Since 1927, Italy has hosted the Mille Miglia, a car race where drivers challenge their endurance and the reliability of their cars over a distance of approximately 1,600 km on public roads. In 1957, after an accident that claimed the lives of racer Alfonso de Portago, his co-driver Edmund Nelson and eleven other spectators, the competition stopped.
After 20 years, the Mille Miglia has been revived as the world's largest retro race, which lasts a whole week. Traditionally, the race starts in the city of Brescia in Lombardy, not far from Palazzo Monti, a 13th-century palace that currently operates as a cultural center. In collaboration with the center, designer Sabine Marcelis created the trophies and medals for the 42nd Thousand Mile Race.
The new cups and medals for the Mille Miglia were designed by Marcelise together with Edoardo Monti, a collector and curator from Bergamo who in 2017 opened the Palazzo Monti cultural center with a residency program, exhibition space and private collection. Since then, the palace, home to many workshops and studios, has hosted more than 250 artists from 50 different countries and recently hosted a pop-up hotel by Danish brand Vipp and art installations by Copenhagen studio Frama.
Created at Marcelis studio in Rotterdam, the cup is inspired by the "classic shape of trophies and celebrates the deep and enduring bond between pilot and co-pilot." It consists of two elements and becomes a full-fledged art object only when these elements are brought together.
The medals, which are awarded to the first 30 drivers, feature the race route, and a transparent layer on top - the participant's place, race logo, and date. Marcelis, like Marc Newson, who designed the glass Venini trophies for the 2018-2021 race, used the Mille Miglia's signature red color and arrow, the symbol of the race, in the design of the objects.
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