Cultural events

Olivari partner of the Venice Pavilion at the Art Biennale. On the occasion of the 2026 Art Biennale, Olivari was invited to take part in Emersasommersa, the installation created by Alberto Scodro for the Venice Pavilion, within the wider project Note Persistenti, curated by Giovanna Zabotti with the participation of Denis Isaia and Cesare Biasini Selvaggi. In the dialogue with the artist, the handle goes beyond its functional dimension to become a symbol of passage, relationship and discovery: the gesture of opening becomes a metaphor for access to new worlds, cultures and visions. The installation thus builds a dialogue between art and design, in which the act of opening translates into an experience of connection, transformation and knowledge.

A seminar dedicated to the figure of Luigi Caccia Dominioni and his contribution to Italian design culture. A dialogue between Antonio Olivari and Count Ernesto Panza, owner of the Golf Club Monticello designed by Caccia Dominioni. Moderated by the architect Laura Galloni. Politecnico di Milano, November 2025

The story of the collaboration between Olivari and the BBPR studio. Torre Velasca, Milan 2025. Torre Velasca, built to a design by the BBPR studio between 1956 and 1958, is the building that more than any other contributed to changing the skyline of Milan during the post-war reconstruction. Considered the symbol of the economic miracle for the originality of its urban image, its exceptional size, its expressive power and its unprecedented synthesis of tradition and modernity, the tower evokes in its material appearance and language the historical memories of Lombard architecture. The immediate recognisability of its profile in the urban context makes it a true Milanese icon, a modern monument suspended between the new and the old, between earth and sky, characterised by its famous slender shape with the cantilevered upper volume. A work that demonstrates the Italian will to interpret the theme of the tall building without surrendering to the simplistic application of overseas models. In addition to the many furnishing elements designed for the tower, for the occasion BBPR designed a handle named “Velasca” in homage to the building for which it was conceived. The handle, produced by Olivari from 1956, is characterised by a sinuous, baroque-flavoured shape, yet at the same time inspired by “authentically functional principles”. Moving away from rigid rationalist geometries, the handle reveals a truly “organic” vision of form and expresses a plastic vitality that would characterise all of BBPR's post-war work

A conference at the Politecnico di Milano presenting a line of study on how human beings respond to the need for shelter in hostile environmental conditions, reducing space and resources to the essential. The theme brought together the history of spontaneous architecture (the archetypes), technological evolution and the contemporary challenges of sustainability.

The Torre al Parco, built between 1953 and 1956 to a design by Vico Magistretti and Franco Longoni, is one of the most elegant examples of high-rise residential architecture in the centre of Milan. The modernity of its urban image, the refined spatial solutions, variation as a generating element of the design and the definition of a new relationship with the surrounding environment make it an original and in some respects unprecedented example in the panorama of Milanese architecture.

The design choice of the two architects responds to the desire to establish a privileged relationship with the greenery of Parco Sempione, building upwards and using only a third of the available plot area (450 sqm out of a total of 1,200 sqm), alongside the cutting of the last stretch of the Ferrovie Nord Milano railway. In particular, in 1953 a proposal was submitted to the Municipality of Milan to transfer the volume already approved for the construction of a traditional 30-metre-high closed-courtyard block into a new, soaring 85-metre-high residential tower, with a consequent smaller footprint

In the case of the Torre al Parco too, the designers drew every construction element and every detail of the building down to the smallest particulars, from the boiserie cladding of the atrium to the furnishing of the porter's lodge, from the external balcony parapets to the railings of the mezzanine floor, from the curtain-rolling systems to the window frames (double wooden sashes with separable glazing), right down to the handles, designed by Magistretti and produced by Olivari in 1956 especially for the occasion. Named “Torre del Parco”, the handle appears in the 1962 Olivari catalogue and remains there until the Seventies with the specific name of the building for which it was designed. The material used was brass, in a polished finish, and the technology used was die-casting. The handle, made in versions for doors and French windows, is a slim, light element with a soft, curved line, whose essentiality responds to the need to reduce the use of metal wherever possible. The grip is indeed small by today's standards, but it related correctly to the doors and window jambs of those years, which were of modest dimensions. The rosettes too were very small, proportioned to the handle.

In 1994 Olivari asked Vico Magistretti to revise the model's proportions, to make it more current and reintroduce it to the market. The architect responded positively to the request, stating however that Studio Olivari had all the technical skills to follow up the proposal independently. From this exchange and this stimulus the “Emilia” model (1996) was born, designed by Studio Olivari, which takes up, softening its lines, the shape of the curved grip.

Complex of San Francesco d’Assisi al Fopponino, Milan. Gio Ponti, Antonio Fornaroli, Alberto Rosselli. 1961-1964. An extraordinary urban episode characterised by the originality of its famous facade, open like a religious stage towards the city, the church of San Francesco al Fopponino is the second complex of worship built to a design by Gio Ponti in Milan, after the one dedicated to San Luca Evangelista in Via Ampère. Olivari offered its technological and artisanal expertise to bring the church's original lighting system “back to light”: the restoration, carried out by the Borgomanero company in its own workshops, aimed to recover the functionality and original appearance of the chandeliers conceived by the Milanese master, with an intervention that initially concerned the metal structure and subsequently a technical upgrade of the electrical system. With the advice of specialised technicians, following laboratory analyses, the original surface treatments were identified: after sandblasting and grinding, necessary to remove oxidation, horizontal satin-finishing and transparent varnishing were carried out. Then, through oven firing, the lasting brilliance of the brass was ensured for years to come. In agreement with the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage of the Diocese of Milan, the original neon tube lighting elements were finally replaced with low-voltage LED strips capable of providing the same luminous flux. Following this work, Ponti's chandeliers were reassembled in the nave of the church, restoring through all their extraordinary elegance and brightness the atmosphere of sacredness originally intended by the Milanese master