style="border-color:#;" >
style="background:#;" >
Scegli il colore

Italian Design Day at the "feminine" in Montreal

Italian Design Day at the "feminine" in Montreal

Many protagonists: two "Italian design ambassadors" coming from Milan, the councilor for culture, heritage and design of the city of Montreal and the President of the Order of architects of Quebec.

More than fifty years ago, Italy was one of the protagonists of the Montreal Universal Exposition of 1967, the first with a mass size with more than 50 million visitors.

Italy's boom, creativity, industrial innovation of the sixties occupied the stage of the "more European" metropolis of North America. Giulio Carlo Argan, Bruno Zevi, Bruno Munari, Carlo Scarpa, Emilio Vedova: The biggest names of the Italian design of those years signed the Pavilion of the Universal Exposition and many of the achievements presented in Montreal.

A bridge then settled between Italy and Montreal, and that bridge widened over the decades, making possible more and more intense movements in both directions. Numerous Montreal designers have in fact established successfully in Italy and many Italians, Italy and the Italian community of Quebec, have directed and direct prestigious institutions, such as the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Montreal and The Canadian Center of Architecture.

Montreal, the "Creative city" of UNESCO, a metropolis where it is estimated that 25000 creative people work in the different fields and headquarters of the World design Organization, the "ONU of designers", is one of the 100 global cities that will host the second edition of the Italian design Day, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International cooperation, within the framework of the #Vivereallitaliana campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and cultural activities and tourism, the Triennale di Milano, ICE agency, the Salone del Mobile di Milano, the Association for Industrial Design, the Fondazione Compasso d’Oro and the Fondazione Altagamma.

Italian design was born in the workshops of Renaissance artists, whose diverse skills brought to life innovative products with a high aesthetic content. Ever since then research in the field of industrial design has grown and developed through a constant interaction between design schools and art movements, combining Italy's remarkable craftsmanship tradition with technological innovation.

Design has developed along with the growth of the country since the years of the socalled “economic boom”. It has become a key feature of Italian production and an economic driving force. A study carried out by Bain&Company has highlighted that Italian design accounts for over a third of the world's industry turnover, which totals 100 billion euros.

Moreover, design portrays a very distinct feature of the Italian spirit, which in itself has many of the elements that are internationally identified with 'Brand Italy'. In a world where there is a growing interest about Italy and its products, design provides “an Italian experience” through objects which combine beauty and originality with the quality of raw materials and production methods, demonstrating the culture and traditions of the country's diverse regional areas.

The main theme will be the relationship between design and sustainability, in an economic, social and environmental point of view. The aim is to investigate how the world of design is able to contribute to human beings and nature, thus setting the Italian Design Day 2018 in perfect harmony with the theme "Broken Nature - Design Takes on Human Survival", chosen for the XXII
International Exhibition of the Milan Triennale, which will be held from March 1st to September 1st 2019.

On the occasion of the Italian Design Day the Consulate General of Italy in Montreal, in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture, the Institute for Foreign Trade, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada, the order of the architects of Quebec and the University of Montreal, with the valuable support of Agence PID, Sajo design, Mapei and Vespa, organizes an interview at the University of Montreal on March 1st, to share and develop ideas and experiences on Design and sustainable development.

The meeting will be opened by the councillor for Culture and Design of Montreal, Christine Gosselin. Intervening then, arriving in Montreal from Italy, the two "design Ambassadors" Luisa Collina, headmaster of the design School of Politecnico di Milano and president of Cumulus (the International Association of Design Schools), and Marva Griffin, Founder and curator of the Salone
Satellite in Milan. Also from Milan, Salvatore Amura, director of external Relations and public affairs of the European Institute of Design (IED).

The President of the Order of architects of Quebec, Nathalie Dion, the curator of the Museum of Fine Arts of Montreal (which houses the largest collection of Italian design in North America) and architects, designers, canadian entrepreneurs, will debate with them. Mapei, which opened in Montreal its first factory abroad, after the Olympic Games of 1976, will bring a contribution by
illustrating its materials, "raw material" for designers strongly oriented to sustainability, while Vespa places, for the first time, a motorcycle in a Canadian great hall.

An edition therefore very "feminine", that of Montreal, for the presence of eminent professionals and academics engaged in creativity and sustainability.