L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 4 The Siemens S62, the iconic rotary phone, symbol of Italian design and lifestyle © Владимир Сухачё в | Dreamstime.com FRANCESCA BEZZONE Continued to page 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Such a simple object, such a perfect object: the Bialetti Moka is so iconic to be displayed at the MoMA © denny Toazza | Dreamstime.com C e l e b r a t i n g I t a l y : Italian design day brings the beauty of Italian cities around the world This year, the 20th of March w a s n o t o n l y t h e l a s t d a y o f Winter: it also celebrated the i n n o v a t i v e b e a u t y o f I t a l i a n design around the world. The day, Italian Design Day 2019, endorsed by the Ministry of For- eign Affairs and International Cooperation, was part of a wider project created two years ago, that aims at promoting the idea of "vivere all'Italiana," of Italian lifestyle, all over the world. This year, the running theme w a s t h a t o f t h e " C i t y o f t h e Future," in all its characteristics, with a special interest to "life quality" and "new frontiers of living." Italian Design Day came into being also thanks to the col- laboration and cooperation of other groups and associations, including the Ministry of Cul- tural Heritage and Activities, the Ministry of Economic Develop- ment, the Association of Indus- t r i a l D e s i g n ( A D I ) , t h e I C E A g e n c y , t h e T r i e n n a l e d i Milano, the Salone del Mobile di Milano. The initiative reached its third year and wanted to bring atten- tion to an aspect of the Made in Italy that brought so much glory to the country in the past century and a half. Indeed, our design industry has been one of the m o s t c e l e b r a t e d a r o u n d t h e world for time unmemorable, creator as it has been of iconic pieces of popular culture: the F I A T 5 0 0 , w h i c h r e c e n t l y entered the MoMA permanent collection; the elegant Bialetti Moka, yet another star of the very same museum; the Olivetti Lettera 22, iconic typewriter created by Marcello Nizzoli, just t o n a m e a f e w . E v e r y d a y objects, big and small, useful or just beautiful, all of them carry- ing the essence of an all-Italian way to think and create. Italian Design Day is, then, a celebration of all that Italy has been making and developing in the field of design and, this year in particular, in the realm of liv- ing spaces. At the heart of it all, t h e c o n t r i b u t i o n o f I t a l i a n design to the improvement of urban living. The project truly wanted to bring Italian design to everyone, everywhere in the world, to showcase ideas, projects and solutions able not only to make our life better, but also to stimu- late a lively debate about how our cities will look like and function in the future. We are talking about more than a mere showcase for Italian products — as innovative, beautiful and e x c l u s i v e t h e y m a y b e — , because Italian Design Day, with its idea of projecting cre- ativity into the future, wants pri- m a r i l y t o r e i t e r a t e t h e B e l - p a e s e ' s r o l e i n r i s i n g l i v i n g standards and making comfort and beauty accessible to all. During the presentation of the day, which took place of the 18th of March in Milan, Carlo Borghetti, Vice President of Lombardia's Regional Council underlined that: "the title chosen for this day 'Design and the city of the future. Quality of life and new frontiers of living' is par- ticularly interesting, because we truly need to change the current status quo if we want to posi- tively tackle today's crucial issues: sustainability, responsi- ble use of the sources, energy saving, all while keeping an eye on the beauty and the quality of the product." The formula chosen by the Farnesina to promote the con- cept around the globe was sim- ple: using its vast and capillary network of embassies and con- sulates to present people, pro- j e c t s a n d o b j e c t s o f I t a l i a n design: something different in each corner of the world. In order to do so, the interesting 1 0 0 A m b a s s a d o r o f I t a l i a n Design for 100 Cities format was used: representatives of Italian creativity, from archi- t e c t s t o e n t r e p r e n e u r s , f r o m teachers to urbanists, presented 100 special objects or trends that have changed the way we live: we mentioned already our Celebrating Italy: Italian design day brings the beauty of Italian cities around the world

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