L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 S oon Milan, the beating heart of Italian fashion and creative industry, will become home to the Museo del Design. The project was announced about a month ago, during the presentation of this year's edition of the Salone del Mobile, one of Italy's most famous fairs around the world, a space for ideas and projects where creativity catches up with the future, without neglecting that craftsmanship typical of the Made in Italy. Positive news, not only from a cultural or touristic point of view, but also from an economic one. An important project not only for Milan, but also for the country as a whole. The museum won't be simply a showcase for Italy's many talents and for the products that marked — and keep on marking — the history of our habits and of our lifestyle. It'll be the occasion to once more demonstrate the value of our country as a creative hub, and we all know how much that's worth on today's international market. Just to give you an idea, in 2017 furniture, lighting, pottery and jewelry design generated and international income of 22 billion euro, 5 million of which — more than 1/5 of the total — created in Lombardia. It isn't simply a matter of money, though. On the contrary. Because being able to create objects that turn into international status symbols from hand made — or computer generated — sketches, means to have really and truly made a leap forward when it comes to quality. Not only because such objects are often coveted and gain more value with the passing of time, but also because they become real pieces of contemporary art. They get into museums, they change styles, they interpret people's needs and meet them. And a further step is made when design creates concepts, offering visual and sensorial stimuli, showing us the way towards the future. This is when the most desired objects come into being, when the designer does not simply create the object itself, but the "need for it:" and this is much more than mere merchandising. This is not only fueling the economy by increasing sales and making brands and styles popular, it is inventing trends. An example? The incredibly famous "Rosso Valentino" (Valentino's Red). Through it, we learned — the world learned — that it's not only It's design: objects and concepts that explain Italian culture From the director the model that makes the dress, but also its color: a color that dictates tastes, preferences and declines the very meaning of elegance. This type of vision, along with quality, makes the Made in Italy stronger and more exclusive day after day. Design means originality, innovation, change, imagination and all this is, essentially, culture. Indeed, it is a central part of it and of our way of being and living. Being prolific designers means we manage to translate our very own lifestyle, our very own manner to perceive and see things, into something tangible. In other words, it is an expression of Italy, just as opera, fine arts, architecture. This is why Italian Embassies, Consulates and Institutes of Culture around the world dedicate time and space to Italian design with the Italian Design Day. Because design is a sign of our culture. Of course, we could ask ourselves when an object becomes an icon, when it becomes part of collective heritage. But if it is difficult to pinpoint a moment, a precise date on the calendar, we can surely say objects are symbols when they represent a precise phase of social history, both technically and culturally. When they — a tool, an armchair, a car, a dress — are no longer just objects, but turn into expressions of a period, instruments to interpret the times they were designed in, into an integral part of them. Often design objects succeeded in interpreting the needs of a historical phase so well to be one and the same with an era. For instance, it is difficult to separate the "Vespa Farobasso" (that from Roman Holidays) from the 1950s, bell-bottom pants or Turin's Studio 65's "Divano Bocca" (do you remember those sensual and comfortable polyurethane red lips, nicknamed "Marylin" in the US, to honor Marylin Monroe?) from the 1970s, or Giugiaro's "Fiat Panda" from the 1980s. When design objects become indispensable for cinema, TV and commercials, as if they were true characters of the period, it means they turned into a collective cultural patrimony. What should we say, then, about the S62 Siemens rotary phone, our old and beloved home telephone, where you had to use your finger to turn a wheel and dial the number? Up to the mid-1990s, when it was eventually sent into retirement, it patiently listened to millions of our phone calls. And what about our beloved Bialetti Moka? Its aluminum structure and black bakelite handle are not only one thing with its inventor, Alfonso Bialetti, who created it in 1933, but also with Italian coffee culture as a whole. If you know these objects, then you got the message: recognizing design means recognizing a piece of the history and of the pop culture of our country. Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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