‘You Can Look At Cities On The Internet And Mistakenly Presume That’s A Substitute For A Real Visit’

  “Travel influences us a lot – particularly seeing new things and spaces.” Amen to that. As anyone who loves Dublin will tell you, some of the best inspiration for our improvement as a city can be gleaned from what other cities are doing – whether that’s up and coming food trends, speed-flatmating or inventive ways to reuse city space. And nobody knows this better than the duo behind Dublin-based design studio Designgoat, Cian Corcoran and Ahmad ‘Acky’ Fakhry, who who started working together after graduating from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). As part of their association with Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s ‘Life in Italian Style’ project, Cian and Acky travelled to the ultra-stylish Milan and Turin to meet people and discover spaces that would give them a kick of inspiration and take their work to exciting new places.

And according to Cian, there really is no substitute for hopping on a plane and invigorating all the senses with the experience of a new place. “You can look at alot of places on the internet and mistakenly presume that you can substitute it for visiting a city, or by looking at pictures, or reading about it. “However, you don’t get a well-rounded view of somewhere until you actually go and talk to the people and experience it,” he says. In Turin, they dropped in on Nucleo, a design studio they’d long intended on visiting. There they met Piergiorgo Robino who runs the studio and witnessed firsthand his meticulous approach to design, and shared an apertivo with illustrator and designer Francesca Sardigna. “In Turin there aren’t many large agencies,” explained Francesca. “The creative scene is led by small creative studios. They are the real protagonists who innovate and seek contact and a confrontation with the international creative scene.”

Having exhibited at Salone del Mobile, the renowned international furniture fair, they returned to Milan to see some alternative spaces – including the attention-grabbing concept menswear store INNER, contemporary art gallery Hangar Bicocca – which Cian describes as a “unique and mind-blowing experience.” Over the coming weeks, more stories from Designgoat’s travels will be added to Peroniitaly.ie along with those of his fellow creatives milliner Laura Kinsella and mixologist Federico Riezzo. Follow Designgoat's Italian journey on PeroniItaly.ie, as they document their discoveries through interviews, video and photography. Enjoy Peroni Nastro Azzurro Sensibly. Visit drinkaware.ie