Saverio Silli

Fablab Shanghai Vice Director

Brief Introduction

Graduated in architecture in Roma Tre University, Saverio Silli worked as an architect, while pursuing the academic career as a lecturer in Roma Tre’s School of Architecture, for the classes “Visual Communication Design” and “Graphic Representation Methods”.

He has been an active member of Italian’s maker community since 2012, giving birth to the first two Fablabs in Rome. In 2015 he moved to Milan to enroll in the Fab Academy course directed by Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms.

After graduation as a Digital Fabrication Specialist he became the local instructor for Fab Academy in Fablab WOMA in Paris, France, and since December 2016 he is the Director of Courses and now Vice-Director at Fablab Shanghai in Tongji University’s College of Design and Innovation, working as an instructor and community manager, and conducting researches on personal fabrication, design innovation, new materials and physical ideation.

He has organized digital fabrication workshops in Rome, Milan, Paris, Seoul, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Boston and he is an active member of the international fablab network.

Research

Digital and personal fabrication as a tool of citizen science, new materials and sustainability.

The use of digital fabrication techniques and the Fablab environment to help and conceive the process of thinking and ideas generation in co-design.

The current and evolving state of Fablabs and Makerspaces in China and of the Chinese maker’s movement.

Teaching

Studio 5 - Urban Nature and Fabrication

Studio 5 - Electronic production for Designers

Studio 5 - Food and Materials

Fab Academy - How to make (Almost) anything

Education Background

Fab Foundation, Fabricademy (Textile Academy) at Fablab Shanghai, 2018

Fabricademy is a transdisciplinary course that focuses on the development of new technologies applied to the textile industry.

Fab Foundation, Fab Academy at Fab Lab Opendot, Milan, 2015

Fab Academy is the Digital Fabrication diploma based on MIT’s class “How to make (almost) anything”.

Roma Tre University, School of Architecture, Rome, 2008

Bachelor's Degree in Architecture.

Chalmers Tech University, School of Architecture, Göteborg, Sweden, 2004

Work Experience

Fab Academy Guru @ Fab Foundation, Boston, MA, USA

Jun 2016 - ongoing

Local Instructor @ Fab Foundation / Fab Academy, Volumes / WOMA, Paris, France

Feb 2016 - Jun 2016

Design Expert @ Maker Faire Rome, European edition, Rome

Oct 2013/14/15/16

Teaching assistant @ Roma Tre University, School of Architecture, Rome

Mar 2011 - Oct 2016

Architect, Product Designer, Digital Fabrication specialist

Mar 2009 - ongoing

Modelmaker @ Archdelta, Scale Models and Prototypes Firm, Rome

Nov 2009 - Jun 2012

Co-Founder @ Spaghetti Prop, Propmaking and Set Dressing Firm, Rome

Feb 2007 - Dec 2016

Design

A simplified version of the popular Arduino microcontroller, developed in Fablab Shanghai. It allows students of any age to learn electronic production, PCB soldering, programming and prototyping a circuit in a fun and engaging way, assembling the device in full autonomy.

Publications 

[1] Grütter Ghisi, Purini, F., & Silli, S. (2015). Architettura e rappresentazione: alcune questioni. Kappa.

[2] Silli, Saverio, & Valsecchi, Francesca. (2023). Integrating Electronic CIrcuit Design and Fabrication in a Design Studio: Discussing hands-on learning approach to engage undergraduate students ecologically relevant design. Proceedings of the Fab 23 Research Papers Stream, 47–61. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8171650

[3] Silli, S., Valsecchi, F. (2022). Leveraging on Fabrication and Making Methodologies to Support the Development of Ecological Empathy. In: Bruyns, G., Wei, H. (eds) [ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. IASDR 2021. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4472-7_137

[4] Valsecchi, F., Silli, S. (2022). Urban Nature Fabrication: A Framework for a Practice-Based Teaching Methodology of Design for the Pluriverse. In: Bruyns, G., Wei, H. (eds) [ ] With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. IASDR 2021. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4472-7_4

Contact

Email saveriosilli@tongji.edu.cn

Web https://www.linkedin.com/in/saveriosilli/