Rinascente Archives
About the project
The Rinascente Archives project was launched in 2015 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Magazzini Bocconi (1865), the origin of what would become la Rinascente, one of Italy’s most iconic retail brands. The goal of the project was to digitally reconstruct the company’s historical archives—largely destroyed or dispersed due to fire (1918), war-time bombing (1943), and corporate transitions—by recovering, cataloging, and presenting archival materials in a unified digital platform accessible to the public.
My role
While working at Iperstudio, I contributed to the front-end development of the digital platform. My responsibilities included building a responsive and accessible interface, integrating metadata and multimedia content, and collaborating with multiple stakeholders—researchers, backend developers, the client’s internal teams, and design partners. My role was key in translating a complex archival architecture into an elegant user-facing experience that respected the cultural and historical value of the material.
Outcome
The project successfully delivered a comprehensive digital archive of la Rinascente, now publicly available and searchable online. It stands as a reference model for corporate cultural heritage initiatives in Italy, blending historical research, visual identity, and web development to preserve and share over a century of commercial and design history.