Luca Boscardin at EDIT Cult: design that invites play
Luca Boscardin transformed Castel Sant’Elmo’s vast Piazza d’Armi into an open-air playground with Animal Factory, a collection of stylized animal sculptures. Produced by Magis and Metalco, the installation included a giraffe, crocodile, gorilla, and dinosaur crafted from steel tubing. The minimal lines invite imagination. This work embodies EDIT Cult’s mission of engaging visitors through design and movement in historic sites.
Who is Luca Boscardin?
Luca Boscardin is an Italian toy designer and illustrator. His background in architecture and visual communication informs his work, which ranges from museum projects to everyday objects. His focus is on playfulness, clarity, and storytelling, making him ideal for public-space installations like Animal Factory.
Animal Factory: minimal lines, life-size proportions
Animal Factory started as drawings and evolved into life-size creatures mirroring their real counterparts. Each piece consists of bent steel tubes in single colors. This design encourages viewers to connect abstract outlines with familiar animal forms. The shapes are ambiguous but shift into recognition with perspective changes. The result is a mix of sculpture, street furniture, and an invitation to play.
From sketches to cities: a project built for public space
Conceived at Amsterdam’s NDSM wharf, Animal Factory is for outdoors—robust enough for parks, plazas, and schoolyards, yet lighthearted in tone. The pieces can be sat on, leaned against, climbed, or used as meeting points. Their simplicity allows them to function as workout stations, impromptu bike racks, or social anchors, depending on the context. At EDIT Cult 2025, that adaptability synced beautifully with Castel Sant’Elmo’s monumental scale.
Collaboration with Magis and Metalco
For Naples, Luca Boscardin partnered with Italian design brand Magis and urban-infrastructure specialist Metalco to industrialize the concept without losing its childlike clarity. The collaboration yielded durable, certified outdoor pieces with friendly, sinuous geometry—proof that playful design can also meet the technical demands of public installations and long-term city use.
EDIT Cult 2025: the city as a design stage
This edition of EDIT Cult activated Naples’ museum circuit, including Castel Sant’Elmo, Certosa di San Martino, and Villa Floridiana, turning the city into a multi-site narrative of material, heritage, and innovation. Within that itinerary, Animal Factory stood out as a kinetic pause: visitors moved through, around, and over the works, reframing the fortress courtyard as a communal playground and reminding us that culture is also a bodily experience.
Why Animal Factory matters for urban life
Urban public spaces often swing between being over-programmed and under-loved.
Animal Factory threads a middle path: it’s open-ended enough to welcome free interpretation, yet specific enough to catalyze action—especially for children and families.
By reducing animals to essential strokes, Luca Boscardin gives cities a new visual language for wellness, inclusion, and play. In Naples, that language resonated across generations, reinforcing the fair’s emphasis on responsible, human-centered design.
Materials, maintenance, and sustainability cues
The use of powder-coated steel tubing strikes a balance between longevity, repairability, and aesthetic clarity. Single-shade finishes simplify upkeep while keeping the palette fresh and legible in complex urban settings. The modular approach also means new animals can “join the herd,” allowing municipalities or venues to scale installations over time without redesigning from scratch—innovative thinking for circular, adaptable public design.
Takeaways for designers and curators
For curators, Animal Factory is a case study in how to activate monumental heritage through contemporary gestures that are playful, safe, and accessible. For designers, it demonstrates how a consistent drawing logic can be applied across mediums—from sketchbook to street—while retaining its essence intact. And for families, it offers a rare luxury: art you don’t just look at, but live with. In Naples, Luca Boscardin proved that approachable doesn’t mean simplistic; it means precise, intentional, and generous.
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