L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2026 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 C urrently on view at the Italian Cul- tural Institute of Los Angeles, fol- lowing its April 15 opening, is an exhibition trac- ing the creative legacy of For- tunato Depero, the Trentino- b o r n p a i n t e r , s c u l p t o r , d e s i g n e r , i l l u s t r a t o r , s e t designer, and costume maker of the early twentieth century. He was one of the signatories of the manifesto of Aeropainting and a leading figure of so- called Second Futurism. In 1919, he founded the Casa d'Arte Futurista in Rovereto. The workshop produced tapestries, furniture, decorative objects, and advertising graphics. More than a studio, it was a place of experimentation where art could leave the canvas and enter everyday life. Advertising soon became one of his most fertile fields of research, helping redefine the language of modern graphic design. He treated typography as image, giving letters move- ment and even personality. In 1928, he moved to New York From Depero to Made in Milano, shaping tomorrow's design From the Editor City, becoming the only Futurist to engage directly with the American metropolis. There he worked with magazines and advertising agencies, discovering a city he described as an immense illuminated billboard. He was doing what seems ordinary today, but at the time was reserved for very few and r e p r e s e n t e d g e n u i n e a v a n t - g a r d e t h i n k i n g . W h e n h e returned to Italy in 1930, he continued exploring the possi- bilities of visual communication, convinced that the art of the future would be advertising. Why talk about him today? Because Milan Design Week has just concluded, together with the Fuorisalone, the net- work of events, exhibitions, installations, and presentations spread across historic courtyards, converted factories, gal- leries, shops, and city streets, held alongside Salone del Mobile, the world's most important international event for the home furnishings sector. Since 1961, the Salone has helped set the direction of contemporary living, and every year Milan reaffirms itself as the global capital of design. While Los Angeles is already looking ahead to its autumn Design Week – with a four-day program of studio visits, gallery openings, and artisan showcases across downtown and the city's northeast neighborhoods – Milan just present- ed its own ideas to the world and to international markets. That is, in the end, the point of contact with Depero: the belief that creativity, industry, and everyday life are not sep- arate worlds, but languages meant to meet. Depero, in his own way, was doing much the same in the 1920s. In conceiving the Casa d'Arte Futurista in Rovereto, he expressed that same impulse: to transform a historic space into a creative environment capable of housing and extending his vision. His was an immersive experience, an ongoing laboratory where art, industry, and imagination connected. That same spirit still animates the Salone del Mobile and the Fuorisalone, which remains the freest, most experimental, and most accessible side of Milan's design week, now just concluded. Los Angeles will pursue something similar this fall. Rather than functioning as a traditional trade fair, the event will be organized as a circuit centered on professionals in the field, favoring direct contact with designers and artisans in their own working spaces. The emphasis will fall on the creative process itself, with studios sharing projects in development, prototypes, and ongoing material research. The section devoted to northeast Los Angeles, as already outlined in the program, reflects the city's concentration of independent makers and small-batch producers, with studios ranging from furniture to ceramics, lighting, textiles, and product design. Milan, however, still holds one decisive advantage: its ability to bring companies, schools, creatives, neighbor- hoods, the public, and industry into a single urban ecosys- tem. That was evident once again in Interni, the signature exhibition-event of the Fuorisalone, which each year draws hundreds of thousands of visitors through site-specific installations by established architects, major brands, and emerging studios hosted in some of the city's most historic and cultural spaces. Here, design stops being something merely displayed and becomes a public language once again. Because design does not need only creatives, only futur- ists capable of imagining tomorrow with the tools of today: it also needs participation, exchange, and collective curiosity. Simone Schiavinato, Editor Simone Schiavinato NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Member of FUSIE (Federazione Unitaria Stampa Italianaall'Estero), COGITO L'Italo-Americano Please send correspondence to P.O. Box 40156 Pasadena CA 91114 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano Newspaper (a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization), www.italoamericano.org, is the largest and longest-running Italian news- paper in America, not to mention the cultural and news resource for all things Italian in the US. A bilingual newspaper which represents an historical landmark for the Italian American Communities in the West Coast and throughout the US. L'Italo-Americano benefits from subsidies by the Italian Government, Memberships and Donations intended to support and not interrupt a mission that began in 1908 to preserve and promote the Italian language and culture in the USA Periodicals postage paid at Monrovia, California 91016, and additional mailing offices. PUBLISHER Robert Barbera Grande Ufficiale EDITOR IN CHIEF Simone Schiavinato ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Patrick Abbate EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Barbara Minafra COPY EDITOR Francesca Bezzone LOS ANGELES CONTRIBUTOR Silvia Nittoli SAN FRANCISCO CONTRIBUTOR Serena Perfetto SEATTLE CONTRIBUTOR Rita Cipalla CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mariella Radaelli, Matt Walker, Francesca Bezzone, Luca Ferrari, Stefano Carnevali, Paula Reynolds, Teresa Di Fresco Nicoletta Curradi, Generoso D'Agnese, Jessica S. Levy, Fabrizio Del Bimbo, Maria Gloria, Chuck Pecoraro, Anthony Di Renzo Serena Perfetto, Kenneth Scambray, Chiara D'Alessio, Luca Signorini, Giulia Franceschini © 2025 L'Italo-Americano Membership: One year $59 - Single copy $2.25 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to L'Italo Americano P.O. Box 40156 Pasadena CA 91114 Selling Homes Throughout The Bay Area Adele Della Santina "The Right Realtor makes all the di昀erence." 650.400.4747 Adele.DellaSantina@compass.com www.AdeleDS.com DRE# 00911740 Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation!

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