Kids

Maga Animation Studio is celebrating its 30th anniversary on September 23, marking three decades of creative and technological evolution that have taken the Italian studio from the pioneering days of computer graphics to international productions across animation, video games and digital entertainment. Founded in Milan in 1996 by Massimo “Max” Carrier Ragazzi, Maga entered the market when computer graphics was still a largely experimental field. Professional workstations came at a high cost, the Internet was still in its early stages and many of the tools now considered essential to production had yet to be developed. Against that backdrop, Carrier Ragazzi established a studio built around the idea of combining art, technology and experimentation to serve storytelling. Thirty years later, that approach continues to shape Maga's work.

The studio, which later relocated to Monza, has evolved alongside major shifts in the creative industries, from the emergence of digital animation and the growth of international television production to the rise of video games as a narrative medium and the adoption of real-time production pipelines. Its international portfolio has included collaborations with Disney, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Sanrio, Netflix and Amazon, bringing Italian creative and technical expertise to productions aimed at audiences worldwide.

Maga's work spans animated series, video games, advertising, cinematics and original intellectual properties. The studio has worked with major figures in Italian animation, including Bruno Bozzetto and Guido Manuli, while its television credits include PsicoVip™, Acqua in Bocca, Ricky Zoom, Lupin’s Tales, Hello Kitty Super Style! and Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures.

The studio's productions have also earned international recognition. Its work for Disney Channel has received several Gold Promax Awards, while The GoGoPig was selected for the Annecy Festival. Lupin’s Tales won Best Preschool TV Series at Cartoons on the Bay, while Sanrio's Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures received Best Web Series at the New York Shorts Awards. NORA ノラ has also received recognition on the international music video scene.

For founder Max Carrier Ragazzi, the anniversary is ultimately less about the evolution of technology than about how technology is used to support creativity. “Thirty years is long enough to watch the future change shape more than once,” he says. “When we started, many of the technologies that are now commonplace and indispensable did not yet exist. And yet the question that has stayed with us ever since has remained surprisingly simple: what makes a creative work truly meaningful? The answer, of course, is not found in the tools alone, but in the intentions behind them. In the ability to look at the world with curiosity and transform that experience into something that can be shared. That is why I believe the greatest challenge is not to chase every innovation, but to understand it, explore it and preserve what makes creativity human. Everything else is simply the means through which that spark finds a form. And perhaps that is precisely where the magic lies: in the meeting of imagination, talent and the desire to explore what does not yet exist. It is this energy, this drive towards what comes next, that turns every milestone into a new beginning, with the same passion, joy and desire to build that I had when I was twenty.”

Raffaella Calvino Prina, Maga's creative director since its early years, sees the anniversary from a different but complementary perspective, focusing on the people and relationships that have shaped the studio. “Summing up in just a few words what the journey of Maga Animation Studio has meant to me over these thirty years is difficult. It is one of my lives, perhaps the longest and the most complex. If I had to distil it all into one thought, I think the greatest satisfaction is having managed to build a place where so many lives have crossed paths. Those synergies gave rise to wonderful projects that will remain forever.”