Conceived by the architect, publishing and journalism specialist Margherita Pincioni, the book was inspired by the ritual path taken by Australian aborigines to accumulate experiences and new resources: born as a large notebook of blank pages, Walkabout was filled with the words, thoughts and drawings of Milanese architects, designers, illustrators, artists, photographers and stylists, each of whom wrote their own “chapter”, passing the baton to the next author, as in the well-known game of everyone’s youth.
Content and media (texts, drawings, photographs) were chosen independently by the more than thirty protagonists of the volume, among whom are Gianni Veneziano, Massimo Giacon, Roberto Gennari Feslikenian, Beppe Facente, Alessandro Mendini, Anna Gili, Duilio Forte, Gianluca Biscalchin, Beppe Giacobbe, Italo Lupi, Italo Rota, Giulio Iacchetti, Michele De Lucchi, Ugo La Pietra, Stefano Boeri, Claude Marzotto and Maia Sambonet, Cino Zucchi, who opened the doors of their ateliers, tracing a sort of creative map of the city. A map that certainly does not claim to document the quantity and importance of the existing actors, but represents an extraordinary sample of them.
The photographic portraits of Matteo Cirenei, architect and photographer, specialised in the photography of interiors, architecture and design, offer a fundamental tool for understanding the identity and work of the personalities involved in their places of life and work: in the shots ‒ always taken using the same type of lens and framing ‒ the faces are not in focus or are deliberately hidden, but the spontaneity of the relationship created between the subject and the photographer is evident, leading to a unique gallery of portraits, often playful and amused.
Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte ‒ a private non-profit institution founded in Milan in 1995 by Franco Cologni, by whom it is presided over ‒ accepted the challenge of transforming this precious notebook into a book intended for the public. The aim of the Foundation is to protect and promote the art professions through cultural, informative and scientific events. Together with Marsilio Arte, the Foundation has made it possible to replicate the original, entrusting Leonardo Sonnoli, a well-known name from the Italian graphic design industry, with the graphic design. Each of the 1,500 copies is a unique piece, thanks to a specific alteration of the inks and the skillful craftsmanship of the logotype designed by Sonnoli, made of brass and silk-screen printed.
The peculiarities of the artist’s book thus combine with industrial production and the result is an object that celebrates the countless results of creative action against the backdrop of a city capable of welcoming them and, at the same time, stimulating new ones. A city that, as Franco Cologni recalls, never ceases to teach a great lesson: “The secret to being well is to do well”.
As Alberto Cavalli, general director of Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, explains, “Walkabout, published on the occasion of the 90th birthday of our President Franco Cologni, is a magical, project-based and ironic tale that unveils, rather than reveals, the most creative soul of Milan: stories that unravel between visions and provocations imagined by architects, designers, artists, intellectuals, and photographs that present the private spaces where these protagonists of the Milan beloved by Dr. Cologni (that of design, of the project, of the dream) work, to think as of today about the forms of tomorrow’s beauty. A book to be leafed through like a scrapbook, to be read like a roman à clef, to be appreciated like a work of graphic art and craftsmanship”.

Arianna Testino