Arrotino del design

Type | Social design - product    Year | 2026    Project site | Milan, Italy

Client | Het Nieuwe Instituut Collaborator | Lorenzo Bondavalli

Arrotino del Design, developed by Studio-Method as part of the CIVICITY residency, organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut in partnership with the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Milan, reimagines Milan Design Week by asking a simple question: what if design stayed in the city after the event ended? While Design Week brings temporary installations and global attention to Milan, many neighborhoods remain excluded from its benefits, despite experiencing its social and spatial impacts.

Starting in Quartiere Adriano, the project recognizes everyday acts of maintenance, repair, and adaptation as forms of design. Rather than beginning with abstract concepts, it works through Micro-briefs: small, locally defined requests that invite residents to identify what in their environment needs care, repair, or improvement. These briefs are collected by the Arrotino del Design, a mobile workshop built on a modified e-scooter. Inspired by the itinerant craftsman (the Italian “arrotino”), it travels through the neighborhood responding with practical, site-specific interventions: repairing damaged walls, reinforcing broken planters, or transforming discarded materials into new public amenities. Here, repair is not secondary to design; it is design.

By working directly with residents, the project shifts design from a top-down process to one based on collaboration, shared knowledge, and care. Beyond repairing objects, it builds confidence, practical skills, and a broader understanding of who can participate in shaping the city. Rather than proposing an alternative to Milan Design Week, Arrotino del Design offers another way of practicing design; one rooted in permanence instead of spectacle, and in collective care rather than constant novelty.