The sixth edition of the Italian Design Day was dedicated to the topic of “Re-generation. Design and new technologies for a sustainable future.“ Italian embassies organized over 100 events worldwide to celebrate Italian furniture, architecture, and design.
On March 23, hundreds of events worldwide celebrated the sixth edition of Italian Design Day (IDD). The Italian Design Day was held in 2017 for the first time, and since then, it has been promoting the best of Italian furniture, architecture, and design abroad.
The Italian Design Day 2022 was organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture, with the participation of ADI Collezione Compasso d’Oro Foundation, ADI Industrial Design Association, the Italian Trade Agency, Triennale di Milano, Salone del Mobile Milano, FederlegnoArredo and Altagamma.
The topic for this year’s edition is Re-Generation. Design and new technologies for a sustainable future. The goal was to highlight one of the current challenges faced by design: promoting a transition in lifestyles that combines functionality and wellbeing with sustainability and environmental impact, re-generating – both in terms of ideas and in practice – objects and spaces.
To do that, it will be essential to ensure dialogue and collaboration among designers on the one hand and socio-economic actors, from manufacturing companies to research and technological development, on the other. The goal is to design new products and processes based on sustainable technologies and founded on the idea of a circular economy.
Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, in charge of the Promotion of the Country System at the Foreign Ministry, said:“ “the Italian Design Day is one of the most anticipated and appreciated events within the framework of initiatives carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Italy’s integrated promotion. Since 2017, IDD has taken the best of Italian furniture, design, and architecture worldwide to promote the internationalization of a strategic industrial sector through initiatives to support export, businesses, and tourist attractions.”
The Italian diplomatic-consular network, the Italian Cultural Institutes, and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) Offices around the world organized events, presentations of design objects and projects, contests, and seminars in over 100 Countries, with the participation of some of the most well-known and qualified Italian designers, architects, researchers, entrepreneurs, and specialist journalists.
Here are some examples of events held all over the world.
In Spain, the Italian Consulate General and Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona organized a workshop to give young people a chance to experiment with design through new digital technological media. The IED Design School in Barcelona hosted the workshop.
In Portugal, the Italian Embassy invited Giulio Vinaccia, a designer known for his commitment to increasing the social impact of creative industries. Vinaccia held a workshop on regeneration and the recycling of materials and a lecture on the social impact of design.
In Germany, several events took place. The Italian Embassy in Berlin hosted a debate on design and new technologies between Marco Sammicheli, Superintendent of the Museo del Design Italiano – and the German designer Konstantin Grcic.
In Cologne, the Italian Cultural Institute hosted an exhibition dedicated to those Italian designers who represent a new approach to integrated design. In Dortmund, the ICC organized an event on vintage cars as a sustainability model and the influence of Italian producers and designers in creating German models. In Stuttgart, the protagonist was a small enterprise from Sicily, which combines tradition and innovation using natural leather materials coming from Made in Italy industrial processing waste.
In Turkey, the Consulate General of Italy in Istanbul, in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), IED Rome, and the Institute Bilişim Vadisi and under the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Ankara, organized a day dedicated to the promotion of Made in Italy and Italian Design in Turkey. Hosted by Rahmi M Koç Museum, the day opened with a virtual dialogue between Professor Alberto Iacovoni, Coordinator of the Postgraduate School at IED Rome, and Turkish architect Alper Derinboğaz.
In Toronto, the Italian Embassy in Canada, in partnership with Progetto CMR of Milan and Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto, organized a webinar on the concept of the workplace in the post-pandemic period, with a focus on how architecture, design, and town planning can contribute to improving life, health, and wellbeing. The Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. dedicated a conference to Venetian Glass, the protagonist of the exhibition “Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano”, hosted by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In Brazil, the Italian Cultural Institutes of São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, in collaboration with the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) and under the patronage of the Embassy of Italy in Brazil, the Consulates General of Italy in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, and Curitiba and Consulates of Italy in Belo Horizonte and Recife, presented a meeting with the renowned architect Stefano Boeri on the topic of green cities.
In Taiwan, the Italian Economic, Trade, and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei invited local design professionals and the public to a series of online lectures, opened by a discussion with Alberto Perazza, CEO of MAGIS Spa, on the issues of sustainability and innovation.
In Vietnam, the Italian Embassy in Hanoi and the Italian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City organized a series of initiatives dedicated to regeneration and sustainability, including a hybrid conference on mobility and industrial design by architect Marco Lambri, design director of Piaggio.
In Senegal, the Italian Embassy in Dakar presented ‘’Monolyto’’, a recycled plastic structure that replaces cement bricks. Monolyto is manufactured in the region of Dakar from an Italian patent registered by the developer Maddalena Martigli. “Monolyto” represents a sustainable and innovative solution that reduces emissions. The event convened more than 70 institutional and business representatives, designers, and NGOs, both Senegalese and Italian, at the Comptoir Commercial du Senegal.
Finally, in Zambia, the Embassy of Italy to Lusaka organized a forum entitled “ART & Architecture”, which intended to create synergies among the concepts of urban planning, design, beauty, and art. The event was part of the “Italy-Zambia: building an ART bridge” project andwas held at the Zambian Italian Cultural Center.
