Lucas Milossi at IULM: from a first brand to product development

Crista: learning by making, at fifteen

I was around fifteen when I started Crista, one of my first projects. The T-shirts had striking prints and bold concepts for the time. Alongside the graphics, I was deeply focused on their cut.

I could not find the proportions I wanted in the T-shirts available in Buenos Aires. We usually bought the ones we liked abroad, so I decided to try making my own.

I began buying combed cotton jersey, in tubular rolls or by weight. Then came cutting, screen printing and sewing. Each stage meant working with someone who knew their craft.

I was too young to drive, so my father came with me. We folded down the back seats of the car to carry the fabric.

That was my first venture and my first experience of bringing a real product to life: choosing a material, looking for the right shape and working with craftspeople to make it happen.

Learning alongside engineers and mould makers

At twenty-one, I had my first job as a designer at a company making hair dryers, hair straighteners and similar products.

During that first year, I developed many proposals and learned alongside engineers and mould makers. I began to understand engineering details, injection moulding and the development of moulds.

Those were also my first experiences with parametric 3D design software. It allowed a much more fluid exchange with manufacturers and brought the design proposals closer to conversations about how to produce them.

A journey to share

Bringing these experiences to IULM was an opportunity to connect the creation of brands with the development of the objects that give them form.

Looking back, I see a continuous thread from those first T-shirts to industrial products: curiosity about how things are made, and the importance of learning from the people who know how to make them.

That way of working remains part of MILOSSI today.