It is easy to predict the automobile but difficult to predict the traffic jam. -Isaac Asimov
Pierluigi's work lies at the intersection of present and future, and he'll share some of his learnings around designing for emerging technologies. Drawing from his experience at companies like Apple and Humane, he'll share insights on designing beyond conventional interfaces and exploring how design narratives can be a force for good in shaping the technologies we create.
Pierluigi brings a unique perspective on bridging the physical and digital worlds—working at the convergence of sensors, materials, and software. This unique perspective was started more than a decade ago while studying at CIID in Copenhagen and is well alive today in his class with Arduino Founder Massimo Banzi, Tangible User Interfaces. The class examines how a more humane future can be achieved by the use of physical inputs that keep us situated in the present and connected to the material world around us.
About Pierluigi
Pierluigi is a designer and inventor based in Oakland, California. Through his practice, Pierluigi advocates for an alternative approach to technology driven by curiosity, creativity, community, and sustainability.
Through studio LUFF, he creates interactive experiences rooted in physical space and materials, enabled by digital technologies that empower people's ability to sense, learn, and manipulate the world around them. The studio's first product, the Air Quality Sensor, embodies the Six Principles for Sustainable Computing that Pierluigi co-wrote, emphasizing values like cultivating understanding, striving for longevity, and inspiring tinkering.
Having led innovative projects at companies like Airbnb, Humane, Apple, NIO, and Panasonic, Pierluigi brings together a unique blend of artistic vision and technical expertise. As a designer, he combines tools from animation and experimental photography to electronics and computer science to create novel and at times wired experiences. His deep interest in collective and spatial computing drives him to explore the boundaries of computation beyond traditional devices, exploring tangible user interfaces and interactions beyond screens.
Pierluigi shares his expertise by teaching classes on Designing Emerging Technology, Experimental Imaging, Interactive Spaces, and Physical Computing at institutions like the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley, and the California College of the Arts. He continues to develop innovative tools and methodologies for prototyping and brainstorming, maintaining his commitment to open-source projects that help designers, artists, and technologists prototype at scale.
He holds a master's degree in Cinema and Media Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, a double degree from the excellence program Alta Scuola Politecnica, and is an alumnus of the Interaction Design Program meat the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.
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When: Tuesday, January 21st, 2025 - 6-7:30pm
Where: CIID, Via Astino, 16, 24129 Bergamo BG, Italy (map)
Tickets are free.
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The event is in-person and the talk will be in English. It will not be streamed or recorded.
Parking: Available in via Astino 650m before the Monastery. 10 min walk away.
