IE University’s Andrea Caruso wins “New York Times Style magazine award” for best retail project

IE University is proud of Andrea Caruso, who teaches on our Bachelor in Design and the Masters in Strategic Design of Spaces. His studio, Ciszak Dalmas & Matteo Ferrari has won "The New York Times Style Magazine’s best retail project award in 2018" for the Malababa flagship store.

“Natural materials from Spain, artisan techniques and imperfect finishes create interiors filled with soul, long-lasting and adaptable, that match the articles that their interiors house,” concluded the jury of the T Spain Design Awards on January 21 in Madrid in recognizing the work of the Ciszak Dalmas & Matteo Ferrari studio for their design of the Malababa store in the Spanish capital.

“We have worked hard so that the materials transmit the message that the brand wanted to tell,” explained Andrea Caruso when asked his thoughts on having won this prize. “I think we’ve given a new identity and context to a brand that already had a history,” he added.

Andrea Caruso teaches at IE School of Architecture and Design. He co-founded Ciszak Dalmas studio in 2009 to serve international clients in the fields of product, installation, interior design and creative direction. Parallel to his practice, he launched La Clinica Design firm, which produces furniture and home accessories.

Andrea’s work focuses on material experimentation and cross-disciplinary design in the search for new scenarios and disruptive concepts. At the school, he teaches Design Studio, a hands-on course which offers students the opportunity to learn by doing. The process is about conceptualizing the challenge at hand, researching, collaborating, imagining, proposing, testing, evaluating and proposing again – all with a critical-thinking mindset.

He has applied this philosophy to his latest prize-winning project. “As a result of this project that has won us T Magazine’s prize, I have learned something that I would recommend to my students: they should design their own materials, rather than picking them out of a catalogue, they should invent, build and work with their hands to make something new and special,” says Andrea. One more advice from professor Caruso to young designers: "Design with your right side of the brain: use your soul, do something exciting, playful and poetic."