The partnership between SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design and Davide Longoni continues for the second consecutive year, shifting the project’s focus toward contemporary artisanal baking. While the first year focused on analyzing the customer journey and brand identity in Milanese stores, this new edition moves directly into the workshop, transforming raw materials and their by-products into new design opportunities.
The Vision: Bread as an Agricultural Product
Davide Longoni is not just a baker; he is a champion of an agricultural revival that reimagines bread as an agricultural product and emphasizes the importance of internalizing the supply chain, from field cultivation to counter sales, through on-site grain milling made possible by the “Mulino Diffuso” project within the bakery. In this context, flour becomes a site-specific and annually variable element, much like natural wines or specialty coffee. This is the frontier where students from the Master in Food Design and the Master in Interior Design are called to intervene.
Food Design: Tools, Materials, and Circularity
Within the Object Food / Food Object module, the challenge for future food designers is twofold:
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The equipment of the future: designing a DIY oven based on self-design principles and a portable baking kit, making the art of bread a technical and nomadic experience.
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Bran upcycling: transforming bran, the main by-product of milling, into an edible element, elevating a waste product into a design resource.
Interior Design: Shaping the New Bakery
This year, the project expands to involve the Habitats module of the Master in Interior Design. Students will engage in designing a new Davide Longoni bakery, soon to open in Milan, imagining spaces that accommodate the new rituals of contemporary baking.
A Hands-On Partnership
The program includes hands-on experiences in milling and baking alongside Longoni, to understand the processes, limitations, and potential of the raw materials. This partnership brings together design, craftsmanship, and strategic vision, inviting students to create not just objects, but new tools, spaces, and cultures around bread.