Rome--Award-winning graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, famed for his work with the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed and Aerosmith, says the concept of beauty in design is back.
The New-York based Austrian tipped Amsterdam, London and Zurich as the hottest places for young designers right now, but in an interview in Rome he said a creative shift has given the Italian capital the opportunity to steal the show.
"Worldwide, beauty is really coming back into design, no other city in the world has so much beauty. Designers who successfully translate Italy's Baroque or Renaissance for the 21st century will have found a pot of gold," he said.
Born in 1962, Sagmeister, inspired by the punk aesthetic, forged his name designing graphics and branding for clients including HBO, Time Warner and the Guggenheim Museum, picking up a Grammy in 2005 for the design of a box set of works by 1980s indie giants Talking Heads.
The designer takes a year-long sabbatical every seven years -- the last one in Indonesia, the next a closely-guarded secret -- and for the past few years has staged talks and exhibitions on his philosophy, dubbed "the happy show".
AFP
