Salone : an ambassador for Italian design on Italian Design Day.

Maria Porro, President of the Salone del , Marva Griffin, founder and curator of SaloneSatellite, and Lombardini22 discuss the value and meaning of Italian industrial design and furnishing, as well as the Milan event, the roots of its success and its evolution, particularly in terms of sustainability and innovation.

The eighth edition of Italian Design Day is being held in more than 100 different countries on 14th  March. Set up in 2017, the event is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and  International  Cooperation  and  the  Ministry  of  Culture  –  Directorate  General  for Contemporary Creativity, in collaboration with the Compasso d'Oro Foundation, the Italian Association  for  Industrial  Design,  Triennale  Milano,  the  Salone  del  , FederlegnoArredo and ITA – Italian Trade Agency, to promote the Italian design system abroad. Over the course of past editions, Italian Design Day has seen the creation of around 1,370 events, involving over 580 designers, architects, entrepreneurs and journalists who have promoted Italian innovation, industry and know-how, interfacing with the creative, academic and business host country communities.

Italian Design Day promotes the quality of Italian design around the world, with exhibitions, meetings and presentations organised by the diplomatic and consular network, the Italian Cultural Institutes and the ITA – Italian Trade Agency. This year’s theme is Manufacturing Value – Inclusiveness, Innovation and Sustainability, which are also the keywords for the 62nd edition of the Salone del , which not only communicates them through narratives relevant to the global design community, but also translates them into reality thanks to initiatives such as its membership of the United Nations Global Compact, the ratification of its Sustainability Policy, its commitment to reconfirmation of ISO 20121 certification, the Green Guidelines circulated amongst its exhibitors, its reuse of structures designed for the talks and the bookshop,  its use of neuroscience to make the visitor experience increasingly inclusive and efficient and its use of Artificial Intelligence to promote the trade fair.

The  Italian  Design  Ambassadors  include  Maria  Porro,  President  of  the  Salone  del , who, following the inauguration and opening in Rome today, 14th  March, and an earlier stopover in New Delhi, will be in Osaka in Japan (18th March) and in Seoul in South Korea (20th-21st  March), to demonstrate the fact that the beauty of Made in Italy furniture and the products that the event showcases every year is, first and foremost, inclusive, sustainable, ethical and designed with nature in a circular and holistic approach. Because in Italy we plan for the long term, combining manual know-how with digital innovation. The theme of Italian Design Day puts the accent on the production process involved with design, which leads to the creation of aesthetically “beautiful” industrial design objects, as well as high “material” value, thanks to the use of high-quality raw materials and manufacturing processes that combine tradition and craftsmanship with the most modern techniques in terms of technology and environmental sustainability.

Maria Porro, 

President of Salone del , 

Photo Guido Stazzoni Salone del

The Italian Consulate General in Osaka will be hosting an event entitled Italian Design legacy: From Salone del Towards EXPO 2025 OSAKA, the central theme of which is the value and the design skills of creatives in both countries. Maria Porro will discuss the ways in which the Salone and the wood-furnishing supply chain are addressing the  challenges  of  today,  with  particular  emphasis  on  aspects  such  as  sustainability, digitalisation, research, innovation, creativity and inclusivity. The event will highlight the long-running collaboration between Italy and Japan in the field of design, and will foster further opportunities for collaboration between the two countries.

In South Korea, the programme will be split between two days. At the Hyundai Design Library, on 20th  March, the meeting VIII Italian Design Days: Korea and Italy as Partners on  Design  Innovation  and  Sustainability  will  be  held  in  the  presence  of  the  Italian Ambassador to Korea, Emilia Gatto, and the Commissioner for Foreign Trade in Korea, Ferdinando Gueli. On this occasion, Maria Porro will present the upcoming edition of the Salone  del    to  designers,  importers,  distributors,  contractors,  industry professionals and journalists, as well as sharing ideas around the themes of innovation and sustainability in the design industry. The next day’s event, entitled VIII Italian Design Days: Young Talents, will be held at the headquarters of High Street Italia – the showroom for Made in Italy in Seoul. Here the President of the Salone del will address subjects  such  as  Big  Data,  neuroscience  and  Artificial  Intelligence,  as  well  as  the importance of training young talents, starting from the experience with the “SaloneSatellite” exhibition.  From  the Korean  side,  Mr  Jaehyuk  Yang,  from  Studio  Umzikim,  a  former SaloneSatellite participant, will present his point of view on young talents’ education. The Seminar will pave the way to the creation of an informal group of Korean Friends of “Salone Satellite”. The event is primarily aimed at design students, young designers, teachers and journalists.

Marva Griffin Wilshire, 

Founder and curator of SaloneSatellite, 

Ambassador of internation Relations, 

Photo Gerardo Jaconelli Salone del

The narrators of Italian design and creativity in the world also include the curator and founder of SaloneSatellite, Marva Griffin Wilshire, who will meet the faculty and students of Interior Design, Industrial Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg on 18th  March, followed by a wider audience at IL LUSSO, an important Italian furniture fair in the city. She will take part the following day in a conference at Pretoria’s Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and in another at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 20th  March. At all these venues, Marva Griffin will talk about the upcoming edition of the Salone del , its evolution and trade fair innovation and the 25 years of SaloneSatellite, the space she created in 1998, which has enabled more than 14,000 young designers from all over the world to present their work to the international public gathered for Milan design week.

Lombardini22, 

From the left Franco Guidi, Paolo Facchini, Marco Amosso, Elda Bianchi, Alessandro Adamo, Roberto Cereda, Adolfo Suarez 

Lombardini22

Lastly, Lombardini22, the leading group on the Italian architectural and engineering scene, which  has  been  collaborating  on  the  evolution  and  innovation  of  the  walkways  and exhibition layouts of the biennial Salone del events with a view to creating an increasingly contemporary, streamlined and rewarding business platform, will act as an ambassador for Italian design in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah and Riyadh.

Stay tuned！