Promoting Italian design as an integral part of the “Italian Way of Life”.
Telling the story and uniqueness of Italian Design to enhance China’s taste for Italian creations, a synthesis between tradition and innovation, research and a special attention for quality.
These are the goals of the first Italian Design Day in Beijing, organised by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing, in partnership with ICE-Italian Foreign Trade Agency and the Chamber of Commerce for the launch of the First Italian Design Day in the World, an event simultaneously promoted in 100 cities around the world. The event in Beijing was attended by almost 200 guests, including architects, designers, students and business professionals who were given a world preview of the video on the opening of the next Salone del Mobile 2017.
The event’s special guests were Davide Rampello, former president of the Triennale di Milano Foundation, and Patricia Viel, architect and urban planner of international renown, and Vittorio Sun, of the Beijing Design Week. The two Italian testimonials told the Chinese public the history and secrets of Made in Italy design, which have converted Italy into the absolute point of reference for this sector, with a third of global turnover.
“Italy has always been a laboratory in which cultures and experiences are mixed and where attention has always been focused on design,” said Davide Rampello. “Creativity and design started in Italy and createed a universal language,” added Vittorio Sun who has devoted years to Italian creations in his Beijing Design Week.
“Italy does not do design, Italy is design. And awareness of this is growing in China,” said Ettore Sequi, the Italian Ambassador to China. He went on: “The Chinese public is increasingly attentive to the products they purchase and use and our furniture sector is constantly growing. Last November Italian design was celebrated with a very important event in Shanghai. More than 20,000 people visited the Salone del Mobile in only two days, thus providing further proof of the strong interest that this public has for Italy and its product offer.”
Thanks to Vespa, Ducati, Smeg, Alessi and Progetto CMR, some of the most successful Italian creations were displayed to the public through the whole event.
Italian Design Day in Beijing will also continue on 3 March with a round table at the Museum of Qinghua University, with the participation of Daniele Balicco (professor of Social Aesthetics at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales of Paris) and Andrea Baldini (professor at the Art Institute of Nanjing University), in addition to Yang Dongjiang (Deputy Director of Tsinghua University Art Museum) and Lu Yichen (Architect of the China Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015).
