Ivan Parati

Ivan Parati is an industrial designer with experience in product, furniture, interior, graphics and interaction. He is currently teaching at Ajman University, focusing his research on modularity, geometric tessellation and digital fabrication, keen on technology but aware of its potential threat to contemporary society. He belongs since a decade to the cultural scene of the Emirates, enabling through caravan, a design collective founded with his wife Emanuela Corti, a dialogue among the local industry and the creative community with workshops, installations, exhibitions, and researches. He is one of the founders of Witsense, the Start-Up whose brainchild Sensewear, a collection of smart-garments with anti-stress functionalities, has been internationally recognized with design awards and prizes. Ivan recently joined Compasses, the architecture and design magazine with international vocation focusing on the Gulf scene, as Associate Editor for the Middle East keen on strengthening the local presence of the magazine, promoting a model still new to the region where essays and projects’ reviews contribute towards specific themed issues. He is currently Co-curator at UAE Modern and organizer of People Planet Profits, a platform that aims at gathering local and international experts to share experiences and exchange knowledge on design innovation for sustainable environments.

Ivan Parrati was the winner of the Van Cleef & Arpels Middle East Emergent Designer Prize 2015.