For the Italian Design Day 2018 taking place today, March 1, in 100 cities around the world, ambassadors of the Italian culture – chosen among designers, architects, entrepreneurs, critics, communicators, teachers – take part in events exploring the relationship between design and sustainability.
The result of a collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities and Tourism, Milan Triennale, ICE Agenzia, Salone del Mobile Milano, the Industrial Design Association, Compasso d’Oro Foundation, and Altagamma Foundation, the Italian Design Day is a project that involves public and private actors representing Italian quality design. The 2018 edition theme wants to be an investigation on how the world of design can contribute to economic, social and environmental sustainability; and is, therefore, in perfect harmony with the ‘Broken Nature – Design Takes on Human Survival’ theme chosen for the XXII International Exhibition of the Milan Triennale, which will take place from March 1 to September 1, 2019. Italy, world leader in the design sector, presents ideas, projects, and quality solutions promoting an international debate to rethink the world in which we live, from the design of cities and homes to that of everyday objects, in order to re-balance the relationship between production, environment, and society.
Among the initiatives organized by diplomatic representations abroad: in Barcelona (Spain), ‘Naturally creative’ – that brings together the best young Italian creative minds that work in Spain -, and ‘Ferri Taglienti’ – that, led by well-known designer Odoardo Fioravanti, explores the delicate relationship between nature and artifice; in Tel Aviv (Israel) an initiative dedicated to bicycle design – with the organization of a conference and the exhibition of bicycle specimens designed by Italian companies De Rosa-SK Pininfarina -; in Algiers (Algeria) a rich educational program – with conferences, initiatives to promote young Italian designers, and a workshop on sustainability for local and Italian design students, aimed at the realization, with reusable and sustainable materials, of prototypes that will be presented in subsequent exhibitions.
Ilona Catani Scarlett