rafflesmilano teaches aspiring pupils through professional, practical briefs

As the world capital of design, it is pretty straight forward that the city of Milan hosts RafflesMilano Fashion and Design Institute – one of 18 colleges of the international Raffles Group. Everything else about the school, though, is anything but straight forward – and that is its driving philosophy. A non-traditional spirit and methodology is taught to its aspiring creative students. Professional, practical experience takes precedence over book knowledge; the school aims to nurture the next generation of leading designers.

Are you ready for your next step in your creative career? Find the right course for you, here.

All images courtesy of RafflesMilano Fashion and Design Institute

RafflesMilano Fashion and Design Institute is unique in its training method. It is inspired by transdisciplinarity and the effectiveness of working on real projects for real clients. Students are challenged with projects that have an objective, context, stock of resources, wealth of experience to be learnt, and a series of tasks to overcome. The world of work is the focus for the school, its courses and pupils. The knowledge of trends, user needs and more can be better learnt from practice than books.

Professional, esteemed course leaders and faculty

Students are guided by a formidable team of teachers who, in most cases, are leading names on the international scene of culture, style and, of course, design. The relationship between teachers and students is purposefully close as to prepare pupils for professional work environments. This also eases creative dialogues between students, courses and teachers to increase knowledge, inspire ideas and discuss pressing topics. Each course is entrusted with a Course Leader who coordinates study plans, teaching continuity and teachers, and liaise between class and faculty to guarantee the best, most efficient learning system for each student.

Course Leaders List:

– Franco Achilli (Three-year Course in Visual Design and Master Course in Visual Design and Communication);
– Lorenzo Palmeri (Three-year Course in Product Design and Master Course in Product and Interior Design);
– Carlo Forcolini (Three-year course in Interior Design);
– Maria Canella (Three-year course in Fashion Design);

– Arthur Arbesser (Master Course in Fashion Design and Business);
– Denis Curti (Master Course in Photography).

three-year and master courses

Including visual, fashion, product and interior design, the three-year courses encourage students to learn and design with maximum connection between theory and practice, between idea and execution. It concludes with a professional showcase where each student can display their portfolio of work. Each course has a faculty composed of dozens of lecturers selected from among the most influential, esteemed professionals in their disciplinary field. This leads to a faculty of voices, ideas and experience to transmit knowledge and values.

The master courses include visual design and communication, fashion design and business, product and interior design, and photography. Master students are challenged to collaborate with professionals throughout. Specific, real briefs help build experience as well as an impressive body of work to then aid their next career step.

In addition to attending classroom courses, RafflesMilano Fashion and Design Institute runs extracurricular activities and briefs with companies to further aid students to forge their creative careers. The activity of courses, workshops and design experiences includes a 72-hour project where all courses combine into interdisciplinary teams. The groups tackle a professional, external theme over a three-day non-stop period. This pushes pupils to learn the timing and organization methods needed in and to work to a professional standard.

Still inspired? Check out the full course list for RafflesMilano Fashion and Design Institute, here.