ITalIaN lIfESTylE IN TEN dESIgN claSSIcS

Transcription

Strapline 1
Italian Journal
volume 20. number iV. 2011
Design Save Italy
Giacamo Puccini. Courtesy Puccini Foundation.
2 Strapline
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4
Italian Journal
IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover: CAMPARI AD c. 1960. page 23
Claudia Palmira Acunto
Editor
Laura Giacalone
Contributing Editor
michael Bottari
Editorial Assistant
Genny di Bert
Columnist
Mauro benedetti
Vito Catalone
Photography
Printed in the United States.
Stefano ACUNTO
Chairman
The Italian Academy Foundation, Inc. (IAF),
established in 1947, is a non-for profit 501©(3),
tax-exempt corporation that pursues a unique
form of cultural diplomacy, presenting Italian
realities to U.S. audiences. The Italian Academy Foundation, Inc. produces concerts, symposia and special events year-round in the United
States and Italy.
Hudson Cliff House
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914 966 3180 ext.110
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www.italianjournal.it
Editor’s journal
contributors
NOTABLE
Italian Ap Is back
the euro and italy
DEsigner hotels
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Design Save Italy
20
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what is italian design?
italian lifestyle in ten classics
design v. styling
il design
the courage and risk of a vision
it is in the use of an object that its
destiny is written
30
what does italian design mean to you? 32
Interview with gaetano pesce
35
interview with gabriele pezzini
36
four in fashion
38
Literature: the superficial truth
54
Photography: Hidden gem of venice 55
Social journal
57
Face file: frida giannini
62
page 10
page 25
page 18
page 39
page 47
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EDITOR’S journal
VIva THE CULTURE
OF DESIGN
T
he title of our current edition immediately captured the imagination of
the designers, curators and economists
who wrote and were interviewed for this
issue. Though Italy may not need saving,
the idea that one concept, one export,
might bolster its success, is an attractive
one.
Italian design is an intangible and
diffuse export. As Ettore Sottsass said,
“design is a way to understand life” [designer Gabriele Pezzini quotes him in
our interview on page 36.] It comprises
furniture, cars, shoes, clothing and appliances. Its protagonists were educated in
craft, often in a family tradition. Many
were modernists before modernism, embracing innovation without sacrificing
“form”. Taken as a philosophy representing a culture, design can be understood
as a kind of cultural ambassador.
Characterized by an indelible combination of aesthetics, wit, function and
color, the products that are truly “Italian”
never exaggerate any of these aspects, but
exhibit them in an elegant balance. Ultimately, Italian design is friendly, humanistic in its functionality even while unpredictable in its form.
Can this cultural flair sustain the
country’s well-being through economic
stress? New Italian designers, as new
artists, musicians and writers, have a
substantial history in which to partake
– perhaps overwhelmingly so. It is up to
them to answer the question, with their
creativity, in collaboration with manufacturers and producers who recognize their
relevance.
The articles, interviews, photos and
quotes in this edition provide a basis
for illuminating your own answer to the
question.
Claudia Palmira
Rome, Italy
Ettore Sottsass. Carlton
cabinet for Memphis, 1981.
6 Contributors
contributors
Silvia ANNICCHIARICO
Silvia Annicchiarico, architect, is the director of the Triennale Design Museum of
the Milan Triennale since 2007. Prior to that, she was the curator of the Permanent
Italian Design Collection of the Milan Triennale. She is a member of the Scientific
Committee in the area of design and was a professor of industrial design at Milan
Politechnic. From 1998-2001, she was the vice president of the monthly publication
“Modo,” collaborating with various print and radio journalists. She is a curator of exhibitions and books in Italy and abroad. In 2004, she became a mother to Caterina.
Giampiero BOSONI
Architect Giampero Bosoni has collaborated with Figini and Pollini, Vittori Gregotti
and Enzo Mari, with whom he has developed interest for theory and history for architectural and industrial design projects. He is Professor of interior architecture and
the history of design at Milan Politechnic, where he is a faculty member. His writings
about design and living have been published in Abitare, Casabella, Domus, Interni,
Ottagono, Print, Rassegna and others. He has written and edited various books as well.
In 1997, he curated the exhibit “Museum of Design” for the Milan Triennale, which
formed the first nucleus of the historical collection of Italian design of the Triennale.
In 2006-2007, he organized the international show “Italian Design and Avant-garde
in the 20th Century” (Montréal, Toronto, Rovereto). For the Museum of Modern
Art, New York, he authored a book about Italian design history. Most recently he
curated the show “Made in Cassina” and the accompanying catalog (Triennale di
Milano 2008, Tokyo 2009). He has held numerous conferences on the subject at
academic and cultural institutions in Italy and worldwide. His studio Bosono+Ranza
concentrates on architectural projects, exhibits and interior design.
Domitilla DARDI
Born in Rome in 1970. After graduation in History of Art at La Sapienza, Università
degli Studi di Roma, she attained a Ph.D in History of Architecture at Università
Federico II di Napoli, with Prof. Renato De Fusco relator. From 2003 to 2007 she
taught History of Design and History of Contemporary Art in Facoltà di Architettura of Ascoli Piceno. In 2007 and 2008 she was the curator of the exhibition cicle
“Design A_Z” at MAXXI Museum of Rome. In the last few years she’s been working like company consultant, copywriter and museum curator at MAXXI, always in
design and architecture section. Now she’s teaching History of Design, History of
Interior Design at IED, Roma, in the Interior Design Master and in the Interior
Yacht Design Master. She edited the catalogue of the exhibiton Spazio for the Architecture Section of the MAXXI Museum. She’s author of several pubblications: Achille
Castiglioni (Testo e Immagine, Torino, 2001), Il Design di Alberto Meda. Una concreta
leggerezza (Electa, Milano, 2005), Il Campus Vitra, una collezione di Architetture (with F.
Argentero, Meltemi, 2007), Lampade and Negozi 2 (Federico Motta, 2007), The Design
in 100 objects (Federico Motta, 2009), Interior Yacht Design (Electa, 2009).
contributors
Contributors
Laura GIACALONE
Laura Giacalone is Project Editor for the Italian quarterly publication Filmaker’s
magazine, and works as a Contributing Editor and Editorial Consultant for various
art magazines and publishing houses. In London she has worked as a writer and
Editorial Assistant for Phaidon Press, contributing to the three-volume book Phaidon
Design Classics. She has translated into Italian the novel Paper Fish, by Tina De Rosa,
and a variety of academic papers, film subtitles, screenplays and feature articles. Her
world is made of words, and she loves it.
Stefano GIOVANNONI
Stefano Giovannoni wasborn in La Spezia, graduated in Architecture in Florence,
lives and works in Milan. He is collaborating as interior, industrial designer and
architect with companies like Alessi, Amore Pacific, Bisazza, Cedderoth, Deborah,
Edra, Fiat, Flos, Hannstar, Hansemm, Helit, Henkel, Honeywell, KDDI , Kokuyo,
Inda, Laufen, Lavazza, LG Hausys, Magis, Mikakuto, Ntt Docomo, Oras, Oregon
Scientific, Puig, Pulsar, Samsung, Seiko, Siemens, Slide, 3M, Telecom, Toto, Veneta
Cucine, etc. He designed very successful commercial products such as, for Alessi, the
“Girotondo” and “Mami” series, the Alessi plastic products, “Il BagnoAlessi” and the
“Bombo” series for Magis.
Tonino PARIS
For the Rome University La Sapienza, Tonino Paris serves as professor of design, scientific coordinator of design, director of “Product Design”, technical manager of the
Design Factory Workshop, a structure that provides research, experimentation and
projects in design. He is also the director of the magazine DIID (disegno industrial /
industrua design), which he founded in 2002. He is the director of the ““Callimaco”
and “Research and Study” for the publisher Gangemi, the technical coordinator
for the Italian Consul of Design for the Minister of Cultural Activities. As editorial
director for Rdesignpress, he is also the technical manager and art director of Week
Roma Design Più, which he created and edited. Amongst his many books and publications, the following are the most noted: Were Design Grows Up (Rdesignpress, Roma
, 2010); Designer after school_work in progress (Rdesignpress, Roma, 2008); 09young
design (Rdesignpress, Roma, 2009); Designer’s_exibit, product, graphic, fashion and food
(Rdesignpress, Roma, 2009); Disegno industriale in the Enciclopedia della scienza e della
tecnica (Istituto Italiano Treccani, 2008).
7
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Strapline 9
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10 notable
Notable
Photos courtesy of ameriqua.com
Ameriqua, Romance set in Bologna
Pizza
a Taglia,
Brooklyn
R
Actors Eva Amurri (daughter of Susan sarandon) and
bobby Kennedy III on the set of Ameriqua.
left: Eva Amurri. right: Alessandra Mastronardi and Bobby Kennedy III
W
ritten by and starring Bobby Kennedy III, Ameriqua is a take on the classic American college film. Recent graduate Charlie’s (Bobby Kennedy) story begins as he is
cut off from his family’s trust fund with one last check and the hope that he would find
a sense of responsibility. In an act of revolt against his parent’s wishes he flies to the Italian university town of Bologna where he meets a fellow American and a variety of Italian
misfits. The American, Jessica, is played by Eva Amurri, the daughter of actress Susan
Sarandon and Italian director Franco Amurri. In Bologna, Charlie enjoys a life filled with
parties and Italian romance until things begin to get complicated when he crosses paths
with the mafia. Ameriqua also features Alec Baldwin and Glenn Close who play the roles
of Charlie’s wealthy parents.
Campo de’ Fiori
187 5th Avenue
Brooklyn
(347) 763-0933
ectangular Roman pizza comes to
Brooklyn—quite literally. The restaurant owner’s Italian partner, who is
a member of the Italian National Culinary Olympic Team, refined the dough
recipe over fifteen years. The dough is
made in Italy then frozen and sent to
the Brooklyn location, a new restaurant
called Campo de’ Fiori after Rome’s famous piazza.
Owner and head chef Andrea Dal
Monte, former manager of New York’s
Del Posto and owner of the stylish restaurant Acqualina in Rome, opened the
Roman outpost in an area where Neapolitan pizza is king. The difference between
Neapolitan and Roman pizzas is mostly a
matter of the crust—Roman crust tends
to be thin, crunchy and sturdy while Neapolitan crust is soft, thick and fluffy. The
toppings for the pizzas at Campo de’ Fiori are imported from small Italian businesses which specialize in their respective
local ingredients.
There are many more Roman specialties other than the pizza on the menu.
An “antipasto Romano,” with egg tripe,
prosciutto, pecorino cheese, roasted peppers, olives, tomatoes and mint leaves.
Next is a plate of a variety of cured meats
and cheeses. There are a number of vegetable-centered dishes, but a surprisingly
small choice of pastas, notably gnocchi
with an oxtail ragù. Last are the desserts
such as pineapple ravioli, pistachio cake
and tiramisu.
notable
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Notable
Milanese Archeologist Restoring NY Mosaics
M
ilan-native and expert archeologist Gionata Rizzi is looking to
conserve a small part of New York City’s
young history.
“The tent of Tomorrow” may not be
the oldest site that Rizzi has worked with,
but that does not diminish its place in
history or its need for restoration as its
condition is rapidly deteriorating.
Funded by the State of New York for
the 1964 World’s Fair, “The tent of Tomorrow” was a futuristic-oriented project
by one of the most prominent modernist architects of the 20th Century, Phillip
Johnson. Johnson also designed the influential masterpiece “Glass House” in
New Canaan, Conn. which he used as a
personal residence.
“The tent of Tomorrow” can be found,
along with other remains from the 1964
New York World’s Fair, in Flushing
Meadows in Queens. At the end of the
Fair in 1965, the roof of the tent was removed and the floor of 567 4-by-4 foot
panels that comprised a highway map of
New York State were left to the merciless
elements of nature and vandals.
Rizzi’s approach to this project is similar to his restoration of a colorful and artfilled roof on the Fourth Century Villa
Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina,
Sicily. His interest in the project stems
from three issues which he believes “The
tent of Tomorrow” addresses: how to
conserve the mosaics without disturbing
Johnson’s creation and his hopes for the
project, to revive what was viewed as futuristic in 1964 and to find if an aesthetic
exists for modern ruins.
Working with Rizzi, two other individuals made this restoration project a
possibility. Professor Frank Matero, the
son of Italian immigrants and head of
the historic preservation program at the
University of Pennsylvania, saw the exhibit in his youth at the 1964 Fair and is
now calling on the help of his graduate
students to assist in the restoration. Lisa
Ackerman, vice director of the World
Monuments Fund, named “The tent of
Tomorrow” as one of the hundred monuments most at risk in the world. This
brought the site to the attention of the
New York State which then began to take
measures for its conservation and also
brought this slice of history back into the
minds of New Yorkers.
Photo Courtesy of 1.bp.blogspot.com
above: The remains of the “Tent of Tomorrow”
still standing in Flushing Meadows, New York. The
roof tiles were taken off which lead to the rapid
deterioration of the floor.
Right: What the “Tent of Tomorrow” would have
looked like during the 1964 World’s Fair.
Photo Courtesy of Phillip Johnson: Architecture 1949-65
12 notable
Notable
Balletic
Tribute to
Made in Italy
T
Photo by Iwan Baan
he fruit of a collaboration
between the Teatro alla Scala
theatre in Milan and the leather
goods brand Tod’s portrays the
heritage and tradition of the
“made in Italy” craftsmanship
through dance.
Choreographed by Gianluca Schiavoni and put on by the theatre known
as “the spiritual home of opera and
ballet in Italy,” the thirteen dancers of
the performance interpret the many meticulous phases of the handmade crafting of a Tod’s shoe. Entitled “An Italian
Dream”, the ballet comes from the desire of Tod’s to support and preserve the
image of the “made it Italy” label and
contribute to the arts.
The show travelled from Milan to
Tokyo and Beijing to spread the legacy
and preserve the idea of “made in Italy”
around the world. Instead of showcasing
interior view of Zaha Hadid’s
award-winning museum MAxxi.
T
he MAXXI, National Museum of
the 21st Century Arts in Rome, designed by Zaha Hadid with her architecture firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, won
the Royal Institute of British Architects
(RIBA) Stirling Prize 2010 for their design of the museum.
Zaha Hadid, of Anglo-Iraqi descent, is
well known for pushing the bounds of
contemporary architecture. She has designed a number of buildings around the
globe, such as: The Vitra Fire Station,
Germany; The Bridge Pavilion, Spain;
The Nordpark Cable Railway, Austria;
and the Contemporary Arts Center in
Ohio.
Photo by Iwan Baan
Rome’s MAXXI
Museum Design
Team Awarded
A scene from “An Italian Dream”
Tod’s footwear and using this ballet as a
marketing tool for the brand, the focus
of the collaboration was a move to support the Italian arts and Italian craftsmanship.
As the last European country greatly
involved in manufacturing, Italy has
much in common with China—which
has risen to produce the majority of the
Western world’s clothing. Tod’s Group
President, Diego Della Valle, stated
that through this type of collaboration
he hoped that Italy could reach out to
students and workers in China to share
ideas on moral and ethical values.
Anna Magnani on the Roman Map
H
onoring the late Italian actress
Anna Magnani, the City of Rome
dedicated a square in her name during
this year’s International Rome Film Festival. The square, in Villa Borghese, was
named in recognition of her outstanding
contribution to Italian and international
cinema. Largo Anna Magnani is near another square dedicated to the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni.
Magnani, born in Rome in 1908,
played her first role in cinema in 1934
with the film La Cieca di Sorrento (The
Blind Woman of Sorrento) and later
achieved international fame from her
role in Rome, Open City in 1945 by Roberto Rossellini which is considered one
of the founding films in the Italian neorealism movement.
Also starring in The Miracle (1948),
Bellissima (1951), The Rose Tattoo (1955),
The Fugitive Kind (1960) and Mamma
Roma (1962), Magnani became renowned for her artful portrayals of lowerclass women. Her role as a Sicilian widow
in The Rose Tattoo garnered an Oscar for
Best Leading Actress as well as four other
international awards including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.
Magnani died in Rome in 1973.
notable
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Notable
University Has a Sweet –
and Creamy – Mission
E
ataly on Fifth Avenue is beginning to look like something
much bigger than its founders had expected. Besides being
a massive 50,000 square-foot market and eatery where everything
related to Italian cuisine is available, it may also be destined to
become the epicenter of Italian culture in New York.
Eataly is a place to explore the rows of fresh products and enticing shops that display food like artwork, but it is also a place
to learn about Italian culinary traditions and how food envelops
Italian culture. The educational side of Eataly features cooking
classes by Michelin-starred Italian chefs and informative displays
within the store about the history and origin of various products.
In addition, three LCD displays in Eataly communicate Italian
events happening around New York provided by a public information service called “Italy in New York.”
Founder Oscar Farinetti and partners Lidia Bastianich, Joe
Bastianich and Mario Batali are excited about the potential of
this mega-store and its impact on the lives of New Yorkers. Lidia,
a famed instructional chef and star of the PBS cooking series
“Lidia’s Italy”, said that she hopes Eataly will serve as an educational forum on the Italian traditions of food and that shoppers
will become more conscious about what they buy. Lidia will teach
classes focusing on Italian recipes and preparation but the classes
will also invite owners of shops in Italy to speak to the class about
how they run their business and the difficulties they face. Other
lectures to be held under the Eataly roof will focus on the historical, sociological, nutritional, and anthropological aspects of
Italian cuisine.
Joe Bastianich, Lidia’s son, is the CEO of Eataly and will run
the business while Mario Batali, Food Network personality, will
oversee the quality of the restaurants, chefs, menus and food.
Eataly is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Farinetti has
previously opened similar Eataly mega-stores in Italian cities including Milan, Turin and Bologna and also multiple locations in
Japan. All of these are now complemented by the New York store
and if it is met with success then Eataly may expand to other locations within the US.
Eataly
200 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
(212) 229-2560
www.newyork.eataly.it
Informative Graphics above a
Food display at Eataly
www.gelatouniversity.com
G
elato, the sweeter, fresher, lessfatty cousin of ice
cream from Italy is
enjoyed by nearly everyone who has had
the chance to taste
it. Now, gelato has a
new following—those who want to learn why it is so delicious and
how to make it, perhaps intending to spread its sweetness to each
corner of the globe.
Entrepreneurs and sweet-lovers alike are flocking to Carpigiani
Gelato University in Bologna, Italy, from around the world to discover the secrets of the delicate craft of gelato making. Each year,
more than 6,000 students enroll in courses at Gelato University’s
campuses, including locations in the US, Great Britain, Japan,
Australia and China.
In times of economic troubles elsewhere, the worldwide gelato
business is growing and the Gelato University’s business is booming—leaving foreign businessmen, investors and those with ample
taste buds sensing opportunity.
The median age of the student at Gelato University is 40 years,
suggesting that those who have run into trouble in other businesses are turning to this sweet dessert with hopes of a new life— and
many are succeeding. The university boasts the accomplishments
of a number of students who have opened gelaterie around the
globe, in locations such as Vancouver and London, some of whom
have additional plans to open second and third shops.
Gelato University’s mission is “to lay the basis for a world-wide
gelato culture.” The skills needed to make true Italian gelato must
be taken around the world, since gelato cannot survive being frozen and shipped. It is best to eat gelato fresh, in the Italian tradition, where it has been made with ingredients from the local
land…and just the right amount of sugar.
Photos courtesy gelatouniversty.com
Eataly, the Hearth of
Italian New York
14 notable
Notable
Caravaggio’s Shadow in Bill Viola’s Heart
E
Photo courtesy english.mart.trento.it
Photo courtesy Robedachiodi.associazionetestori.it
nchanted by the deep shadows and brilliant light of Caravaggio’s timeless work, Bill Viola seeks to retain a similar aura
in his own art.
Recently, Viola was asked to travel to Italy to put on an exhibit
at the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples, as part of a
tribute to Caravaggio. There he presents six videos, five of which
have never been released in Italy, which highlight the underlying
and recurring themes of Viola’s work and reflect Caravaggio’s
profound influence on Viola’s life and work. This exhibition is
part of a larger project put on by the Museum of Capodimonte
entitled Meetings with Caravaggio, which highlights Caravaggio’s
influence on modern art and discuss modern interpretations of
Caravaggio’s mythical status in the art world.
Viola, a major contemporary video artist, uses new technology
to create mesmerizing films. Using ultra-slow motion video, he
invites the viewer to forget time and become absorbed into his
work in order to see life with a different perspective.
With past exhibitions at the National Gallery in London, the
Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Viola is well-known throughout the
contemporary art community. His work has received mixed reviews. Some critics have interpreted his work as transparent and
overreaching, while others were impressed by his expressions of
grand themes of human life—birth, death and consciousness—and
his attempt to uncover meaning within them.
Viola confesses the influence that Classical artists Caravaggio,
Michelangelo, Pontormo and Andrea di Bartolo have had on his
work. He also emphasizes how they diverge in technology and
mediums—both betraying the simplicity of the classical art and
respecting it at the same time. Like Caravaggio, Viola is looking
to preserve the realism in the representation of human life while
marking the work with his distinctive, contemporary nuances.
A Designer-Label Boat for High Seas
G
ucci partnered with renowned Italian
boat maker, Riva, to produce a made
to order yacht, the “Aquariva by Gucci.”
The yacht is based on the original Riva design but was revamped by Gucci Creative
Director Frida Giannini introducing a more
contemporary and hi-tech styling.
Riva’s custom-order Gucci-designed boat, exterior and interior
notable
15
Notable
Foto di Sebastiano Luciano
Exhibitions of Particular Note
Rome
The Myth of Italy in Victorian England
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones
Through June 12, 2011
National Gallery of Modern and
Contemporary Art
Low Risks: Giulia Piscitelli.
Through April 2, 2011
Giuliani Foundation
Odyssey of Homo Sapiens: Mario Ballocco.
Rome Museum of Contemporary Art
Lorenzo Lotto
Scuderie del Quirinale
Michelangelo Pistoletti: Da Uno a Molti,
1956-1974
Through August 15
Il confine evanescente:
Arte italiana 1960-2010
Through November 2
MAXXI
Venice
From Luca Cambiaso to Magnasco: Great
Genoese painters from the Hermitage
March 16, 2011- June 30, 2011
Palazzo Ducale
backstage at the maxxi during the installation of Michelangelo
pistoletti’s solo exhibition. In the foreground, his Venus of the rags.
Chicago
What’s Greek About A Roman Copy?
Ongoing
Torino
La Bella Italia: Art and Identity
of the Capital City
Through September 11, 2011
Reggia di Veneria
New York
Fashion in Italy: 150 Years of Elegance
July 23rd- December 11, 2011
Reggia di Veneria
The Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel
Through April 3, 2011
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Leonardo Italian Genius, Universal Myth
October 22, 2011- January 8, 2012
Sacriligeous: Francesco Vezzoli
Through March 12, 2011
Gagosian Gallery
Paris
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Tornabuoni Art Gallery
Theatre of Architecture, History
and Magnificence
Ongoing
La Veneria Reale
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
Pandora, 1879. Watercolor.
Private collection
16 advertisement
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The Euro and Italy 17
The stability of the euro
and the role of Italy
Ambassador Giulio Terzi speaks on the European financial
picture to the members of Gruppo Esponenti Italiani (G.E.I.)
The following is a reprint of the speech given
by Ambassador Giulio Terzi at the February
17, 2011 G.E.I. Luncheon.
am delighted to be here with you again
today and honored by your invitation,
a most welcome sign of your great friendship.
The last time I had the pleasure of being with you – as Permanent Representative to the United Nations - I talked
about international security issues. Over
the last year and a half, I have somehow
changed my perspective – but not too
much: in Washington, diplomatic work
is at once global and bilateral too. Today
I would like to address a topic which has
both a global scope, as it relates to the
world’s monetary system, and a “bilateral” one which refers to relations between
the EU and the US: I am referring to the
stability of the euro-zone.
Since the stability of Europe’s single
currency is pivotal for our business here
in the United States, I believe it is very
important to cast light on its real value
both for European economic integration
and for the health of the global economy.
It was therefore only natural that in May
last year, President Napolitano put this
topic high on the agenda of his conversation with President Obama and with
Congressional leaders.
And it is only natural that I and other
colleagues from the euro-zone, when given the opportunity, focus on this theme.
Indeed, we feel that in many layers of
the American public opinion there is a
dangerous lack of information, and even
prejudices, in understanding what is happening in Europe, in terms of a stronger
economic governance and of reinforcement of the tools available to respond to
an economic crisis which the EU has suffered rather than provoked. A more balanced information and the correction of
undue euro-skepticism could be benefi-
I
cial to our economies. More confidence in
the euro could entail
positive consequences
for the growth of the
whole Transatlantic
economy:
First of all, it could
strengthen investors’
confidence – a very
important
aspect
given the fact that in
2008 US direct investments in Europe amounted to 1,8 trillion dollars, over four
Le Cirque, New York: Ambassador Terzi
times all US investreceives the G.E.I. Friendship Award from
ments in Asia;
G.E.I. Chairman Cav. di Gran Cr.
As a second conseLucio Caputo
quence, it could foster private and public
answers called upon by Krugman. My inpartnerships and innovation, and be partention is obviously not to refute these
ticularly beneficial to medium and small
authoritative and solid economic theory
businesses;
arguments. I only would like to point at
In the third place, it could prove to
some political factors which, in my opinbe vital for the fiscal sustainability of
ion, are of great relevance to the analysis.
budgetary policies of the euro-zone and
beyond.
It is true that, from the outset, Europe
On the contrary, American skepticism
could not be defined as an “optimal curon the future of the euro would be most
rency area.” But the euro was born with
detrimental. Among those who are ina political commitment by the European
clined to this kind of approach, let me
countries to deepen and strengthen the
mention Paul Krugman and his article
ties that bind them together. Caught in
recently published in the New York Times
the perfect storm of a deep crisis, unpreceMagazine.
dented in our generation, European leadKrugman appears to question the very
ers demonstrated their capacity to work
foundations of the euro. However, he
together quickly and decisively to coordiconcludes by setting Europe a challenge,
nate an appropriate policy response.
and expresses the hope that European
By facing the threats to the stability of
leaders will be able to take the necessary
the Euro, the European Union has been
steps to save the common currency.
able to tackle not only the symptoms, but
A glance at recent developments in
also the root causes of their problems. ObEurope and at the history of the single
servers have often been focusing too much
currency leads us to respond to many of
on the sometimes noisy internal debates.
these observations and to conclude that
But if we look at the substance of deciEuropean leaders have provided the very
sions that were taken, we may find that
18 the Euro and Italy
Today, despite the problems in the
European countries which have been
most hit by the sovereign debt crisis,
the average deficit of Eurozone
countries was 6.3% of 2010 GDP, well
below many other advanced economies
such as the U.S. (10.5%) and Japan (7.7%).
European leaders are already providing
for the response that Krugman invokes, simultaneously addressing fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and strengthening
the governance of the euro.
We must not forget that in less than
twelve months – a break-neck speed in
political terms – the EU has unveiled a
comprehensive package to restore financial stability and avert contagion from
the Greek crisis. Indeed, on February 4,
the European Council examined the socalled “competitiveness pact” in view of
an overall agreement, to be discussed by
the Eurogroup first and, subsequently,
by the extraordinary E.U. Summit at
the end of March. In return for a stricter
fiscal discipline, the European Financial Stability Facility (EESF), which can
provide lending up to 440 billion euro,
might be strengthened further so as to
ensure sovereign debt sustainability in
the short and medium term. To avoid
future crises, by 2013 a permanent financial safety net will be created - the European Stability Mechanism – to provide
further aid to Countries struggling to
balance their books.
The European Council is preparing
a new round of stress tests for European
Banks which will be conducted under
more rigorous criteria than last summer,
under the auspices of the new European
Banking Authority that was established by
a recent regulation of the European Parliament and Council and which started operating in January. Let me mention, with
great satisfaction, that this new Authority
is headed by an Italian, Dr. Andrea Enria.
Strengthening the governance of the
euro, a fiscal consolidation plan and the
start of structural reforms in eurozone
Countries have transformed the crisis of
the euro into an opportunity. It is not fortuitous that the proposal of a European
Debt Agency that would issue E-bonds,
suggested by the Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti and Prime Minister
of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, is
gathering increasing support. It is the
embryonic beginning of a common fiscal policy. Even Mr Krugman seems to
like the idea, albeit considering it only
a “small step” towards fiscal integration.
The euro/dollar exchange rate in the
weeks preceding the European Council
shows that markets granted credibility
to the European response. The euro rallied against the dollar to 1.38 in the full
swing of the Egyptian crisis, as positive
opinions on the euro were also reported
from Davos. The theory of the vicious
circle, therefore, seems to be contradicted by the timely European response.
Yet, the underlying question is: is the
euro worth all these efforts? Let us take a
glance at the history of the first decade of
the common European currency.
In the first ten years following its introduction, the average rate of inflation
in the euro-zone was 2.3%, amounting
to 30% less than in the previous decade.
Monetary integration encouraged economic growth and contributed to a massive increase in employment. Trade and
investment flows between Euro member
States grew significantly – quite the opposite of what Krugman argues – and
the common currency has fostered competitiveness, an increased price trans-
parency and a significant reduction in
transaction costs.
But, as one might argue, that was before the crisis.
So how would the recent financial
crisis have unfolded without the euro?
The euro protected member states from
the worst effects of the 2008 financial
crisis. It not only prevented countries
from pursuing currency devaluations
instead of addressing the root causes
of their problems, but also managed to
avoid exchange rate turbulence between
euro area countries that would have been
highly detrimental to trade and investment flows, and ultimately to jobs, in Europe. Finally, absent a European Central
Bank, individual central banks would
have struggled to coordinate liquidity
provision.
Today, despite the problems in the
European countries which have been
most hit by the sovereign debt crisis, the
average deficit of eurozone countries was
6.3% of 2010 GDP, well below many
other advanced economies such as the
United States (10.5%) and Japan (7.7%).
Over the last few months, a comeback of the manufacturing sector in Europe shows how growth is again gaining
traction.
As was stated here in New York last
December 10 by Bank of Italy Governor
Mario Draghi, who is also Chairman of
the Financial Stability Board: “The euro
is not in question. The euro is one of the
pillars of European economic integration
and all countries, all individual countries,
have greatly benefited from that.”
Italy has definitely benefited from
the Euro. Although, undeniably hit by
the crisis, my Country has fared better
than many others thanks to four specific
strengths, which are directly or indirectly
related to Italy’s participation in the euro.
First of all, the Italian banking system weathered the global financial crisis relatively well, thanks to limited exposure to toxic assets, the absence of a
real estate bubble, retail-based business
The Euro and Italy
19
“Europe and the United States have more in common with
each other than either does with anyone else in the world.
(…) Europeans and Americans have the common responsibility
to support their vision on the rule of law, on the respect
of human rights and the empowerment of people and on
sustainable economic growth in the new multipolar arena”.
-Former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato
models, and a sound supervisory and
regulatory framework.
year, of “Europe 2020 strategy for growth
and employment”.
Secondly, [private debt is far below
that of many other advanced economies.
Household net wealth almost doubles
the value of GDP when considering only
the financial assets, and reaches five and
a half times GDP if real estate property is
included. ] household debt to GDP ratio
is among the lowest in the eurozone. If
we look at the overall debt of the Italian
economy, both public and private, its ratio to GDP is amongst the lowest in advanced economies.
In third place, fiscal discipline has already been in place for some years. The
appetite for Italian government bonds,
which remains very high, is a proof of the
credibility of these measures.
Finally, Italy’s industrial system is based
on a robust and competitive manufacturing sector, strongly export oriented and
with a pro-innovation bias, both of which
are prerequisites to competitiveness in
today’s global economic environment. In
the decade of the euro, the level of internationalization of Italian small and medium enterprises has risen significantly.
Since the very beginning of the crisis
Italy has always supported a strong, collective and coherent response within the
European Union. It has participated in
the system of bilateral loans and guarantees implemented for those Countries
facing difficulties. My Country has advocated the creation of the European
Financial Stability Facility which will be
replaced, in 2013, by a 500 billion euro
permanent financial safety net, the European Stability Mechanism. Italy also
strongly supported the adoption, last
The economic performance of the
eurozone is nevertheless closely related
to global growth. Growth policies must
increasingly be the result of coordinated
efforts at a global level. Italy has therefore
actively participated in the G20 as the
best governance tool to promote global
coordination on measures needed to face
global economic imbalances.
This year’s French Presidency of
both the G8 and the G20 is an excellent opportunity for Italy to contribute
to defining a shared platform on many
global economic issues: reform of the international monetary system, food safety,
innovation, energy efficiency, and the
reduction of the volatility of the prices
of raw materials. On the latter, Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s proposal on
addressing speculation on raw materials
scored an important success at the Seoul
Summit. As proposed by Italy, it was
agreed that shared guidelines for regulations, aiming at creating regulated and
transparent markets rules will be identified and submitted to the G20 Summit
this year.
Whatever shape the global economic
governance will eventually take, the future of our economies is about winning
the race for competitiveness. In the new
global economic environment, where we
face competition “not between Countries, but between Continents”, as Minister Tremonti recently noted, transatlantic relations are of absolute strategic
importance. Let us look at some figures.
Exchanges between the European Union
and the United States account for the
largest portion of international trade
and their daily volume amounts to three
billion dollars. In 2010 Europe’s direct
investments in the United States created
70 per cents of jobs originating from foreign investments.
Former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, in his foreword to an essay on the
foreign policy of the E.U. edited by Professor Federiga Bindi and published just
a few months ago, noted that “Europe
and the United States have more in common with each other than either does
with anyone else in the world. (…) Europeans and Americans have the common
responsibility to support their vision on
the rule of law, on the respect of human
rights and the empowerment of people
and on sustainable economic growth in
the new multipolar arena”.
The E.U-U.S. Summit in Lisbon on
November 20, 2010, finally put aside the
discussion on whether this traditional
alliance still makes sense. Lisbon has set
the basis for strengthening the transatlantic market. The Transatlantic Economic
Council (TEC) has been tasked with pursuing the harmonization of standards,
so as to provide for an authoritative example to other emerging Countries such
as China, addressing non tariff barriers
to trade, innovation policies and intellectual property, which today are crucial to
international competition. Italy is closely
following this process and firmly believes
that it is of strategic importance to foster
growth and employment on both sides of
the Atlantic.
The success of the euro is therefore
crucial - and beneficial - to both the United States and Europe.
20 Designer hotels
Hotel Moschino
Hotel MIssoni
The ARmani HOtel
Franco Zefferelli in his Villa Tre Ville, a complex
of three large homes, each with a different
design theme, Pictured above.
a look inside the hotels by top designers and art directors.
designer hotels
21
hotels: the latest in italian
luxury labeling
Boutique hotels and villas by top designers make a smart
aesthetic – and business –– statement
by Michael BOTTARI
Some of the biggest
names in Italian design and fashion have
a new way to enjoy
their aesthetic luxury,
to become enveloped
in its greatness instead
of just wearing it. This
new
phenomenon
comes in the form of
design or boutique hotels, located in some of
the most alluring cities
in the world.
The Versace Mansion, transformed
by Barton G. into The Villa, in South
Beach, Miami, has attracted the likes of
John Elton, Madonna and Sting. As the
residence was slowly morphed from the
Versace Mansion to The Villa, most of
the late designer’s ideas for the building
remained intact, keeping with elegant
luxury and staying away from a Hefnerstyle Playboy mansion. Golden mosaics,
Italian marble, coral columns, an enormous pool and an observatory are just
some of the invigorating aspects of this
hotel.
On the picturesque Amalfi Coast near
Positano sits another luxurious getaway,
Villa Tre Ville, the previous residence
of renowned set designer and director
Franco Zeffirelli. As per the name—villa
of three villas—this hotel is separated into
a number of separate buildings, each
suite with its own name, story and color
scheme. There is La Dimora, the main
residence; Villa Rosa, the pink residence;
Villa Azzurra, the blue residence; Villa Bianca, the white residence; and Villa Tre
Pini, the residence of three pines.
The Armani Hotel was built across
ten floors of the Burj Kalifa, which happens to be the tallest man-made structure
ever built, in the oasis of the city Dubai.
The seamless design of this hotel models
Armani’s elegant subtlety with curved
walls adorned with Florentine leather,
Japanese Tatami arranged on the floors
and dark colored walls that cultivate a
relaxed and sophisticated environment
away from the brutal Dubai sun.
The Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh was
designed with a black and white foundation but also added a mix of vibrant
colors to please the eye. Staying in synch
with the Missoni style, each room of the
hotel features bold patterns, fine linens,
attention to detail and surprising use of
color.
The Hotel Moschino in Milan used
to be a busy train station in the mid 19th
Century, but Rossella Jardini, Jo Ann
Tan, and Luca Strada Associati have
transformed the space into a hotel unique
and demonstrative of the eccentric Moschino style. Each room emulates a calm
and organized luxury, which is aimed to
cultivate the relaxation of a sleep state
and cater to the wants of dreams.
These luxurious wonderlands will cost
the consumer from around 1,000 Euros
for the smallest room to 5,000 Euros a
night.
Design
What has
marked
Italy’s
success in
the past 50
years is
its genius
for making
iconic,
enduring
solutions in
practically
all areas of
design, from
clothing
to cars to
coffee.
DEsign group italia, The tratto pen.
S
design save Italy
23
What is Italian
Design ? by Gianpiero
Bosoni, page 22
Save Italy
The Italian Journal asks
designers, curators and
economists if the country’s
tradition of design excellence is
both thriving and if it can sustain
the country despite economic and
political challenges.
Italian Lifestyle in
Ten Design Classics
by Laura Giacalone,
page 23
Design v. Styling
by Stefano Giovannoni,
page 24
Il Design
by Tonino
Paris, page 26
The Courage and
Risk of A Vision by
Domitilla Dardi, page 28
It is in the Use of
an Object that its
Destiny is Written
by Silvana Annicchiarico,
page 30
What Does Italian
Design Mean to
You? page 32
Two Interviews
Gaetano Pesce and
Gabriele Pezzini, by
Laura Giacalone, page 35
Italian Design New
York, page 37
Four in Fashion by
Michael Bottari, page 35
24 design save italy
Design
What is italian design ?
A look to history for ideas
by Giampiero Bosoni
To uncover the secret of Italian design, if there is one, it is necessary to look
from the right perspective, searching not through the discipline’s celebrated recent past but rather in the grand cultural and artistic history of that
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino,
Dome of the Chigi Chapel,
1513-15. Fresco and mosaics
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.
ancient peninsula in the middle of the
Mediterranean and at the center of Europe. From this historical perspective we
can admire the extremely rich, complex
and often contradictory patrimony of
knowledge and research from which the
most capable practitioners of so-called
Italian design have drawn deeply. They
have absorbed ways of seeing, thinking,
and doing and skillfully translated them
into the design of everyday objects.
The Italian designer is a difficult figure to identify, given the various directions research has taken and the expressive forms artists have pursued. One
characteristic, though, resides in the figure itself: he or she is the antithesis of
the engineer or pure technician who is
concerned only with function and production. This designer performs creative
research but is also involved with a certain culture of production that includes
industry and that has been developed
through the continuous regeneration of
a sophisticated legacy of craftsmanship.
Because of its creativity, originality, innovation, and capacity to adapt rapidly
to the market, the produce of this culture has received significant recognition
in the current international context, labeled “Made in Italy.”
Italian design is a continuous play
of affirmations and negations, which is
what the mature phase of design always
should be. It should be noted that for
quite some time (particularly in the discipline’s heroic phase, roughly from the
1920s to the 1970s), the history of design
in Italy was written by a relatively small
group of designers and entrepreneurs
who overlapped most frequently in artisan studios, literary salons, and the workshops of small and midsized companies
or art galleries, and almost never met
in design offices and rarely in the style
centers of major industries. Their work,
at its best, was separate from the inner
workings of industry and the market (and
in certain cases and periods has openly
rebelled against it), and it emerged for
the most part to provide answers to questions that were still unexpressed—concerning a new way of dwelling, a new way
of moving, a new way of living. Perhaps
this explains why, historically, almost
all Italian designers have come from architecture or the art world—although a
certain humanistic culture has allowed
some technicians and engineers to look
at what things mean in addition to their
purely technical functions.
The Italian peninsula began to unify
politically in 1860, a mere century and a
half ago. This explains the variety of languages and expressions that have been
cultivated for centuries in this country
of “a thousand bell towers,” kept alive
in strong regionalisms and very specific
local identities.1 Italy has metabolized
modernity through its complex and
unique history, and for this reason it has
never fully shared the modes and tempos
of Great Britain, France, Germany, the
United States and most other industrialized nations. In this sense, modernity
in Italy has developed in a manner we
might call uncertain and imperfect; Italian artistic and design research must
design save italy
25
Save Italy
Italian lifestyle in
ten design classics
by Laura Giacalone
mediate between a desire to break with
the burden of history and difficult but
powerful attempts to establish a dialogue
with it. These two profound impulses
continually attract and reject modernity,
diverting its most well established effects
into unusual, hybrid solutions with original and unpredictable features. We know
that Italians have always had a passion
for adversarial factions and oppositional
alignments (Montagues and Capulets,
Guelphs and Ghibellines), and it is no
accident that a decade-to-decade alternation, an irresolvable dichotomy between strong dualisms expressed by new
philosophies, new aesthetics, and new
signs, has profoundly marked the debate
throughout the history of Italian arts and
design.
Many of the outcomes of Italian design cannot be explained without acknowledging, for better or worse, the
philosophical and aesthetic legacy of the
Italian humanist culture of the Renaissance. Beginning in the early years of the
20th century, this legacy was reinterpreted, rejected and regenerated from the
different cultural positions (some more
reformist, others more conservative) that
addressed the theme of design in the industrial and, later, postindustrial eras.
Of course, interpretation only in
these terms would be too schematic. The
richness of the Italian model has always
consisted in its almost individualistic heterodoxy of ideas and investigations. This
condition has been imposed with truly
original autonomy by artists blazing trails
that are still little traveled and which
will be appreciated for their power and
premonition only with time. A certain
Italian way of creating and designing,
elaborating a truly nuanced and malleable concept of modernity, seems to have
drawn the energy for continuous adjustment and uninterrupted experimental
research from this unique condition.
[1]
1932 Campari
Soda Bottle
Designed by Futurist artist and pioneer of
contemporary design Fortunato Depero, it
has become the symbol of the brand and
is still in production today, thanks to its
timeless conic shape and the striking rubyred colour of the drink, which is intended
as an integral part of the design.
[2]
1933 Moka
Express
It is the only industrial object that has
remained unchanged since its first appearance. Patented by Alfonso Bialetti, it is
based on the principle of preparing coffee
with steam pressurising water. It holds a
place of honour in all Italian houses, as
well as in many museums of modern art,
such as MoMA.
26 Design save italy
Design
design v. styling
Domodinamica. Calla, 2003
Alessi. Alessiscale, 2003
Alessi. Fruit mama, fruit
bowl, 1993
The role of the traditional
Italian design studio in
contemporary business culture
by Stefano GIOVANNONi
T
he design activities of Italian and American design studios
are based on totally different business models. In the American system we find large professional studios, multinational organizations that reach a company size measured in hundreds of
employees, while Italian design factories work with designers who
usually operate from small professional studios with which the
company has a consolidated relationship. Many designers of the
older generation – Castiglioni, Magistretti, Sapper, Mari and Zanuso – worked with facilities reduced to the limits!
The work that is developed in the American-type studio is basically different from that of the design studio working for Italian
design-oriented companies.
In the first case, design is often conceived as an engineering
idea generated inside the company itself, often already patented.
Design has to provide an external housing for a mechanism or an
electronic system that is supplied complete. In this case, design
adds a relative value to the product, with respect to the product’s
market value.
The approach to design in studios based on the Italian system
is totally different. In this case, the company asks the designer to
invent a new concept, a new type of product that would enable them to achieve a
market price perhaps even four or five
times higher than the standard price for
that sort of product. If I have to design a
plastic breadbin for Alessi, I know that, regardless of the way I design it, it will cost
about 50 Euros, while in a department
store, a breadbin can be found at about 1015 Euro. The designer has to think of an
idea or a strategy that enables the product
to be sold at that price, within the appropriate system of distribution.
Here we have to be careful. A design-oriented company does
not sell its products at high prices to achieve a greater profit margin. On the contrary, very careful consideration is given to the
price. It is the very mechanism of manufacturing and distribution, based on limited quantities, the necessity for quality materials and finish, and manufacturing flexibility (the quantity/colours relationship) that determines this approach and the market.
In the best of cases, the hundreds of thousands of units that may
be manufactured and sold every year are still low with respect
to the millions of units manufactured for large-scale distribution.
Italian companies have traditionally acknowledged the importance of the designer’s work, considering the designer as the “author” and recognising him a certain percentage of the product
turnover. This generally does not occur in the case of American
studios. Of course, this attitude of working on all aspects of a design, continuously reinventing object types and strategy, is linked
to the excellence and nobility of a creative process that is so deeply
rooted in Italian culture and tradition.
Often the production, and economic health, of an important
Italian design factory is linked to one or few designers who did
much to guarantee the company’s success. The designer feels a
continuous desire to work as best as possible, in direct contact
with the manufacturer, participating in the success – or failure
– of a product. The reason for this is linked to Italian design culture, and this is why Italian companies usually work with Italian
designers as their primary point of reference, even though there
are more and more examples of cooperation with designers from
abroad.
Large multinational companies working in the most technologically advanced sectors of the market, as consumer electronics,
audio-video equipment, telephones or cars, have always worked
with large studios based on the American model.
Today, companies are beginning to understand the cultural
Strapline
27
Save Italy
ten design classics,
continued
[3]
limits of this approach related to styling
instead of design and they are increasingly turning to design studios reflecting
the Italian model of design. They find
themselves having to differentiate product categories according to both consumer target and price target. The future
generations of cell phones, and equally
cameras and watches, will reflect four different product lines: business, smart and
managerial; family, with a lower, more
basic entry level; fashion, with more sophisticated image; and new technology,
in which new software is tested, with
high target price. This is something difficult to achieve with internal designers,
and so there is an increasing demand
for design on the part of large international companies working in the various
sectors, whether telephones, household
electrical appliances, audio and video
products, and the automobile industry.
This category specialisation requires
the designer’s intervention, in the role
of image specialist. He or she has to be
able to give the object a powerful identity
that corresponds to the above-mentioned
categories. Design becomes a factor that
can create added value based on identity,
quality and difference.
International companies have understood that the added value provided by
design can be converted into capital in
terms of the market. Markets are saturated today, and so companies consider
design as a potential weapon enabling
the conquest of new, more exclusive and
better evolved, consumer niches. In this
way they avoid a crippling downwards
price spiral. They use design as a factor of
competition, and invest in the personality, great emotional and sensorial appeal,
positioned at a high price sector. This
enables them to restructure manufacturing by extending the range in a vertical
direction.
1945 Vespa
Special guest star in William Wyler’s cult
Roman Holiday, with Gregory Peck and
Audrey Hepburn, it was designed by aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio.
It seems that, when manufacturer Enrico
Piaggio first saw the prototype, exclaimed:
“It looks like a wasp!” From there came a
name that has become a legend.
[4]
1950 Lettera 22
Designed by the chief designer for Olivetti
Marcello Nizzoli, the iconic portable
typewriter became a must for students
and journalists of the time, thanks to
its compactness and portability. It was
awarded the Compasso d’Oro design prize
in 1954 and is part of MoMA’s permanent
collection.
[5]
1957 Fiat 500
A symbol of the Italian post-war economic
boom and of the enhanced mobility of
Italian population, Dante Giacosa’s creation conjugated engineering and styling,
introducing the revolutionary idea of miniaturisation in the car industry. Becoming
an instant commercial success, it is still
a source of inspiration for new nostalgic
reinterpretations of that inimitable little
jewel.
Design
Il Design ITaliano
Characterizing the tradition that is inherent.
by Tonino PARIS
G
randi maestri hanno contribuito
all’affermazione del Design italiano
nel mondo, e hanno grandemente contribuito allo sviluppo industriale, sia con
il loro patrimonio di conoscenze e competenze tecniche, sia con le loro straordinarie capacità creative.
È il Design il principale fattore
dell’affermazione del Made in Italy caratterizzato dall’incontro della capacità di alcuni imprenditori con quella dei designer
che, attraverso intuizioni individuali,
hanno avviato attività fortunate, dando
forza all’originale e particolare struttura
produttiva italiana, quella della Piccola e
Media Impresa. Pur nell’assenza di adeguate e specifiche politiche industriali e di
sostegno alla ricerca, esso ha fornito una
straordinaria varietà di progetti e prodotti innovativi che, rivolti alle esigenze
dell’individuo e della collettività, hanno
avuto la capacità di inserirsi nei più svariati contesti sociali ed economici, in tutto
il mondo. Il design italiano e la sua struttura produttiva sono così diventati punto
di riferimento di vasti strati di consumo
internazionale e di articolati interessi economici, professionali e culturali.
Il Design italiano oggi ha straordinariamente ampliato il suo campo di applicazione tanto da investire la vita dell’uomo,
nelle sue varie declinazioni.
Oggi oltre che sugli oggetti tecnici,
ovvero sui prodotti materiali presenti e
visibili nel paesaggio artificiale che costituisce lo scenario della nostra vita quotidiana, dallo spazio domestico ai luoghi
del lavoro o allo spazio urbano dove si
svolge la nostra mobilità, l’innovazione
tecnologica incide sullo sviluppo di
prodotti immateriali, intervenendo direttamente sul nostro corpo attraverso
variazioni biologiche, o introducendo
prodotti artificiali con prestazioni estranee al nostro apparato sensoriale per arricchirlo di nuovi attributi.
Nuove tecnologie rendono “intelligenti” i prodotti artificiali per farli interagire
e dialogare con l’uomo, per interpretarne
l’umore, per ascoltarlo a distanza, per sollecitarne il benessere o per farsi da tramite fra uomo e uomo.
Nuove tecnologie consentono non
solo di prolungare all’esterno del nostro
corpo organi artificiali, ma di integrare
direttamente nel nostro corpo nuove
funzioni, come guardare al buio, parlare
ed ascoltare nell’acqua o a distanza, vedere oltre la dimensione reale.
Si ripropone una condizione
dell’uomo e dei suoi rapporti con la scienza e le nuove applicazioni tecnologiche
non nuova, ma mai come oggi le potenzialità dell’innovazione tecnologica ci spingono a superare ogni limite immaginato.
È ormai diffusa una percezione del
Design italiano nuova, come un sistema
policentrico, espressione di una rete articolata e diffusa in tutto il paese.
Il nuovo Design italiano, infatti, non
è più espressione unitaria univoca ma poliedrica, multiforme, espressione di differenti peculiarità e vocazioni dislocate
sull’intero territorio nazionale.
Si fa Design, nella sua espressione più
efficace di prodotto ad altissimi contenuti estetici e tecnologici, a Maranello in
quello straordinario laboratorio che è la
Ferrari, come anche in tutto il Distretto
Motoristico di Bologna. Si fa Design a
Trieste, nei cantieri navali della Fincantieri per il varo dei grandi transatlantici
ordinati dagli armatori di tutto il mondo
o nei distretti della nautica (Gruppo Ferretti ad Ancona, Forlì, Torre Annunziata, Fano, Cattolica, La Spezia, Sarnico;
Gruppo Rizzardi a Fiumicino, a Sabaudia a Gaeta a Posillipo, Gruppo Aicon a
Messina).
Si fa Design nel Centro Ricerche di
Indesit Group per l’importante settore
degli elettrodomestici - che ha fatto la storia stessa del design italiano - e in tutto il
Distretto della Meccanica di Fabriano e
a Jesi, dove esistono assolute eccellenze
come Elica Group.
Si fa Design nei distretti manifatturieri
del Nord|Est - come quello della Mecca-
nica e della subfornitura - dove delle PMI
sono leader nel mondo per la produzione
di macchine utensili per il settore tessile
o per la meccanica di precisione.
Si fa Design intorno agli avanzatissimi
laboratori di ricerca sulle nanotecnologie per le applicazioni dell’innovazione
nell’infinitesimamente
piccolo
nel
Veneto (Veneto Nanotech), così come in
Puglia, a Lecce, e in Emilia Romagna, a
Modena. Si fa Design nella costellazione
ASI e Alenia intorno alla quale sono
cresciuti i Distretti dell’Aeronautica e
dell’Aerospazio nel Lazio, oltre a quello
interregionale del Piemonte e della
Campania. Si fa Design nel distretto
dell’Audiovisivo, che ha trovato a Roma
una storia di eccellenza sulla quale porre
le basi per una ricerca sempre più avanzata. Si fa Design a Roma nei settori
dell’allestimento, della scenografia e dei
costumi, in continuità con una tradizione che in questo settore ha, e ha avuto, riconoscimenti internazionali - come
testimoniano i numerosi premi Oscar.
Si fa Design nel fashion non solo a
Roma, a Firenze e a Milano, ma ormai
in tutto il territorio nazionale dove accanto ai grandi e storici maestri come
Valentino, Capucci, Armani, Versace,
Ferragamo, Biagiotti, Prada, Missoni ecc,
non solo è viva e produttiva una rete di
numerosi ed affermati atelier, ma è attivo
uno dei sistemi d’innovazione di processo, oltre che di prodotto, fra i più significativi al mondo.
Così come si fa Design in tutti quei
Distretti più tipici del Made in Italy, dal
tessile di Prato alla ceramica di Sassuolo e
di Civita Castellana, dal conciario di Solfora al calzaturiero di Fermo e della Valle
del Brenta, dal distretto dell’occhiale
a quello della calzatura sportiva nel
Triveneto, solo per citarne alcuni e sapendo di omettere tante altre esperienze
di assoluto interesse.
Penso, quindi, che per comprendere
la cultura del Design italiano in tutte le
sue più contemporanee declinazioni, si
debba guardare alla complessa rete de-
Strapline
29
Save Italy
gli attori dell’innovazione: di quanti cioè
hanno la capacità di analizzare i fenomeni del e intorno al Design, oltre quella
concezione stucchevole e patinata di una
nozione di Made in Italy fin troppo consumata; di quanti hanno la capacità di
promuovere una nozione di design oltre
l’ambito tradizionale, verso nuovi statuti
disciplinari che assegnano al Design il
compito di progettare l’artificiale, tutto
l’artificiale sia materiale che immateriale.
Si debba guardare inoltre, al complesso
sistema di iniziative che nel nostro Paese
si producono anche spontaneamente,
fuori da quei circuiti spesso troppo autoreferenziali, per esplorare e promuovere anche quei piccoli e grandi fenomeni che, esplosi come manifestazioni
creative, hanno via via generato nuovi
mestieri capaci di trasformare in prodotti
e servizi i nuovi bisogni. Come a Palermo
ad esempio, che - come esito di un lungo
calendario di iniziative una per tutte ha
organizzato una settimana dedicata al
Design delle “ Luminarie”.
Come a Roma, dove la cultura del
Design viene promossa da anni dalla
Rivista “Disegno Industriale”, che ha
specifici spazi di approfondimento sui
temi dell’innovazione e della ricerca o
sulle caratteristiche di specifici prodotti
di design o sulle peculiarità aziende o sul
lavoro di designer, con contributi nazionali ed internazionali di una rete aperta al
confronto dialettico; e dove - attraverso la
Sapienza - promuove con la manifestazione Week Roma Design Più, la ricerca e la
sperimentazione internazionale del design
attraverso mostre di progetti e prototipi,
piuttosto che prodotti, ad integrazione di
altre importantissime manifestazione italiane che promuovono invece la produzione. Quanto accaduto nella Capitale, tra
l’altro, è lo specchio di molte altre realtà
(penso all’effimero evento dell’Estate Romana, che ha generato la grande impresa
culturale di soggetti pubblici e privati
come Zètema, Enzimi, MaXXI, Macro,
Città della Musica, Festa del Cinema, e la
stessa Week Rd+ ). Ne sono testimonianza
tutte le altre iniziative che arricchiscono
ogni anno gli appuntamenti nell’area del
design, come da tempo si fa a Genova con
l’importante mostra Me-design, dedicata
al design del Mediterraneo o a Bolzano,
con le tante mostre e convegni o a Vene-
continued
[6]
1962 Arco Lamp
Conceived as an interior version of a
standard street lamp, it is one of the most
celebrated design objects of the post-war
period, and perfectly exemplifies Achille
and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni’s design philosophy: using the minimum amount of
material while creating forms of maximum
impact.
[7]
1964 Algol
Designed by Marco Zanuso and Richard
Sapper, and produced by Brionvega, it
was the first truly portable television set.
Thanks to its compactness and small size,
it was easy to transport and could be
watched at even without the support of a
piece of furniture. Because of the upward
tilting of its screen, Zanuso compared it to
a small dog looking up at its owner.
zia che alla tradizionale vocazione storica
e museologia, affianca oggi iniziative
sull’innovazione del design per l’ambiente,
l’energia e le nuove tecnologie. O come a
Torino che, dopo la positiva esperienza
della Mostra “Piemonte design Torino”,
ha organizzato - come Capitale Europea
del Design - numerose iniziative promosse
da tutta la rete nazionale del Design.
Penso infine, che si debba cogliere
l’importante funzione del sistema formativo nazionale, che nel settore del Design
si è arricchito di offerte da quando, a
metà degli anni novanta, accanto a meritorie scuole private è stata organizzata
la formazione nell’area del Design nel
sistema universitario nazionale: Corsi
di laurea triennali, lauree specialistiche,
Master, Dottorati. Una realtà che negli
ultimi anni si è sempre più consolidata
(da Milano a Genova e a Torino, da Bolzano a Venezia, da Firenze a Roma, da
Camerino a Bari, da Napoli a Palermo)
immettendo nell’Università una grande
continued on page 40
Design
The courage and risk of
a vision
Using past successes to inspire, not overshadow, the present
by Domitilla Dardi
I
Paolo Ulian. Drinkable Watercard, limited
edition, 2003.
Giulio Iacchetti. “Lingotto” ice tray,
F.lli Guzzini, 2006
Giulio
Iacchetti
and Matteo
Ragni. “Moscardino”
Cutlery
made of biodegradable
Mater Bi, Pandora Design,
2000
n 1972 Italy: the new domestic landscape, the exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz, opened at MoMA: it was a momentous
event for Italian design, consecrating the industrial production
of the glorious decade of the Sixties in the world. The exhibition pointed out the experimental character of Italian design, the
courage of a vision of interior design able to fill the industrial
and technological gap between Italy and other countries with a
stronger training and production background.
Italy, as presented to the world, was a country where two
groups of 30-year-old designers were creating an inflatable plastic
armchair – The Blow Chair by De Pas, D’Urbino and Lomazzi
(1967) – and a beanbag chair containing polystyrene beads – the
Sacco Chair by Gatti, Paolini and Teodoro (1968). These two
projects legitimately appeared as “radical” because they broke
with a design tradition and launched a new conception of design.
Their vision did not remain a theoretical concern, but was actually realised by a manufacturer such as Aurelio Zanotta, who had
the entrepreneurial courage to overcome a mere sales-oriented
strategy, sharing a superior objective with designers: the vision of
a different future.
In the post-war Italy, investing in young people was not rare
at all. In 1959, for instance, Nuccio Bertone entrusted twentyone-year-old Giorgetto Giugiaro with the management of his company, which seems science fiction in today’s Italy. We can’t help
but wonder whether that depends on the lack of new talents, or of
far-sighted entrepreneurs able to take on the risk of an investment
driven by intuition, by a common vision shared by manufacturers
and designers.
It has been said that the new generations of Italian designers,
unlike the glorious masters of the past, are only left a narrow
space in the conception of a project within the corporate organisation. Those who are nostalgic for the past, those who have continued to give space only to the great masters, those who have only
invested in internationally reputed designers in order to contain
risks, have certainly sheltered behind this conviction.
The good news is, however, that today there is actually a generation of Italian designers who have taken the best from the masters’ lesson, developing an independent attitude in the creation of
projects that convey a responsible and critical view of the present.
What designers such as Paolo Ulian, Giulio Iacchetti, Lorenzo
Damiani, Formafantasma – only to name a few – seem to be carrying out is a critical research project, which has probably arisen
Strapline
31
Save Italy
there is actually
a generation of
Italian designers
who have taken
the best from the
masters’ lesson,
developing an
independent
attitude in
the creation
of projects
that convey a
responsible and
critical view of
the present.
continued
[8]
1968 Sacco
An icon of the Pop furniture, the beanbag seat designed by Piero Gatti, Cesare
Paolini and Franco Teodoro, still produced
by Zanotta, easily adapts to whatever
position the sitter assumes. Made of semiexpanded polystyrene beads, it rejects any
rigid structure, thus symbolising a new era
of nonconformity and liberty.
[9]
1975 Tratto Pen
from their “liminal” condition. Some
of them work for large companies, others don’t, but the central thread is that
nobody is content to design a product
exclusively conceived for the market. All
of them, each in their own way, design
objects that analytically question our society, our behaviours and consumption
habits.
Their research projects take on the responsibility for a reflection on consumption, on nature reserves threatened with
extinction, on the varied uses of everyday
life. As their work shows, this can even
be done starting from small everyday
objects, by using the winning weapon of
irony, being aware that a smile is more
able to convey a thought, or a doubt,
than a lecture.
In a nutshell, their objects are beautiful to see, of course, but also functional
to use, and have an additional feature as
well: they provide food for thought. So,
what is missing in Italy is certainly not
the vision.
That probably won’t save Italy, but is
still good news.
Designed by Design Group Italia and still
manufactured by Fila, it reshaped the
traditional pen in a modern, innovative
and elegant design object that instantly
became a triumph, winning the Compasso
d’Oro in 1979. Indestructible and accessible to all, it can mark up to 1 km with
just 1.4 grams of ink.
[10]
1997 Bombo Stool
Ever-present in the trendiest bars, restaurants and salons, Stefano Giovannoni’s
creation produced by Magis combines
a sophisticated retro style with contemporary technology. With ergonomically
moulded ABS seats and adjustable height
with gas piston, it is a delight to the eyes
and a pleasure for the body.
Design
It is in the use of an object
that its destiny is written
The director of Milan’s Triennale Design Museum reflects on the
functional side of design
by Silvana
Annicchiarico
“And since all the objects will always
be visible from any angulation, the
visitors will gradually lose their sense
of Time. To be emancipated from
the sense of Time, to transcend
Time: this is life’s greatest consolation. In museums that are made with
passion and well organized, it is not
the sight of the objects we love that
comforts us, but rather, this eternity
we experience by visiting them.”
Orhan Pamuk
The Museum of Innocence
A
little more than two years have
passed since December 2007, when
we inaugurated the Triennale di Milano
Design Museum. Since that time, the
bearing idea for our project—that of giving life to a changing museum that would
be capable of periodically renewing itself
in terms of contents, of selection criteria,
and of modalities of fruition—has been
refined and consolidated, becoming even
a pilot model for significant foreign experiences.
It is our intention and hope that each
new edition of the Museum will correspond to a new way of interrogating Italian Design and of recounting its story. In
the first edition, we confronted the baroque outlook of Peter Greenaway with
the eclectic approach of Italo Rota and
the radical viewpoint of Andrea Branzi,
to investigate the Seven Obsessions recurring in Italian Design. In the second,
we staged a dialog between Antonio Citterio’s classicality, rigor, and rationalist
clarity and Andrea Branzi’s scientific, didactic approach, to investigate the complex relationship between Series and Off
Series.
Now, in the third edition, we are shortcircuiting Pierre Charpin’s poetic and
conceptual minimalism with Alessandro
Mendini’s punctilious and astonishing
encyclopedism, with his boundless and
proteiform passion for all the manifestations of material culture and, above all,
with his idea that design objects have an
intrinsic “responsibility.” The objective,
once again, is to astonish and to reveal:
starting from the same query that inspired the two preceding editions (“What
is Italian Design”), this time a possible
response takes shape that—I am certain—
will evoke discussions and possibly even
divisions. Because Mendini is casting his
gaze beyond the confines of the territory
canonically attributable to institutional
design, toward that “infinite parallel
world” inhabited by objects and things
that are expressions of a design that is
invisible and unorthodox, though not,
for this, any less connected to the lives of
persons and to our most intimate daily
landscapes. Mendini needs but little to
open a new perspective: for him a small
deviation with respect to the usual point
of observation suffices to discover that
perhaps Italian Design is not only what,
up to now, we have believed it is, and
also that many objects or processes not
referable to disciplinary orthodoxy have,
however, an undisputable anthropological and social relevance.
As we were working to put together
this Third Museum, Mendini gave me
two precious books in Italian: Il museo
dell’innocenza (The Museum of Innocence) by Orhan Pamuk and Oggetto
quasi (Almost Object) by José Saramago.
I believe that traces, remains, and echoes
of these two splendid texts have even remained in the Museum, in its soul. For
my part, I gave Mendini Wu Ming’s Altai, because I like the idea of a plural,
anonymous “authorship” that expresses
itself in this “collective” of writers. And
because the novel has the idea of the
design save italy 33
installation view, the triennale design museum, Milan.
Tower of Babel, which we used as a point
of departure to involve some designers
from the latest generation, giving them
incentive to measure themselves against
a utopia that obliged them to come out
into the open. I recall all this to reaffirm
that this edition did not derive from a
reading of manuals about the history of
design, but rather from other itineraries,
other paths, other stories.
Generally, museum orderings are arranged by typologies, by districts, by chronologies, by styles, by poetics, by authors,
and so forth. Alessandro Mendini, for
his part, wanted to avoid recourse to previously codified grids. He moved in an
intuitive, rather than a structured, manner. He started out from a strong hypothesis, but he guarded well against categorizing, against stiffening. His selection
is polymorphous, unforeseeable, unsettling. There are certain theses, of course,
but there is no one absolute answer. Each
person can come out of it with his own
history of design: the discourse remains
open. Because Mendini proceeds by networks, by sudden pairings, by couplings
with little of the judicious. At times,
he works around an object of his election; other times, he makes groupings
of things that seem similar, as though to
form little “puppet theaters.” There are
miniature objects beside other, outsized
objects. There are objects that are singular, or common, or quotidian. Magical
things next to poetical things. Antique
objects and contemporary objects. Banal and refined. Sumptuous and poor.
Provocative and political. In his hands,
under his gaze, design becomes anthropology, an account of what has been
lived. Each object becomes personage
and mask. And the Museum becomes
theater, or the space for a staging where
things reveal their contribution toward
making us What We Are.
And this time, as well, the story told
by the Museum commences in the remote past, with the boat—the Phaselus—
of Catullus. Mendini proposes finding
again the roots of design, rather than in
Renaissance workshops, in the ancient,
for there he retraces project hypotheses
much more current than the humanisticRenaissance ones. Thus conceived, the
Museum is not so much a concern of
memory as it is of the uses that persons
make of the objects during the course of
their lives. The visitor will not find many
of the so-called icons of Italian Design,
and certain canonical design objects are
present only for very singular reasons:
the mythical typewriter, Olivetti Lettera
22, for example, is included in the selection only because it is the very one used
by Indro Montanelli. Ettore Sottsass, for
his part, appears, not with an object, but
with his own body transformed into icon.
What is displayed, in fact, is a portrait
of him, full-length and in his birthday
suit, realized by painter-designer Roberto
Sambonet. And further, Enzo Mari’s
curbstone is there, but it undergoes a
radical semantic shift, to become—opportunely revised and corrected—a work
by Pao. Objects of extremely high craftsmanship, objects of common use, objects
on the frontier between art and design.
Above all, objects that have been used.
As though this Third Museum wanted to
suggest that it is in their use that the destiny of things is written, and that only by
using them is it possible for us to hope to
understand The Things We Are.
Design
what does italian design
mean to you ?
The design world answers the Italian Journal’s question.
compiled by Laura GIACALONE
“I believe that, in some respects, the great fortune of
Castiglionis’ work, and of Italian design in general, was
that we had a very free, disenchanted relationship with
technology. Experimenting was quite affordable, which
probably helped our research, whereas today it requires
the support of large manufacturing companies, and
needs huge investments. Luckily there still exist, within
large companies, very talented craftsmen with whom it
is easy to work, and that surely helps the research a lot.”
Achille Castiglioni
“Ours is a kind of design culture that has not confined itself to
this country but has actually expanded out to every single industrialised nation. We have been copied a lot, but what does that
matter? This is the best compliment we could have received, because our limit and our dream is to design archetypes.”
“Italian design, and the one in the furniture sector in particular, is something really special. Something still able, 50 years
after its first acclaim, to excite people
from all over the world. This is possible
thanks to the great passion of the Italian
entrepreneurs together with the designers, who face the preparation of an industrial product that is studied not only
from a technical-functional point of view
but also from the expressive one”.
Zanotta
“Most of my work was inspired by machines, rather than by cars.
The mechanical component is in fact the pulsing heart of the
object, it is what makes the object work.”
Carlo Scarpa
Vico Magistretti
“Carmina Campus does not refuse goods
consumption, it rather consumes refused
goods. Its research is towards alternative
ways to promote a new economy in which
every product is created and regenerated
in awareness of a planet to be respected
and saved from irrecoverable sickness.
Each piece is one-off and it is made with
reused materials by skilful Italian craftsmen with the same care and attention
dedicated to precious materials and to
high quality items. Promoting the onset
of a new approach to production means
first of all changing the way of thinking,
which is the only possibility we have to
foresee a positive future.”
Carmina Campus
“Design is a word with many meanings and misunderstandings.
We can better capture the nature of Design in the word “progetto,” especially if we talk about Italian design, because progetto is
a word related to life, a word open to people with different skills
and dreams, people able to manage details and global processes.
Progetto is also a way to say that creativity is everywhere in our
life, we just need to follow our intuition and emotions. That
is what Italian design is and does, with commitment and hard
work. Italian design is the way to better understand life, always
looking at the quality of it, trying to make people grow up and
feel happy.”
Gabriele Pezzini
design save italy
35
Save Italy
“In this global society, it is difficult to talk about design as an expression of “Made in Italy” as it was intended in the past. Today,
Italian companies work with designers from all over the world.
“Made in Italy”, in a strict sense, can still be referred to those
artisan realities that are disappearing, realities where design was
the result of the work and care of skilled Italian craftsmen. In this
respect, we are pleased to mention the work of Pierluigi Ghianda,
a cabinetmaker of exceptional talent. In the past, Italian design
established a connection between designers and craftsmen, and
the relationship was extremely tight. Today, instead, this relationship is lost. Designers such as Castiglioni and Magistretti, who
are among the greatest masters of “Made in Italy”, used to design
their products thinking about their use, drawing on the shapes
that could be found in nature and turning them into icons, conjugating beauty and usefulness.”
De Padova
“To me, design is not so much the project of a chair, a table, a lamp, a car, as the thought,
the corporate vision driving the company through original paths, in search of an element
of distinction for its own products. Design means to work in tandem, with the manufacturer and the designer working in harness, side by side, in perfect synchrony. However, the
manufacturer always needs to be at the helm, because there can be no successful designer
if the manufacturer does not know where to go. “Made in Italy” means a project conceived
and realised in Italy. Today, many manufacturers develop their projects in Italy, but have
them produced abroad, and yet they label them as “Made in Italy”. I don’t think this is
fair. It should be more appropriate, in this case, to say “Created in Italy and Made in…”.
Magis, for its part, conceives its projects in Italy and there it produces them. An authentic
“Made in Italy” product only should be as such when it brings about distinctive elements
and qualities of its own, which can hardly be reproduced elsewhere. This is, to me, the
sense of the real ‘Made in Italy.’”
Eugenio Perazza – President of Magis
“The winning feature of
Italian design is the ability to be “contemporary”,
to keep up with the times
and also be an example
of the times, so that every
object becomes an icon
and a manifest. The value
of Italian design, and of
the Italian spirit, lies in
the perceived quality of
Italian products, which
respect a balance between
form and expectations:
the real goal is to produce
an object that “promises
a lot” (perceived quality)
and “offers still more”
(objective quality).”
Roberto Giolito –
Head of Style Fiat &
Abarth Brands
“Evergreen donates character to all environments. Thanks to their sober and elegant design, these five “classical” pieces have survived intact all the changes in fashion and taste of
the last fifty years and can be inserted harmoniously in ever-changing – and often distant –
surroundings such as the home and the office. The P40 armchair (Osvaldo Borsani, 1955)
furnishes all kinds of spaces, homes and museums, private collections and galleries. D70,
the divan with movable wings (Osvaldo Borsani, 1954), was designed to satisfy the needs
of a customer wanting somewhere to sit and admire the panorama from his window and
also to rest in the evenings in front of the fire. Versatility is guaranteed by a mechanism
that allows movement of the wings. And the D70 (X Triennale - Diploma d’onore), is still
chosen for its beauty and functionality. The PS142 armchairs (Eugenio Gerli, 1966) and
Tlinkit (Gae Aulenti, 1991) can be integrated perfectly in the home or even the most modern executive offices. Just as in the new Tecno spaces where the PS142 with Nomos tables
(Foster and Partners, 1986), while the shiny lacquered T335 is accompanied by natural
rattan Tlinkit chairs. The T1 and T2 side tables (Osvaldo Borsani, 1949-50), are ideal for
meeting areas or for the sitting room at home, and are an up to date solution thanks to
their clean and modern lines.”
Tecno
Design
Gaetano Pesce. Up Series (1969).
A Series of anthropomorphic armchairs created for C&B Italia and
still in production today, Premiered at the 1969 Milan Furniture
Show. the series was comprised of a set of seven chairs suitable for
different needs, but the real innovation was in the packaging: the
chairs were moulded out of polyurethane foam, compressed under a
vacuum until they were flat and then packaged in PVC envelopes. The
expanded polyurethane took on the volume specified in the design
only when the envelopes were opened and the materials came into
contact with air. In Gaetano Pesce’s conception, this allowed the
purchaser to be an active participant in the final phase of the product’s creation.
The Memory of Objects, an Interview with
Gaetano
Pesce
by Laura GIACALONE
A
n unrelenting research on new materials, an unrestrained use
of colour, the political dimension of his projects, the handcrafted quality of his creations make Gaetano Pesce one of the
greatest and most unconventional artists of Italian contemporary
design scene. His career is studded with memorable masterpieces,
which blur the distinction between art and design: from “Up”
(1969), a series of “feminine” anthropomorphic armchairs which
exploit the morphological memory of the polyurethane, returning to their shape and consistency as soon as they are freed from
their packaging, to the “Rag Chair” (1972) and the “Sit Down”
seat furniture (1975), based on the intriguing idea of having no
two pieces alike. Other notable works include the “Dalila” chairs
(1980), whose sensuous shape intentionally evokes the soft forms
of the female body, the humorous “Umbrella” chair (1995), which
folds up like an umbrella and opens out like its namesake, and
“Sessantuna” (2010), sixty-one different tables, all of them unique,
to celebrate Italy on the 150th anniversary of its unification.
Mr. Pesce, where do you find inspiration for
keeping your creativity high?
“My creativity comes from observing street life and the ordinary
values that are part of that world. In some cases the ordinary becomes the extraordinary and in that case they become synonymous of our age.”
Once you said that objects are “documents on
reality”: what does contemporary Italian design say about the present state of Italy?
“For sure the objects are the documents of the society in which we
are living. By observing them we are able to understand the level
of evolution of our historical moment.”
What does Italian design mean to you?
“Italian design is the most advanced art expression in this moment. It includes the best technological, economical and philosophical languages of our period.”
As for technological languages, how has the
technological development changed the designers’ work over the years?
Save Italy
“Technological development gave to
design the possibility to make limited
production at reasonable cost without having to make
large production.”
In this respect, do you think that Italian design can be
a driving force for economic recovery?
“Absolutely. I think Italian design can help the country’s economy to become more performing.”
You have been living and working in New York
for many years. What is your perspective on Italy now that you look at the country from a
distance, and what differences or similarities
can you see between the two countries with
regard to your work as a designer?
“Now that I have been living in New York since a long time I can
see the difference between Italian and American cultures, and
it consists of depth. In Italy for sure people are more sensitive
to progress of culture and knowledge in the art field than in the
US.”
You have contributed to the history of Italian design and architecture with many excellent creations. What is the work you are most
proud of? Can you tell us an anecdote about
it?
“One of the most important objects I designed is, in my opinion,
the UP 5 chair. This object is a commentary on women’s condition in our historical moment. Until today women are prisoners of prejudices including in the most evolved countries without
mentioning the less evolved ones such as the Islamic countries,
China and African countries, to name a few. It was the first time
that a chair was able to express a political content. A funny anecdote regarding this chair happened in Italy. The chair was then
sold in an envelop under vacuum reducing its original volume
by 8. A truck full of these chairs / envelops was traveling from
Milan to Roma and got into an accident when another truck hit
it in the back. In the accident one of the packaging got broken
and the chair inside of it immediately expanded, leading to break
the other packaging and other chairs to expand. At the end, all
these chairs protected the back of the truck from being totally
destroyed. Also the chairs ended up falling on the highway and by
doing so transformed it into a domestic landscape.”
38 design save italy
Design
Design as an approach to life, an interview with
Gabriele Pezzini
by Laura GIACALONE
B
orn in 1963, Gabriele Pezzini is one
of the most prominent figures in the
Italian design’s contemporary scene. His
strong artistic background has always
driven him into the field of experimenta-
Manufactured by
LaPalma in 2010, the
Linea Chair was conceived as an archetypal seat characterized
by pure lines and the
use of simple materials: a metal tube with
square section and
the plywood. The final
product is the perfect
balance of lightweight structure,
comfort and visual
resolution.
tion. Interested in the relations between
product and industry, he has dedicated
himself to innovative research projects,
focusing on the conception and organisation of exhibitions that have allowed
him to develop his analyses and theories
on perception and cross-contamination
of everyday objects. He works with Italian and international companies and has
lectured at several universities. Among
his most successful creations, the “Sunny
Day Bench” for Union Corporation, the
“Moving Stool” and “Wired Chair” for
Maxdesign, the “Hélicoptére” for Hermès, the “Match Radio” for Areaplus,
the “Clartè Lamp” for Oluce. He has recently published a limited-edition book
entitled “Meteorite – Looking far, watching closely”, which contains a series of
interesting reflections on “the process of
a project”, starting from the evocative images of meteorites and sand as metaphors
for the creative process. His works, along
with the design classics realised by the
great Italian designer Enzo Mari, were on
display last January at the Galerie Alain
Gutharc of Paris, for an exhibition entitled provocatively “Che fare” (“What to
do”), which was conceived to stimulate
a critical discussion on the situation of
industrial design today.
What does it mean to work
as a designer in the presentday Italy?
Working as a designer in Italy is not that
easy. Of course, it depends on the quality
of work one aims for. There are very few
companies producing quality projects.
Most of them produce quality products,
which is not exactly the same.
Is there any difference, in
the way of working or in the
concept of design itself, between the new generation
of Italian designers and the
masters of the past, from Castiglioni to Scarpa, from Munari to Gio Ponti?
I think those designers, in comparison
with the younger generations, had a rich
intellectual background that supported
their creative talent. However, what old
and young designers have in common
is certainly a genetic attitude toward the
project, which makes Italian design so
different from that of other countries.
To what extent is it possible
to talk about creative freedom in the design industry
today? I am referring, in particular, to the relationship
with manufacturers and
to the degree of autonomy
that it entails.
Creativity, in a project, is defined by its
constraints: an unrestrained creative
freedom never produces good projects.
The point is that the quality of a project
depends on the joint effort and shared
vision of designer and manufacturer,
which is very rare today, because it is the
market that rules every choice they make,
and influences their attitude. Finding
captains courageous, pursuing ideals, is
very rare on both sides.
What difficulties and/or opportunities lie on the path
of those who approach the
design profession in Italy?
Honestly, I see many difficulties, and just
one opportunity offered by such difficulties. I mean, the reason why Italy is such
a creative country is that it has always
been affected by political instability: nobody has been given any form of support,
and therefore everybody has to do their
best to work their way up to the ladder.
We can see that clearly if we consider
how design in Italy is not only represented by designers, but also, and more importantly, by manufacturers, magazines,
Save Italy
and by the whole economic system that
has established itself autonomously, as a
private system made up of small and medium enterprises.
ITalian design, nY
Do you think design can be a
driving force for economic
recovery in
times of crisis?
It depends on what
we mean when we
talk about design.
Design does not
mean producing
objects: it means
understanding the
reality of things. As Ettore Sottsass said,
“design is a way to understand life”. For
me it is exactly the same. In this sense,
it can probably be a driving force. You
know, in England, where design was
born, design is regarded as a cultural process. Anyway, I think the real challenge
for our economy is not in the industry of
design, but in a certain political stability
and cultural growth. If we look back at
the history, we can see that this is how
economies have developed in the past.
As they say, necessity is the
mother of invention: how
has economic crisis affected
the creative processes at the
origin of a design product?
Unlike what is commonly believed
abroad, I think Italians are great workers, and this crisis is only an incentive for
us to work more. Apart from a few lucky
ones, in Italy we have always been in a
crisis. As for creativity, it is not an exclusive quality of designers: the human being, in general, is creative; otherwise we
wouldn’t have been able to evolve. In Italy, due to structural and socio-economic
deficiencies, we have developed this attitude even more.
What are the challenges
facing the design of next
generation?
The challenge for design is to be conceived as an educational process, not
with the aim of becoming designers, but
of turning into citizens with a stronger
critical attitude, and a clearer vision of
the state of things: citizens able to be
masters of themselves, rather than slaves
of mass media and barkers.
I
n celebration of Italian art, design and culture, I Saloni Milano in New York present
“Italian Design Street Walking.” The six-week program, through to January 8, offers a
variety of events and promotions within the 20 participating Italian design showrooms
around New York City. The self-guided tour features these prominent Italian design houses in honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Milan Furniture Fair. The program
also includes special exhibitions by artists that pay homage to Italian creativity. Of note
is the U.S debut of “Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenway” at the Park
Avenue Armory.
Artemide
46 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.artemidestore.com
Fontanaarte
45 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.fontanaarte.it
B&B Italia (Soho)
138 Greene Street
New York, NY 10012
www.bebitalia.it
Giorgetti
200 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10016
www.giorgettiusa.com
B&B Italia (58th)
150 East 58th Street
New York, NY10155
www.bebitalia.it
Glas Italia
DDC Domus Design
Collection
136 Madison Avenue at
31st Street
New York, NY 10016
www.glasitalia.com
Boffi
31 1/2 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.boffi-soho.com
By New York
142 Greene Street, 5/F
New York, NY 10012
www.bynewyork.com
Cesana
9th Floor
New York, NY 10155
www.cesanausa.com
Flos
152 Greene Street
New York, NY 10012
www.flos.com
Flou
42 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.flou.it
Kartell
39 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.kartell.com
Matteograssi
DDC Domus Design
Collection
136 Madison Avenue at
31st Street
New York, NY 10016
www.matteograssi.it
Molteni&C Dada
60 Greene Street
New York, NY 10012
www.molteni.it
Pedini
40 Lispenard Street
New York, NY 10013
www.pedini.it
Poliform Varenna
6th Floor
New York, NY 10155
www.poliform.it
La Murrina
D&D Building
979 Third Avenue
12th Floor
New York, NY 10022
www.lamurrina.us
Poltrona Frau
145 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10012
www.frausa.com
Lualdi
110 Greene Street
New York, NY 10012
www.lualdiporte.it
Scavolini
Scavolini Soho Gallery
429 West Broadway
New York, NY 10012
www.scavolinisohogallery.com
Luceplan
47-49 Greene Street
New York, NY 10013
www.luceplan.com
Tre P & Tre Più
150 East 58th Street,
Fl 3
New York, NY 10155
www.trep-trepiu.com
40 advertisement
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universities, and vocational schools.
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continued from page 29
spinta innovatrice: ordinamenti nuovi,
svincolati dalle tradizionali sclerotizzazioni disciplinari, basate sulla forte integrazione fra le pratiche del conoscere e le
pratiche del comprendere, fra le pratiche
del saper fare e dell’immaginare. Nuovi
profili per espressioni progettuali e professionali in grado di competere nella scena internazionale sono oggi disponibili
per il sistema produttivo del Paese. L’area
formativa del Design, infatti, copre ormai un ampio spettro di ambiti tematici,
che dipendono dalla natura sempre più
complessa dei fatti produttivi. La figura
del progettista del prodotto industriale,
infatti, si è molto articolata: non riguarda più la sola cura dell’estetica di un
prodotto, ma profili tematici sempre più
specialistici. Si spazia dalla progettazione
dei beni materiali, delle infrastrutture e
dei servizi a quella dei beni immateriali.
Si va dalla progettazione per l’ambiente,
alla progettazione sempre più sofisticata
della comunicazione e dell’interazione.
Del resto il prodotto industriale, con
l’introduzione della microelettronica e
con la diffusione dell’informatica, della
telematica, della robotica, delle nanotecnologie e dei nuovi materiali, si è
arricchito di contenuti prestazionali e
comunicativi che richiedono una molteplicità di competenze, tali da provocare
una sistematica revisione delle stesse
metodologie progettuali e produttive.
Si tratta di una straordinaria esperienza
che via via ha visto proporre Corsi di
laurea di Design che, mettendo a sistema l’integrazione di competenze provenienti da diverse aree, ha gestito profili
formativi innovativi, sviluppando nuove
potenzialità culturali: con i contributi
di competenze presenti nelle Facoltà di
Architettura, di Scienze della Comunicazione, dell’area della Storia dell’Arte
Contemporanea e delle Scienze dello
Spettacolo, fino ai contributi scientifici
per la gestione dell’innovazione di processo e di prodotto delle Facoltà di Ingegneria ed Economia.
Insomma, il design in Italia attraversa
una rete di Università, di professionisti, di aziende, di centri di ricerca, un
complesso sistema che fornisce cultura e
servizi sempre più alti, le cui esperienze
formative, la cui attività di ricerca, la cui
capacità produttiva e i cui rapporti internazionali, sono ormai un patrimonio
italiano.
Strapline 41
Save Italy
Four in Fashion
1. Albino D’Amato
2. Aquilano
Rimondi
1. Chicca Lualdi
4. Marco
de Vincenzo
Albino, Aquilano Rimondi, Chicca Lualdi and Marco de
Vincenzo. A fashion show at Saks Fifth Avenue in November
2010 introduced these names to New York. Sponsored by the
Italian Trade Commission and the Italian Chamber of Fashion,
the show featured clothing and furniture by contemporary
Italian designers.
by Michael BOTTARI
F
rom fashion shows for the Spring/Summer 2011 season: Roman designer Albino
D’Amato (1) projects his humble personality through his collection which favors simplicity and creativity while exhibiting a clear admiration for the past. Albino previously
worked in architecture and industrial design before arriving in fashion. The pair, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi (2), emphasizes attention to detail and base their
work on fabrics, images and precise tailoring. The duo doesn’t like to consider themselves
artists and they advocate for Italian fashion that breaks ahead of the global trends instead
of simply following blindly. Chicca Lualdi (3) presents a collection where modernity mixes
with sophistication to create an understated feminine feel. She also places great value in
color—looking for the right shade to provoke the correct emotion for the collection. Marco
de Vincenzo’s (4) belief that fashion can transform a person to the point where they are
unrecognizable is the root of his passion. While working for Fendi, he decided to make
his own collection. In his work, he keeps the silhouette close to the body with tight fitting
clothes and plays with geometric forms.
42 literature
the superficial truth
A controversial video-turned-book looks
at the one-dimensional presentation of
women in Italian television
by Laura Giacalone
P
lease don’t retouch my wrinkles” –
said the great Italian actress Anna
Magnani, a muse for Neorealist maestro
Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City,
1945), while instructing her make-up artist not to conceal the lines on her face –
“Leave them all there, it took me so long
to earn them.” Many years have passed
since then, and women’s concerns and
ambitions seem to have changed a lot.
Back from the feminist struggles of the
70s, women still have to face a number
of unsolved issues in the present-day Italy
– from employment discrimination to
political participation, not mentioning
the “ordinary” cases of violence against
women, which daily fill the pages of all
newspapers. Just to put it in figures, according to the World Economic Forum’s
Global Gender Gap Report 2010, Italy
continues to be one of the lowest-ranking
countries in the EU and has deteriorated
further over the last years (from rank 67
in 2008 to rank 74 out of 134 countries
in 2010): women’s average salary is 50%
lower than men’s (20,152 vs. 40,000
US$), and the presence of women in Parliament is significantly smaller (21% vs.
79%), especially in comparison to other
countries (in Sweden women in Parliament are 46%). Beside this alarming
economic and political inequality, Italian women have recently been facing another unexpected challenge: their image.
Since the rise of commercial TV chan-
nels in the 80s, and the consequent establishment of Berlusconi’s anomaly at
the core of the Italian political system
in the 90s, women – as represented by
media and in the narratives of the Italian Prime Minister – have witnessed the
progressive disappearance of their true
essence, and real body, from the public
arena, in favour of a distorted portrait
of their own selves. It is enough to turn
any Italian TV channel on, at any time of
the day or night, to see women reduced
to a multitude of inflated breasts, surgically enhanced lips, exhibited buttocks,
blank looks and dulled smiles. While
sex scandals become a recurrent feature
of the political scene, with former TV
soubrettes earning a seat at the national
and European Parliament, Italian media
perform a dangerous “normalization” of
such anomalies, conveying a humiliating
image of Italian women, who are surreptitiously encouraged to use their body,
instead of their brain, to affirm their role
in society. Far from the liberating sexual
freedom advocated by the early feminists,
this constant exhibition of the female
body, associated with the absence of really qualifying roles for women in the media, as well as in other fields of society,
seems to obey to a logic of annihilation,
objectification and disempowerment of
women, with negative repercussions on
the younger, and more sensitive to the
media messages, generations.
Among the few to denounce the degrading use of the female body on the
Italian TV, in May 2009 businesswoman
Lorella Zanardo, along with Cesare Cantù and Marco Malfi Chindemi, realised a
documentary entitled Il corpo delle donne
(“The Body of Women”) distributed on
the Internet (www.ilcorpodelledonne.
net) in several languages, with the aim
of raising awareness on this issue. The
film stems from the observation that
women, real women, have been evicted
from TV screens, only to be replaced by
a grotesque, vulgar, humiliating representation of them. Although this happens
regularly, there seems to be no reaction
against this phenomenon, not even by
women themselves (“Why don’t we do
something about it? Why are we accepting this constant humiliation? What are
we afraid of?” – the author asks at the
end of the documentary). This misrepresentation was the reason that induced
Lorella Zanardo to select a number of images from popular TV programmes having in common a twisted use of women’s
body, in order to communicate what is
happening “not only to those who never
watch TV, but also, and especially, to
those who watch it, but do not “see” it.”
The documentary also focuses on the disappearance of adult women’s faces from
TV, as well as on the increasing use of
plastic surgery to remove any sign of aging, and the social consequences of such
collective removal.
The research at the basis of the film
has recently become a book (Il corpo delle
donne, Feltrinelli 2010), and is extending further on: the debate ignited by the
documentary, and the positive reactions
of women, as well as men, eager for a
change in the representation of their
selves in the media, has prompted Lorella
Zanardo to also launch a training course
entitled Nuovi occhi per la TV (“New Eyes
for TV”), which is mainly addressed to
students and anyone interested in enhancing their critical attitude in the consumption of mass media, in the belief
that – as philosopher Karl Popper pointed out – “citizens of a civilised society,
meaning people who behave civilly, are
not the result of chance, but the outcome
of an educational process.”
photography
Hidden gem of...
Venice
photography by Mauro Benedetti
In the heart of the Byzantineadorned city, banners of
red and green reflect in the
melting ice of the after-hours
Rialto fish market.
And amidst the splendor of
the Basilica of San Marco, a
wall of marble inlays with the
Tetrarchs sculpture at its base
forms an ageless backdrop.
43
44 advertisement
In the best Italian, all-natural* tradition
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Social journal
45
Social Journal
Chopin and Schumann BiCentennial Carnegie Concert
The Italian Academy Foundation (IAF) presented a solo concert by Sicilian pianist Sandro
Sebastian Russo in homage to the bicentennial composers Frederic Chopin and Robert
Schumann. He received standing ovations from the 200 guests of the Foundation gathered
at Carnegie Hall for the program. A reception followed at Bechstein Piano Hall. During
the evening, the IAF chairman Stefano Acunto presented the Foundation’s Bravo! Award
for 2010 to screenwriter Michael Ricigliano, creator of Lily of the Feast, a movie starring
Paul Sorvino, Federico Castelluccio and Tony LaBianco.
1
5
2
4
1. IAF Chairman Stefano Acunto with the evening’s sponsors, mr. and
mrs. carlomusto; 2. pianist sandro russo performs selections from
schumann and chopin; 3. Michael Ricigliano, recipient of the Bravo!
award; 4. IAF board member Dr. Bilha Fish and Mr. Acunto present the
award to Michael Ricigliano.
Silvia Cipriano’s Per Te Book Signing at Rizzoli
1 the author
outside rizzoli. 2 with
richard, and
with rizzoli literary
agent
2
1
3
46 Social journal
S
ocial Journal
NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò 20th Anniversary
The Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York University held a 20th Anniversary Gala
reception this winter at New York University’s beautiful new Skirball Concert Hall on
Washington Square. A concert and dinner were held, including more than 400 for the
concert and 250 attendees for the gala dinner. At the center of the activity was Baronessa
Mariucca Zerilli-Marimò who generously endowed New York University with its Italian
center and, in so doing, endowed the city of New York with a great point of referral for all
Italians and Americans of Italian extraction. During the evening’s event several dignitaries from the New York community and from Europe were in attendance, making this a
highlight of the social season in New York.
2
1
1. Baronessa Zerilli-Marimò
(right) with H.E. Renato Cardinal Martino (center) and H.E.
Archbishop Francis Chullikat; 2.
Looking out from the stage at
the gathering concert crowd;
3. Executive Director Dott.
Stefano Albertini greets visitors. Dott. Albertini is widely
regarded in New York as a
leading exponent for ItalianitÀ;
4. Among those who traveled
great distances were Ambassador Giorgio Radicati from Rome;
5. Italian Academy Foundation
Chairman Stefano Acunto with
Dott.sa. Genny DiBert of Rome,
author, art critic and columnist for the Italian Journal; 6.
Ambassador Giulio Maria Terzi di
Sant’Agata (center) and Consul
General Francesco Maria Talò
(right) speak with Dott. Renato
Miracco, former Director of
the Italian Cultural institute,
New York.
3
4
6
5
Social journal
Andrea Bocelli at Le Cirque
47
Social Journal
The Italian Academy Foundation partnered with the Weill/Cornell Department of Surgery and the University of Pisa and Drs.
Fabrizio Michelassi and Franco Mosca to salute Andrea Bocelli
and initiate the Art of Medicine, a program to express to internist
and doctors the importance of medical practice as an art form to
relieve suffering, in an age when technology, legal and other considerations can intrude in the process. The reception, limited to
60 people, raised funds for a documentary to be entitled “The Art
of Medicine” which will be created in cooperation with the three
entities and Andrea Bocelli, great advocate for those who suffer.
Andrea Bocelli sang
four selections for a most
appreciative crowd
1
2
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
13
14
11
12
1. IAF Chairman Acunto, Dott. Michelassi and Consul General Talò greet Bocelli; 2. Andrea Bocelli
with IAF Chairman Acunto and IAF Board Member
Dr. Bilha Fish, Chairman of the Nassau Physicians
Foundation; 3. the legendary restaurateur Sirio
Machionni with the Maestro. The reception was
held at his prestigious Le Cirque Restaurant; 5
15
(left to right) Vivian Cardia, Carole Haarmann
Acunto, Maestro Bocelli, Dott Fabrizio Michelassi and Dr. Caren Heller; 6. Senator and Mrs. Alfonse D’Amato
with the Maestro; 7. Carl and Roseanne Bonomo with Maestro Bocelli and veronica berti; 8. Maestro Bocelli
with business leader Joseph Carlomusto and his daughter, aspiring soprano Cosette carlomusto; 9. (seated)
Nadine Carlomusto, Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Elicks, Mr. & Mrs. William Fishlinger; (standing) Vivian Cardia, Carole
Haarmann Acunto, Consul General and Mrs. Francesco Talo, Dr. bilha chesner Fish, Mrs. Bruce Winston and
IAF Chairman Acunto; 10. Barbara Winston and Vivian Cardia with Congressman Peter King; 11. just before
his recital the Maestro has a gentle moment; 13. Dott. Michelassi and IAF Chairman Acunto share a light
moment with the crowd; 14. a view of the room on the second floor of Le Cirque; 15. the organizers of the
event included: (right to left) Dott. Giuseppina Mosca, Maestro Machionni, Consul General Talo, Dott. Michelassi, Maestro Bocelli and IAF Chairman Acunto.
48 Social journal
SASILM
ocial Journal
John Cabot University f Rome at Hudson Cliff House
5
4
6
1
2
3
7
8
9
10
The American Society of Italian Legions of Merit held its annual meeting during which two substantial
awards were presented. 1. The first award was presented by Ambassador Giulio Terzi to Hon. Frank Guarini:
the Cav. di Gran Croce, Italy’s highest award. 2. Hon. Dominic Massaro, himself a Cavalier of the Grand Cross,
gave his farewell speech as Chairman and was roundly applauded by the group for the outstanding work
he has done for the organization. He is succeeded by 3. Hon. Lucio Caputo, also a Cav. di Gran Croce. Among
those in attendance were: 4. Dott. Stefano Albertini, Vivian Cardia, Carole Haarmann Acunto and Cav. di
Gran CROce, Frank Guarini; 5. Cav. Claudio Bozzo, Chairman, Italian Chamber of Commerce and Cav. Dott. Marco Grassi; 6. Chairman Caputo with Dott. Berardo Paradiso, Chairman, IACE; 7. Mrs. Acunto with Dr. Antonella
Cinque; 8. Consul General Talò expresses greetingS; 9. Comm. Rosemarie Gallina Santangelo, a major force in
the success of ASILM; 10. Consul General Talò “pins” Joseph Perella, Cavaliere.
Dante Society, L.I.
Cianfaglione Honored
Savoy
The Dante Society of Long Island honored the Italian Academy Foundation in the person of
its Chairman (left) and Edward
Mangano, Nassau County Executive. the award recognizes the
recipients’ advancement of Italian Culture.
Quintino Cianfaglione (second from left) was awarded the distinction of Cavaliere by Consul General Francesco Talò, together with
Vice Consul Lucia Pasqualini. HIS WIFE, MARCELLA, HOLDS THE DIPLOMA.
Cav. Cianfaglione, radio personality and Chairman of COMITES, has
done great work to advance the cause of Italians living in America.
Social journal
49
Social Journal
Cardinal Sepe Visits
The Italian Academy Foundation was pleased to host a reception in homage to Cresenzio Cardinal Sepe on the occasion of
his visit to New York in February. Cardinal Sepe, Archbishop
of Naples was received in the Church of Saint Jean Baptiste in
Manhattan and was feted in a short recital of classical music
in his honor. Leaders of the Italian and American Italian communities joined in the event, hosted by IAF together with the
ASLIM and the Council of Presidents of Major Italian Organizations, represented by respectively Cav. di Gran Croce Lucio
Caputo and Cav. Joseph Sciame.
Saint Jean Baptiste’s pastor Father Scheuller,
Cardinal Sepe, IAF Chairman Acunto
Indulge in the Flavors of Real Italy
Honorable Aniello Musella, Italian Trade Commissioner in New York, held a gala two-day event in elegant Saratoga, New York, promoting
Italian design and products. The event, now in its second year, brings together hundreds of sport car enthusiasts, food lovers and business
people to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
2
1
3
4
5
6
1. Aniello Musella begins
the proceedings; 2. Aniello Musella
(center) with
his wife Susie
(left); 3. famed
baritone Lawrence Harris
performs for
400 guests;
4. Hon. Vice
Consul Stefano
Acunto greets
the group; 5.
Andrea Zagato,
honored that
day as an exponent of one of
Italy’s great design firms, here
discusses the
importance of
Italian design;
6. Mayor JOHNSON of Saratoga presents
a certificate
of appreciation
to Musella.
50 Face file
Face File
Frida Giannini
by Michael bottari
an elegant, dignified and feminine
style. Giannini has also used her
influence to support the arts,lessen
the company’s carbon footprint and
contribute to charity.
A
ppearing on the red carpet at the 2010 International
Rome Film Festival alongside renowned director Martin
Scorsese and CEO of Gucci Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s Creative Director Frida Giannini has had an impact on the world
that reaches far beyond the realm of fashion.
Giannini was born in Rome in 1972 and inherited her love
for fashion from her grandmother, who owned a small dress
shop in Italy. She studied at Rome’s Academy of Costume and
Fashion where she gained all the preliminary skills needed to
grow and become the great fashion icon that she is today.
Her career began as an apprentice in a small scale ready-towear fashion house. She moved to Fendi in 1997 where she
designed the ready-to-wear line and, after three seasons, was
promoted to the designer of leather goods. In 2002, she acquired her first job at Gucci as the Handbag Design Director.
After Tom Ford left Gucci in 2004, the image of provocative
eroticism that he brought to the label was to change, and at
this time Giannini was promoted to Creative Director of Accessories. In 2005, while remaining the designer of accessories, Giannini was also promoted to Creative Director of the
Women’s ready-to-wear line. Finally, in 2006, she also became
the designer for the menswear line and so found herself as the
Creative Director of the entire fashion house.
Giannini brought a unique interpretation of the Gucci
legacy to the label, emphasizing certain stylistic elements of
the fashion house’s past while adding aspects of her confident and joyous Roman personality. She took vintage styles
and recreated them with a contemporary feel while retaining
the brand’s signature elegance. One of her first projects updated and revitalized the classic Flora scarf pattern that was
originally made for Grace Kelly. Her recent collections exhibit
This year, the major fashion house
contributed $900,000 to the Martin
Scorsese Film Foundation to aid in
scorsese,
the restoration of the classic Italian
giannini and
Films La Dolce Vita (1960) and Il
di Marco in
Gattopardo (1963). The premiere of
rome
the newly restored La Dolce
Vita
proved
to be one of
the highlights
of this year’s
International
Rome
Film
Festival. In an
interview with
Vogue, Giannini said: “Gucci
has a long history with film
dating back to
Gucci’s Flora scarf, and, Top,
the late Forthe fiat 500, classics reimagties, and we are
ined by Giannini.
proud to support the work
of Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation to keep these vibrant, timeless films alive. Through preservation, the legacy of
visionary filmmakers like Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini can continue to inspire us, as well as future generations.”
Also this year, Gucci announced a plan, conceived by Giannini, to reduce its impact on the environment. The plans
include a new packing concept that will reduce the amount of
materials used, working only with Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC)-certified paper, and will be 100% recyclable. This concept will be implemented in every Gucci store worldwide.
In 2008, Giannini partnered with hip-hop star Rihanna on
a collection of customized handbags and ads, of which 25%
of profits would go to the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF). Called the “Tattoo Heart Collection,” it is just
one of the annual campaigns that Gucci has participated in to
benefit UNICEF and other charities since Giannini became
Creative Director.
Connecting fashion with charity, sustainability, responsibility and compassion, Giannini has created a new image and significance to what it means to be a globally renowned fashion
house in today’s society.
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ITalIaN lIfESTylE IN TEN dESIgN claSSIcS

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