On the occasion of the third edition of Mag to Mag, the festival of independent magazines (13–14 September 2025, BASE Milano), AIAP CDPG, in collaboration with Paper Paper Studio (Cecilia Bianchini and Giovanni Cavalleri), curated the exhibition Impresa Rivista. Grafica e comunicazione negli house organ italiani dagli anni Quaranta a oggi (Impresa Rivista. Graphic Design and Communication in Italian House Organs from the 1940s to Today).
In the years of industrial boom following the Second World War, Italy developed a lively tradition of house organs and corporate periodicals. This tradition was not confined to renowned publications such as «Pirelli» or «Civiltà delle Macchine», but also flourished among smaller companies, many of them active in strategic sectors of Made in Italy. For some Italian firms, these editorial ventures have continued – up to the present day – to serve as a platform of exchange between the productive and the cultural spheres.
Impresa Rivista, through a selection of publications spanning from the 1940s to today, offers an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between communication design and business culture. It also raises questions about the role these tools still play in contemporary corporate strategies, fostering dialogue with both internal and external audiences, not always directly connected with a company’s core activity.
Originally conceived as instruments of internal communication, house organs were created to inform, strengthen a sense of belonging and “educate” employees. As such, bulletins and company journals today stand as precious historical records, capturing not only industrial activity but also the everyday life of factories and the social dynamics of work.
At the same time, corporate publishing has functioned as a public voice for companies, playing a crucial role in shaping their image. It provided a medium through which to test innovative communication strategies, reaching out to diverse audiences and positioning itself within a wider system of corporate promotion.
One of the most distinctive traits of this publishing tradition is its ability to act as a bridge between the so-called “two cultures”: the technical-scientific and the artistic-literary. Numerous examples, both historical and contemporary, show how these periodicals integrated different disciplines and perspectives, anticipating debates that remain relevant today and drawing readers closer to worlds that might otherwise appear distant.
Corporate publishing, in this sense, is a cultural tool of remarkable scope, capable of producing editorial projects that need not be bound entirely by market logic – a characteristic it shares, in different ways, with the world of independent magazines.
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of AIAP, the Italian association for visual communication design, and the launch of the new online platform of the Graphic Design Documentation Centre, this exhibition marks a collaboration with Mag to Mag, the established festival of independent magazines. Impresa Rivista was conceived by Paper Paper (Cecilia Bianchini and Giovanni Cavalleri) in collaboration with AIAP CDPG, who also co-curated the exhibition.
