polyurethane Dreams from BASE Milan, and the New European Bauhaus Festival 2026 in Brussels, where Alessandra Pandolfi will present the project developed during her residency this year.

→ Discover the canal Substack of the Design Circle dedicated to the story of the residences