Monogrid: the studio specializing in the new frontiers of digital production – from augmented reality to the Metaverse – whose main clients are Vogue, Gucci and Maserati
Founded in 2016 in Florence, Monogrid is a digital production studio, one of the very few in Italy capable of offering cutting-edge services, using all the latest technologies: more than 40 employees in an informal and friendly work environment.
Monogrid is a visionary studio that loves to create new realities, providing highly technological solutions at all levels: immersive platforms, augmented reality, projection mapping, apps and much more. Their motto – unsurprisingly – says: “We challenge ourselves to look to the future, to remain curious and never be satisfied. We want to explore the impossible”.
Their clients include key players in various industries, such as Moncler, Vogue, Sky, Dolce & Gabbana, Netflix, Maserati, Gucci and Wired Italia.
The new digital frontiers
Never before have brands working in luxury, fashion, design and art understood the importance of digital both for marketing purposes and as a visual language to communicate their content and image. Both Generation Z and Alpha are growing up in a digital environment, using its specific language, which they fully understand. The company’s vision is perfectly in line with the needs of contemporary markets, and the growth of its turnover clearly demonstrates it: +40% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Monogrid has recently formalized a partnership with The Mill, an international visual effects studio with whom it had already collaborated for the official AR gaming app of the House of the Dragon TV series by HBO.
The first phygital fashion show
One of the latest projects by Monogrid is the first phygital fashion show for Istituto Marangoni – September 2022 – which took place simultaneously in the Dubai Future Museum and in the educational Metaverse of the ‘Talent District’, for the official opening of the academic headquarters in the UAE.
The phygital fashion show allowed visitors to attend the same event, in the same place, from all over the world. Models and avatars paraded together in front of the audience, and the users connected online to the portal of the ‘Talent District’, one of the first educational Metaverses in the world – created by Monogrid for the Institute.
(https://www.we-wealth.com/news/pleasure-assets/art-tech/le-applicazioni-del-metaverso-nel-quotidiano-e nel-mercato-dell-arte)
But what exactly does Monogrid do? David Hartono founder of the firm explains
Where do you originally come from and at what age did you arrive in Italy?
I come from a small Indonesian town on the island of Java but, when I was 18, I moved to Holland to go to university.
I moved to Italy when I was 23. After graduating, I got a job in London with a production company that was opening a new office in Florence, where I still live today. So, we can say that Italy happened… by chance!
At some point, I quit my job at the London-based company but, in the meantime, I had fallen in love with Florence, so I decided to stay. In 2016, I founded Monogrid together with Francesco Bernabei and Daniele Pelagatti, my business partners. Our firm has grown a lot over the last few years, and we now have around 40 employees.
Why did you choose Italy?
First of all because of the high quality of life, especially in Florence where I live. I find it very people-friendly, moving around is quick and easy and it’s not too expensive, especially compared to large European cities. It was the perfect place to set up a business, the rent for the office space was reasonable and the start-up costs were generally low. As a young and growing company, this helped us a lot: we had the“breathing space” we needed to grow.
Who are your clients? Are they mostly Italian or international?
80% of our clients are Italian and, because of the digital nature of the services we offer, our clientele is mainly concentrated in Milan.
Our company was founded in 2016, during the Italian digital boom, when all the luxury brands began to show interest in the “virtual world”, recognizing digital technologies as a new marketing tool. At the time, we were one of the very first companies in Italy specializing in digital products. It was perfect timing, as our clients were trying to approach Generation Z, which is very familiar with this new virtual language.
What exactly does your studio do?
Even though our focus was initially on the design of websites and, more generally, on virtual reality, we are now a fully-fledged digital production house that can potentially design and produce any digital product. By virtual reality, we mean any video product that can be viewed through a prepared viewer; brands use this type of digital product for different needs.
One of our first jobs in this field was the creation of a virtual reality for the launch of the Gomorra TV series. It was set in the Le Vele neighborhood of Naples, a dangerous area for filming, which is the reason why we were asked to make a video that reconstructed the neighborhood, and that could be played in a visor for the audience.
We also carried out a virtual reality project for Manifatture Sigaro Toscano. As the plantations and the factories cannot be visited simultaneously, we digitally recreated the entire production process of the cigars – from the growing of the plants to the finished product.
I know your studio also deals with projection mapping, tell us about it.
Projection mapping is very popular in the music industry, with which we collaborate a lot, creating video projections and visuals using led walls.
Led wall systems include small cubes (20×20 cm) made with luminous screens, which are then assembled together to create various shapes that are installed behind the stage and reproduce video content. In a way, they are a sort of “digital lego”.
This kind of installation is mostly needed at national and international music festivals, such as Club to Club in Turin or Kappa FuturFestival.
Recently, this technology has also caught on in the fashion world, especially in fashion shows.
Do your customers also include brands specializing in home design?
Yes, we have worked for example with Dolce & Gabbana Home, creating their e-commerce website and a projection mapping project for the showroom in Milan. We also designed and carried out a digital campaign for D&G in Cassina.
What else do you do within your creative studio?
Lately, we have been working more and more with augmented reality, as this technology allows, for example, to enter a showroom, frame an object or a poster with your phone and make it come alive. (https://www.we wealth.com/news/fintech/digital-transformation/realta-aumentata-virtuale-entro-2021-investimenti-109- miliardi)
We are now also helping brands create their own Metaverse, for example, we created a 3D space for Istituto Marangoni where users can pick their avatar and view the collections made by the students. It is a bit like entering inside the actual Institute, and this is very useful for students who are abroad and for potential enrollees.
Have you already made NFT’s?
Yes, we have made NFT’s for our studio, they are a set of masks that can be bought and worn by your avatar during masquerade parties in the Metaverse. They are sold on OpenSea.
Our studio offers innovative digital products, which means we have to be aware of new technologies and experiment with them to understand exactly how they work, as this allows us to offer them to our clients. Many of them have already started requesting NFT’s.
The studio
Founded in 2016 in Florence, Monogrid is a digital production studio, one of the very few in Italy capable of offering cutting-edge services, using all the latest technologies: more than 40 employees in an informal and friendly work environment.
Monogrid is a visionary studio that love…
Founded in 2016 in Florence, Monogrid is a digital production studio, one of the very few in Italy capable of offering cutting-edge services, using all the latest technologies: more than 40 employees in an informal and friendly work environment.
Monogrid is a visionary studio that loves to create new realities, providing highly technological solutions at all levels: immersive platforms, augmented reality, projection mapping, apps and much more. Their motto – unsurprisingly – says: “We challenge ourselves to look to the future, to remain curious and never be satisfied. We want to explore the impossible”.
Their clients include key players in various industries, such as Moncler, Vogue, Sky, Dolce & Gabbana, Netflix, Maserati, Gucci and Wired Italia.
The new digital frontiers
Never before have brands working in luxury, fashion, design and art understood the importance of digital both for marketing purposes and as a visual language to communicate their content and image. Both Generation Z and Alpha are growing up in a digital environment, using its specific language, which they fully understand. The company’s vision is perfectly in line with the needs of contemporary markets, and the growth of its turnover clearly demonstrates it: +40% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Monogrid has recently formalized a partnership with The Mill, an international visual effects studio with whom it had already collaborated for the official AR gaming app of the House of the Dragon TV series by HBO.
The first phygital fashion show
One of the latest projects by Monogrid is the first phygital fashion show for Istituto Marangoni – September 2022 – which took place simultaneously in the Dubai Future Museum and in the educational Metaverse of the ‘Talent District’, for the official opening of the academic headquarters in the UAE.
The phygital fashion show allowed visitors to attend the same event, in the same place, from all over the world. Models and avatars paraded together in front of the audience, and the users connected online to the portal of the ‘Talent District’, one of the first educational Metaverses in the world – created by Monogrid for the Institute.
(https://www.we-wealth.com/news/pleasure-assets/art-tech/le-applicazioni-del-metaverso-nel-quotidiano-e nel-mercato-dell-arte)
But what exactly does Monogrid do? David Hartono founder of the firm explains
Where do you originally come from and at what age did you arrive in Italy?
I come from a small Indonesian town on the island of Java but, when I was 18, I moved to Holland to go to university.
I moved to Italy when I was 23. After graduating, I got a job in London with a production company that was opening a new office in Florence, where I still live today. So, we can say that Italy happened… by chance!
At some point, I quit my job at the London-based company but, in the meantime, I had fallen in love with Florence, so I decided to stay. In 2016, I founded Monogrid together with Francesco Bernabei and Daniele Pelagatti, my business partners. Our firm has grown a lot over the last few years, and we now have around 40 employees.
Why did you choose Italy?
First of all because of the high quality of life, especially in Florence where I live. I find it very people-friendly, moving around is quick and easy and it’s not too expensive, especially compared to large European cities. It was the perfect place to set up a business, the rent for the office space was reasonable and the start-up costs were generally low. As a young and growing company, this helped us a lot: we had the“breathing space” we needed to grow.
Who are your clients? Are they mostly Italian or international?
80% of our clients are Italian and, because of the digital nature of the services we offer, our clientele is mainly concentrated in Milan.
Our company was founded in 2016, during the Italian digital boom, when all the luxury brands began to show interest in the “virtual world”, recognizing digital technologies as a new marketing tool. At the time, we were one of the very first companies in Italy specializing in digital products. It was perfect timing, as our clients were trying to approach Generation Z, which is very familiar with this new virtual language.
What exactly does your studio do?
Even though our focus was initially on the design of websites and, more generally, on virtual reality, we are now a fully-fledged digital production house that can potentially design and produce any digital product. By virtual reality, we mean any video product that can be viewed through a prepared viewer; brands use this type of digital product for different needs.
One of our first jobs in this field was the creation of a virtual reality for the launch of the Gomorra TV series. It was set in the Le Vele neighborhood of Naples, a dangerous area for filming, which is the reason why we were asked to make a video that reconstructed the neighborhood, and that could be played in a visor for the audience.
We also carried out a virtual reality project for Manifatture Sigaro Toscano. As the plantations and the factories cannot be visited simultaneously, we digitally recreated the entire production process of the cigars – from the growing of the plants to the finished product.
I know your studio also deals with projection mapping, tell us about it.
Projection mapping is very popular in the music industry, with which we collaborate a lot, creating video projections and visuals using led walls.
Led wall systems include small cubes (20×20 cm) made with luminous screens, which are then assembled together to create various shapes that are installed behind the stage and reproduce video content. In a way, they are a sort of “digital lego”.
This kind of installation is mostly needed at national and international music festivals, such as Club to Club in Turin or Kappa FuturFestival.
Recently, this technology has also caught on in the fashion world, especially in fashion shows.
Do your customers also include brands specializing in home design?
Yes, we have worked for example with Dolce & Gabbana Home, creating their e-commerce website and a projection mapping project for the showroom in Milan. We also designed and carried out a digital campaign for D&G in Cassina.
What else do you do within your creative studio?
Lately, we have been working more and more with augmented reality, as this technology allows, for example, to enter a showroom, frame an object or a poster with your phone and make it come alive. (https://www.we wealth.com/news/fintech/digital-transformation/realta-aumentata-virtuale-entro-2021-investimenti-109- miliardi)
We are now also helping brands create their own Metaverse, for example, we created a 3D space for Istituto Marangoni where users can pick their avatar and view the collections made by the students. It is a bit like entering inside the actual Institute, and this is very useful for students who are abroad and for potential enrollees.
Have you already made NFT’s?
Yes, we have made NFT’s for our studio, they are a set of masks that can be bought and worn by your avatar during masquerade parties in the Metaverse. They are sold on OpenSea.
Our studio offers innovative digital products, which means we have to be aware of new technologies and experiment with them to understand exactly how they work, as this allows us to offer them to our clients. Many of them have already started requesting NFT’s.
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