ITS 2019 – The Finalists Selection Jury. Meet the industry professionals in charge of selecting the next ITS Generation.

Barbara Franchin
ITS Founder & Director

Barbara Franchin is the founder and soul of ITS – International Talent Support. 
She was born and raised in Trieste, a town with a privileged and decentralized point of view far from the established capitals of design, allowing an ideal perspective for a pure and unfiltered view, free from mainstream visions of the world. 
In 2001 she launched EVE, a one-of-a-kind agency with a key strength: an eclectic, dedicated and passionate team.
The following year she launched the first edition of ITS, selecting the strongest young talents from all over the world and hosting them in Trieste for a grand final event with over 400 guests: journalists, trendsetters, opinion leaders and major representatives of the fashion system.
Her love and will to preserve, catalogue and display these unique expressions of creativity led to the creation of the ITS Creative Archive, a collection like no other which traces the history of contemporary fashion evolution. The Archive holds 17,000 portfolios, 220 outfits, 120 accessories, 80 jewelry pieces and over 700 digital photography projects from over 80 countries.

Aitor Throup
Artist, designer, creative director

Aitor Throup is an Argentinian-born British artist, designer and creative director.
Throup’s multi-disciplinary design house ‘A.T. Studio’ collaborates across multiple industries and is lauded for developing the directional ‘New Object Research’ clothing line which has received critical acclaim for breaking the boundaries of the standard catwalk format and the seasonal conventions of the fashion system.
Throup is renowned for his figurative and conceptual explorations of human anatomy through deep metaphorical narratives.
The notion of anatomy is at the core of his practice, which Throup tends to explore through fantastical aesthetic systems often based on his highly expressive sculptures and figurative drawings – which are showcased through Throup’s long standing daily drawing platform ‘The Daily Sketchbook Archives’.
Aitor Throup’s studio is committed to imagining and creating new ways of telling stories through object design and the direction and creation of related materials.

Michael Kampe
Creative Director Lee Jeans E.M.E.A. and Design Tutor

After his graduation at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Michael won the ITS9 Diesel Award in 2010 which gained him an internship and later a design role at the name- sake company. He stepped up to leading positions in Scotch& Soda as Creative Manager and afterwards Head of Design for Hugo Boss. Next to his tenure at companies, he teaches at international fashion schools to pass on knowledge and create future talent. Today Michael works as Creative Director for Lee Jeans where he leads a team of designers and oversees the creative direction and image of the brand.

Luca Rizzi
Pitti Immagine Tutoring & Consulting Director

Born in 1984 in Trento, after his initial studies in Economics and Business Management, Luca Rizzi completed a Master’s degree in Management at the European School of Economics in Milan. Here, Luca acquired the knowledge needed to start his job-career in Futurenet Group (now called Tomorrow Ltd), where he was involved both in the commercial developments and in the communications, dealing with global brands as Raf Simons, Evisu, True Religion, Vince and Ksubi. He then went on to work for Cernobbio, owner of the historic brand Metradamo, where he managed relations with Italian and international clients. In 2011, he arrived in LAGENTE, an important company focused on fashion designers. Strong from this experience, in 2013, he founded CREATIVE AND MORE, a Business and Strategic Consultancy firm, which acts as a platform of strategic networking between companies of the fashion system and fashion designers. Starting from november 2018 he is the director of Pitti Tutoring & Consulting at Pitti Immagine.

Carlo Bach
Art Director illycaffé

Carlo Bach was born in Cologne in 1967. He is an artist, with numerous exhibitions both in Italy and abroad.
Since 1999 he collaborates on the artistic projects of illycaffè – a company which has chosen creativity as a language through which it expresses its own values and philosophy – and became Art Director in 2005.
He develops collaborations with the most renowned contemporary artists as well as with emerging talents, working on experimental art projects to then translate such experiences into the realization of the illy Art Collection, the signature espresso cups that are now a cult.
He is also responsible for the projects that the company develops in the fields of communication and design, among which the Illy Gallery – the temporary space imagined to describe illy’s world of passions to the public – and the Coffee Pavillion created for the Milan Expo in 2015. He lives in Udine, Italy.

Carlo Giordanetti
Creative Director Swatch International

Carlo Giordanetti was named Creative Director of Swatch Ltd. in October 2012, responsible for a unified brand identity across product, communications and store design. He is also charged with developing the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai as a strategic element of the overall brand program. He comes to Swatch from Montblanc (2007-2012), where he served as Creative Director for all product groups and achieved notable success. Previously, as Co-Founder and Creative Director of Brand DNA (2000-2007), he specialized in the development of branding concepts and brand (re)positioning in the luxury goods market. Mr. Giordanetti also brings extensive experience at Swatch to his new role. For ten years (1987-1992 and 1995-2000) he served in a variety of positions, including Vice President, Marketing, contributing actively to numerous projects involving art, brand-building events, new product development and the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. He was also a member of the team that founded both the Milan and New York design labs of Swatch. From 1992-1995 Mr. Giordanetti worked at Piaggio, makers of Vespa scooters, where he established a new retail concept and directed the company’s first international communications campaign. Mr. Giordanetti is fluent in several European languages and has lived and worked in Milan, Florence, New York, Paris, Hamburg and Zurich.

Sara Sozzani Maino
Deputy Editor in Chief Vogue Italia, Head of Vogue Talents

Sara Sozzani Maino’s first experience in fashion began in the early 90’s while working at the newly opened Corso Como 10 boutique in Milan before joining “Vogue Italia” as an intern in 1994. 
She is now deputy editor of Vogue Italia and head of Vogue Talents, project born in 2009 in support of emerging designers. Far from being a simple editorial project that comes out twice a year enclosed to as a supplement to Vogue Italia, Vogue Talents is a network that scouts and supports the best creative talents in womenswear, menswear, accessories and fashion photography. Vogue Talents is a platform that creates connections between designers and the fashion industry, supporting the growth of opportunities and new collaborations. 
A regular attendee at global talent spotting shows, she has served as a judge in several fashion competitions, including the LVMH prize, International Talent Support, the Designer’s Nest Award, the H&M Award, the Woolmark Prize, among others. She is a frequent flyer, travelling around the world from a fashion week to the next one, from one fashion week to the next, from Asia to America, going through Africa and Australia and everywhere she finds time and attention to offer to each upcoming designer. 
The number of new initiatives dedicated to talents and signed by her is increasing: The Next Green Talents, in collaboration with yoox.com is focused in sustainability which is becoming a primary focus to give awareness to the new generation. Since September 2019 she is International Brand Ambassador for Camera Nazionale della MODA.

Valentina Maggi
Director of Design Practice at Floriane de St. Pierre et Associés

Graduated in Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano, Valentina Maggi began her professional career in the Conservation and History of Architecture Department of the Politecnico di Milano. With her passion for Design in the wider sense, Valentina Maggi joined FLORIANE DE SAINT PIERRE & ASSOCIÉS in 1999 and has headed up the Design Practice since 2000.

Alessandra Rossi
Chief Digital Officer Tomorrow Holdings

Alessandra is CDO and Board Director of Tomorrow, leading the Group’s digital innovation strategy, and driving the focus on developing a consumer-orientated mindset across all channels. A renowned expert with deep knowledge of the industry and the inner workings of ecommerce honed during her 15 years at YOOX and YNAP.