Isabella Balzano (Hai Fegato? team) was born in Venice and gained her Bachelors degree in Architecture at Università Iuav di Venezia in 2009. She is now in her last year of Iuav’s Masters programme in Product Design. During her studies, she attended workshops by, among others, Andrea Branzi, Aldo Cibic, Emmanuel Babled and Gaddo Morpurgo. In 2009 she attended a photography course, taught by Casabella photographer Alessandra Chemollo, which led to an exhibition in Asiago, near Verona, of her photographs of rural landscapes. Between 2004 and 2009 she worked as a graphic designer for two design studios in Venice. She is interested in architecture, design, photography, fashion and music. She is currently working on a series of silkscreen prints, and has just finished a series on rock’n'roll icons.
isabellabalzano[at]yahoo[dot]it
Paolo Basso (Whispering Reeds team; b. 1988) gained his first degree cum laude in Industrial Design at Università Iuav di Venezia, with a thesis on televison news and its possible interaction with the digital transmission technologies. In 2008 he was (with Nicola Russo) premiated in the ‘Progettare e realizzare per tutti’ international ideas competition, and a finalist in the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass competition. Since 2009 he has freelanced for Studio Visuale, Mestre, near Venice. He specializes in motion graphics, 3D animation, and video post-production, and is interested in all types of storytelling: movies, books, games and comics. In 2010 he began his first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at Iuav’s Faculty of Design and Arts.
paolo.basso88[at]gmail[dot]com
Francesca Busato (Synthonia team; b. 1986, Venice) gained her first degree in Industrial and Communication Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia in 2009, and began her first year of that Faculty’s Masters programme in Product Design. In 2008 she was for three months an intern at the architecture and design studio CC and Partners (Mestre, near Venice) and has since worked there as designer and 3D modeller.
busatofrancesca[at]virgilio[dot]it
Valerio Calimici (Pint of Words team; b. 1985) gained his first degree cum laude in Design at the Academy of Fine Arts, Macerata, central Italy. He studied filmmaking at the Cine Studio, Bologna, gaining his diploma as cameraman and video editor. He worked four years at the Fornarina Art Lab on projects related to organizing exhibitions and events (such as the Urban Beauty show). He was an intern at the Civitanova web agency Drop and the Macerata graphic design studio Iceberg. In 2010 he started his first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. His main interests are politics and new media.
valeriocalimici[at]gmail[dot]com
Gianni Cardone (Pint of Words team), born in Turin, gained his first degree in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Torino. During his second year there he spent ten months in Belgium at the Institut Supérieur des Beaux Arts Saint-Luc de Liège. He worked for two years as a product designer for Turin-based outdoor sports company Ferrino, and since 2006 for Turin/Venice design studio Pera Nera. In 2009 he founded Akiratek, a company developing software applications for Android phones, and began his first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication, Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. His specialism is interaction design.
cardone.job[at]gmail[dot]com
Gilberto Carnielli (Synthonia team; b. 1987) took his first degree in Industrial and Communication Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. He took a three-month internship in the graphic design studio AK in Treviso, near Venice, where he worked in a team using programs like Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. In 2009 he began Iuav’s Masters programme in Product Design.
carnielli[dot]g[at]libero[dot]it
Lei Chen (Piao team) was born in Quzhou, south-east China. In 2006 she graduated from Zhejiang University, where she had specialised in industrial design and learnt software like Photoshop, CorelDRAW and Rhino. She then worked in a small studio for one year, designing family products. She started to learn Italian and came to Rome to continue her language learning for half a year, reaching B1 level. She is now in the second year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. She enjoys cinema and unconventional designs which break conventions and offer a new understanding of life.
dk_0010[at]163[dot]com
Luca Del Negro (Anyone a DJ team; b. 1985, Treviso, near Venice) gained his first degree in Architectural Science at Università Iuav di Venezia. In 2009 he worked for three months at architects Studio GFR, Milan, then began the Masters programme in Product Design at Iuav’s Faculty of Design and Arts. His interests: architecture, industrial design and photography. He would like to combine interaction, industrial and architectural design to develop better spaces for living.
luca.delnegro.85[at]gmail[dot]com
Alberto Elizondo (Mirabilia team; b. 1985, San José, Costa Rica) obtained his first degree in Graphic Design at VERITAS University, San José, and is currently in the last year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia, specialising in interaction design. In San José he was a designer for the marketing studio Lift Brand, and an intern in the graphic design department of the NGO Funpadem. He has volunteered in Habitat for Humanity projects in Central America, UNICEF and government-sponsored projects. He would like to combine interaction design with similar development projects, and is also interested in DIY electronics like circuit-bending. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.
albertelo[at]gmail[dot]com
Donato Faruolo (Robo team), born in Potenza, southern Italy, gained his first degree in Visual and Performing Arts at Palermo’s Accademia di Belle Arti, specialising in graphic design; his thesis concerned photography, image and imaginary in the digital age. He worked as graphic designer for Sicilia Pride 2010 and Sicilia Queer Film Fest, and as editor for art magazines Amnesiac Arts, Tribe Art and Exibart.com. In 2010 he began his first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. His works are included in Index, the SoutHeritage Foundation’s regional programme for promoting contemporary art. He has fluent Italian and reasonable English.
thisguise[at]hotmail[dot]it, www.thisguise.it
Damiano Gui (Whispering Reeds team; b. 1987) took his first degree cum laude in Modern Literature at Padua University, focusing on cinema. He meanwhile taught himself video-making and design skills, winning first the local prize in the Padova Short Festival 2008, then the international ‘MINI Space’ calendar competition 2010. He worked as director and editor of a TV advertisement for the Matì company in Bologna, and as graphic designer for the student magazine Conaltrimezzi in Padua. In 2010 he entered the Visual and Multimedia Communication Masters programme at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia, focusing on interaction design.
damianogui[at]gmail[dot]com, http://damianogui.altervista.org
Veselina (Allegra) Kuznetsova (Wish Fish team), born in Leningrad, gained her Bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts at Saint Petersburg State University. During her studies there she organised the International Contemporary Art Exhibition ‘Homo Arcticus’ on the icebreaker Krassin and won the All-Russian Competition for Socially Ecological Advertising (EcoPR). Her thesis was an architectural project for the Saint Petersburg villa of the dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya. In 2009 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia, and participated in the ‘Adotto un Doc’ project of the Theatre in the Piazza Festival, Santarcangelo di Romagna, near Rimini. Her specialisms: art-engineering, visual communication and film direction. She has fluent Russian and Italian, and reasonable English.
veselina[dot]kuznetsova[at]gmail[dot]com
Valentina Lamantia (Robo team) was born in Caltanissetta, Sicily, and gained her first degree in Multimedia Design at Urbino’s Accademia di Belle Arti. She has exhibited two environmental video-installations: Leggera apparenza at the ZOE Microfestival 2007 and Rinchiusi Fuori 2008 new cinema festival, both in Pesaro, and Floating at Artefatta 2007 in Riccione. In 2010 she made the official music video, At Sea, for the independent London band Rumour Cubes. In 2010 she also began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her specialism is interaction design; her ambition, to design interactive ambient videos, working with bands and performance artists. Her strengths are photo and video editing, creativity, manual skill, and being always on the move. She has fluent Italian and good English.
valelam[at]liberol[dot]it
Huimin (Evelina) Liu (Piao team) was born in Zhangjiakou, near Beijng, and in 2008 gained her first degree in Art and Design at Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, with the thesis Residential Landscape Design of Yanshan University; while there she won two scholarships. After graduation, she began to learn Italian in China, and in March 2009 took a six-month Italian language course in Perugia. In October 2009 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. In July 2010 she participated in a team which presented the documentary One Time Forever at the Santarcangelo Film Festival. Her current goal is to establish information systems on the water to facilitate interaction between strangers in Venice. She speaks Chinese, Italian and reasonable English.
evelina[dot]liu[at]gmail[dot]com
Martina Maitan (Whispering Reeds team; b.1987, Vicenza, near Venice) gained her first degree cum laude in Visual Arts and New Technologies at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts; for her final project she worked with the avant-garde theatre and multimedia company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, with which she now works as a performer. She has worked for the digital graphics and web studio DuSOFT and for Joseph Rossi Graphic First Aid in Vicenza, and now works with the web magazine Enquire.it. In 2010 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia, focusing on interaction design. Her ambition is to combine the art of performance with technical devices to develop new ideas of perceiving movement in unusual situations. Her interests cover the areas of photography and dance. She also practises ‘showfood’, cooking as performance.
martinamaitan[at]gmail[dot]com, http://martinaemme.tumblr.com
Silvia Milena Marchesin (Anyone a DJ team; b. 1985, Vittorio Veneto, near Venice) gained her first degree in Industrial and Communication Design at Università Iuav di Venezia in 2008. In 2009 she gained a Masters degree in Medical Design from a joint programme between Iuav and Venice’s S.S. Giovanni e Paolo Hospital; during this period, she took a research internship, oriented towards her Masters thesis, at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler, a research organization of the Autonomous Province of Trento, northern Italy. In 2010 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Product Design at Iuav’s Faculty of Design and Arts. She is interested in linking medical design to interaction design.
silvietta.mar@virgilio.it
Caterina Marzolla (Wish Fish team; b. 1984, Monopoli, near Bari) gained her first degree cum laude in Industrial Design at Florence University. In 2007 she was an intern at the Florence lighting company Terzani, where she developed lighting design projects. She is now in her last year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her specialism is product design and her interests are interaction design and art.
catemarzolla@yahoo.it
Marco Mason (Tidings team; b. 1974, Turin) received his degree from Università Iuav di Venezia in 2003, where he then started research and teaching in the field of visual communication design. At Iuav he has taught Representation of Architecture in 2006-07, Animation and 3D Multimedia in 2007, and now Processing Information Systems, and is a member of both the Information Design and Museology and Museography of Design research groups. He is PhD candidate in Design Sciences at Iuav, where he leads research into mobile device-based communication in museums.
m[dot]mason[at]edumail[dot]iuav[dot]it
Claudia Miliziano (elgobo team; b. 1986, Palermo) gained her first degree in Industrial Design at Palermo University. She worked for three months at the Agrigento advertising agency Stand Up on graphic and corporate identity projects and organising events and exhibitions. In 2010 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her specialism is interaction design and her main interests are graphic and product design, art and new technologies.
claudia[dot]mili86[at]gmail[dot]com
Alice Mortaro (Hai Fegato? team) studied graphic design at the Carlo Anti Institute, Verona, from 2001 to 2006. She took her degree in Industrial and Interior Design at Milan’s NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in 2009, then joined the Visual and Multimedia Communication Masters programme at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. From 2006 to 2009 she designed projects for exhibitions and showrooms commissioned by companies through NABA, and in 2009 spent three months in NABA’s work-experience agency Futurarium. She has also worked on the website of the design magazine Abitare.
mortaroalice[at]gmail[dot]com
Luca Murgia (elgobo team; b. 1987) gained his first degree in 2010 in Industrial Design at Rome’s La Sapienza University, specialising in Multimedia and Communication Design. He then joined the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. In 2009 he worked as photographer and visual designer, reviewing the visual interface of a video-gallery service for MB Multimedia & Broadcast, Mestre (near Venice), in order to make it more affordable. He has good knowledge of Adobe, Office and iWork, audio editors, EyesWeb for videotracking, and some Arduino programming. He also has good English.
murgia.luca[at]gmail[dot]com
Rita Petrilli (Tidings team; b. 1987, Foggia, south-east Italy) gained her first degree in Industrial Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Bari, with a thesis on information design. During her studies she attended typography workshops by, among others, Luciano Perondi. In 2009 she gained the First Certificate in English (FCE) at the Cambridge ESOL Examinations Centre, Bari. She is now in her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her interests are graphic and product design, photography and infographics, and she has just discovered an interest in interaction design.
rita(dot)petrilli87(at)gmail(dot)com
Carla Piazza (Pint of Words team; b. 1985) gained her first degree cum laude in Industrial Design at Palermo University. She had spent an Erasmus semester at A Coruña University, Spain, and for three months was a video editor intern at the Palermo audiovisual production studio Forward. In 2008 and 2009 the design magazine Ottagono published two sustainability projects of which she was part of the design team. She is now in the last year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her interests: art, video, product and graphic design.
carla[dot]piazza[at]email[dot]it
Carmen Picca (Tidings team; b. 1985, Bari) gained her first degree in Industrial Design at the Architecture Faculty, Politecnico di Bari. In 2009 she began her first year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her interests: graphics and interaction, furniture and interior design. She would like to deepen the world of social issues, communication and information by using colour and typography.
carmen_picca[at]libero[dot]it
Valeria Refratti (Wish Fish team), born in Palermo, gained her first degree in Industrial Design at Palermo University. She studied Product Design at the Art and Design University of Lausanne (ECAL) for six months In 2007. In 2008 she did a six-month internship at the Tecnofiber shipyard in Termini Imerese, near Palermo, and in 2009 began her first year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. She has just discovered an interest in interaction design. She has fluent Italian and French, and reasonable English and Spanish. She can knit and tailor, and lives with a succulent plant named Juliette.
valeria_re19[at]yahoo[dot]it
Nicholas Restivo (Hai Fegato? team)was born in Bergamo, near Milan, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. He gained his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture at Università Iuav di Venezia in 2009, and is now in his second and final year of Iuav’s Masters programme in Product Design. He participated in Venice’s Architecture Biennale 2008, working for the Argentinian Pavilion with Buenos Aires architect Carlos Campos. Between 2005 and 2009 he designed several album covers, and is particularly interested in the relationship between art, design, music and fashion. His specialty, in design as well as music, is art direction. He is fluent in Italian and English. He has performed and recorded music as: [N!] and The Black Black Baobab, and is currently part of the Sakee Sed Family Collective. He is a member of Beard Team USA, and plans to compete in the 2011 World Beard and Moustache Championships in Trondheim, Norway.
mr[dot]nicholasrestivo[at]gmail[dot]com
Amanda Rezza (Robo team; b. 1986, Biella, near Turin) gained her first degree in Virtual and Graphic Design at Politecnico di Torino. She worked for two years as a graphic designer at advertising agency Kut Communications, Turin, and in 2010 began her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. She was finalist at 2009 European Design Award, brand logo category, a project published in 2010 in the graphic design magazine Gallery. Her interests are graphic design, art and science.
amanda.rezza[at]gmail[dot]com
Fosca Salvi (Mirabilia team; b. 1988) gained her first degree in Design at Milan’s NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) and for nine months was an intern at Milan design consultancy Interaction Design Lab (Id-Lab), working on a projects related to organizing exhibitions and events. In 2009 she spent several months studying English and attending summer courses at the City Lit Institute, London. She is now in her second year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her specialism: interaction design.
fosca[dot]salvi[at]gmail[dot]com, www.fosca-salvi.com/website/
Valeria Salvo (Anyone a DJ team) was born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Sicily. In 2009 she gained her first degree in History of Art at the Department of Visual Arts (DAMS: Drama, Art and Music Studies programme), Bologna University, and began her first year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her intrests are furniture design, interaction design, graphics, photography and art. She studied classical guitar for four years.
valeria_salvo[at]hotmail[dot]com
Gianpiero Spinelli (Synthonia team; b. 1984, Bari, southern Italy) took his first degree cum laude in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Bari, presenting a thesis on diagrammatic and non-linear typography applied to pharmaceutical communication. In 2010 he designed the graphic communication for the 73rd anniversary of Antonio Gramsci’s death at Turi, near Bari, where the philosopher was imprisoned during the Fascist period. He is currently in the first year of the Masters program in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. His main interests: graphic design, interaction design, art, politics and music.
gianpierospinelli[at]hotmail[dot]it
Bin Wang (Piao team; b. 1985, Shandong, near Beijing) gained a Masters degree in Art and Design at Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao in 2008. He worked for half a year as an interior designer in local companies and the Tian Ze Design Institute. In 2009 he took a six-month Italian language course at Perugia’s University for Foreigners and began his first year of the Masters programme in Product Design at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. His interests: furniture, interior and industrial design. He would like to combine interaction, industrial, furniture and interior design to enrich his life.
wangbin0504[at]gmail[dot]com
Lama Wehbe (elgobo team; b. 1983, Beirut) studied graphic design at the American University of Beirut and later gained her Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design at Notre Dame University, Lebanon. She completed internships in the advertising agencies Memac Ogilvy and Grey Worldwide, Dubai, then worked as the only graphic designer and webmaster in BankMed, Beirut. In 2009 she joined the Beirut graphic and web design studio vit-e for one year as project manager before moving to Italy and beginning her first year of the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication, Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Her specialism is interaction design. An enthusiastic music and dance lover, she has spent many years playing classical piano and taking ballet classes. She has fluent English, French and Arabic and reasonable Italian.
lamawehbe[at]gmail[dot]com
Fei (Fiona) Yu (Mirabilia team) – her name means ‘fragrance of flowers’ – was born in Hangzhou, southeast China. She gained a scholarship and diploma in Visual Communication from Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, and designed graphics for Häagen-Dazs and some local companies. In 2010, after a six-month Italian language course, she began the Masters programme in Visual and Multimedia Communication at the Faculty of Design and Arts, Università Iuav di Venezia. Skills and pleasures: using computers, looking at advertisements, daydreaming. She also learnt pretty good Japanese – by accident, from computer games and pop music.
flyingfish.fiona@gmail.com