L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS " Where there's architecture, there's Italy. When it comes to architecture, being Italian conservatives simply means preserving the ancient Italian ability to always evolve." This is how Gio Ponti, a master of Italian design in the world, interpreted -- with new words -- Italian creativity. He imagined whole city blocks lined with green trees, way before climate change was a thing; he built churches filled with light, with dematerialized façades and colorful floors; his buildings were slender and didn't only make cities lighter, but also offered an early answer to mass urbanization. He created furniture that was at once elegant and economical: homes had to be functional and spacious "without complications, neither inside, nor outside." In time his city, Milan, became the beating heart of design, a world-known symbol of italianità and of all those characteristics we a s s o c i a t e t o M a d e i n Italy: creative inspiration, quality, originality, know- h o w , i n n o v a t i o n , c r a f t s m a n s h i p , b e i n g cutting edge. Beside fashion and the p r e c i o u s g a r m e n t s t h a t c h a r m u s e v e r y y e a r o n catwalks, there is another powerful cultural attractor that makes of Milan, again, a p r o t a g o n i s t a t i n t e r n a t i o n a l l e v e l : t h e week dedicated to design, when both the Salone del M o b i l e a n d t h e F u o r i s a l o n e , w i t h i t s s p e c i a l e v e n t s , m e r g e t o g e t h e r b e a u t y a n d imagination. Because with Beauty and Creativity we can give a n e w f o r m t o t h e w o r l d . Ponti said it even better: " T h e s t r o n g e s t , m o s t r e s i l i e n t m a t e r i a l i s n ' t concrete. Nor are wood, stone, steel and glass. The s t r o n g e s t e l e m e n t i n architecture is art." The 2021 edition, which h a s j u s t e n d e d , w a s a success. A success that, o n l y f o u r m o n t h s a g o , when organizers bravely decided not to cancel the event for a second year in a r o w , w a s n ' t e v e n c o n c e i v a b l e . T h i s demonstrates how much w e n e e d t o r e t u r n t o a normal life, in a world that is even more beautiful than before, also with the help of the objects around us, both i n s i d e a n d o u t s i d e t h e house. Stefano Boeri, curator of the Supersalone 2021, said to Adnkronos: "We w a n t e d t o s h o w t o t h e world that Milan and Italy were ready and present. We wanted to reiterate the a b i l i t y o f o u r d e s i g n t o attract people and to be a connecting element among different realities." Imagining an event of the Salone's magnitude, in a n o b j e c t i v e l y d i f f i c u l t situation such as the post pandemic, and to do it in such a way that it was not " l e s s p o w e r f u l , l e s s attractive, less ambitious and less eager to show the f u t u r e o f l i v i n g a n d furniture, " meant there was optimism. It meant organizers believed in the country's renaissance and readiness to start over. The a r c h i t e c t a n d u r b a n i s t b e h i n d t h e i n n o v a t i v e Bosco Verticale project in Milan (two residential t o w e r b l o c k s a i m e d a t urban reforestation), which became the "most beautiful and innovative skyscraper in the world" in 2015, and made it into the "50 most iconic skyscrapers in the world" in 2019, explains that we changed during the l a s t l o c k d o w n a n d t h a t creativity and design, also when it comes to furniture, a r e f u n d a m e n t a l t o u n d e r s t a n d w h i c h direction to take. "We've just gone through a time that, although traumatic, w a s c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y r e f l e c t i o n a n d i n t r o s p e c t i o n , a n d w a s about family connections and proximity. Inevitably, it led to the necessity to r e n o v a t e a n d i m p r o v e home design and the way home spaces are used. In large cities -- in Milan, too -- we've been experiencing a moment of renaissance, but also of reconsideration about urban life's spatial c o n d i t i o n s . W i t h o u r S u p e r s a l o n e - - h e concludes -- we're offering hope for and a view of our Continued to page 6 A visitor to this year's Salone del Mobile, in Milan (Photo: Andrea Mariani) T h e c a p t i v a t i n g e n e r g y o f Italian design

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