Jun 8, 2011

Creativity And The Culture Of Living At The Trade FairBy Press Releases

Talent, creativity, passion, design, technical and entrepreneurial expertise, are values which have contributed to making Italy the world leader in the sphere of living. And in Milan, the symbolic city where the energy of so many architects, designers, artisans, industrialists, journalists, and businessmen converge, actively participating in the evolution and the promotion of this phenomenon. This is where Italian Design was born and developed, and where languages, trends and strategies are forged, and designers and the creatives of the future are formed. In short, this is where innovation happens.

Therefore only Milan could be the right place to see the birth of a new international trade fair appointment with living and its themes, in the second half of the year. And Fiera Milano is the ideal partner to develop and translate this into reality.

And so from the flair and experience of Carlo Amadori – who in the past, together with the Acropoli team, was able to successfully renew the concept of a trade fair event centred on décor, combining culture and the market in an attractive and innovative formula – this new project has taken form: AbitaMi, the exhibition-workshop which will be held from September 2011, on an annual basis during Macef- Salone Internazionale della Casa, autumn edition, in the Milano-Rho trade fair centre.

Abitami aims to represent the point of convergence and encounter between design and decoration, architecture and interior design, giving space to the expressions of excellence which animate its development in a passionate interweave of experimentation and research, of tradition and innovation, of the classical and the contemporary, artisanal and industrial know-how.

The AbitaMi logo was designed by Alessandro Mendini, a protagonist and great connoisseur of the contemporary design scene. The logo illustrates a landscape, vibrant with energy and colours, where the artificial and nature are interwoven and harmoniously blended, testifying to that suggestive beauty which multiform Italian creativity has been able to transmit and promote in the world: the home, living, intended as an integral and defining part of this landscape. They are reflected in each other, as expressions of a civilisation, of a culture and a know-how which, in “Made in Italy” architecture, design and decoration, have always represented excellence.

A WIDE AND SELECT RANGE OF PRODUCTS

AbitaMi is a refined event for décor products, of trends and emotions able to express a different and innovative way of representing the culture of living at the highest level. In this sense, the participation of exhibitors representing the finest Italian and European brands will be carefully assessed by a special Selection Commission, and will cover the various product sectors involved.

The exhibition will be held in four halls in the Rho trade fair centre: 9, 11, 13 and 15. The product subdivision will be grouped under 4 macro-areas: haut décor, contemporary decor, the outdoors, experimentation and research events.

The sectors represented are: furniture, upholstered furniture, lighting, textile editors, household textiles and napery, decorative objects and accessories, tableware, children’s decor, and the outdoors. Within each exhibition hall, there will be areas reserved for the trade press, as well as rooms equipped so that exhibitors can, on request, organise meetings with trade professionals and the press.

Segreteria Organizzativa – ACROPOLI 2 srl – CP 39 – V.le Mercanzia n. 122 – Blocco 2B Galleria B – 40050 CENTERGROSS ARGELATO (BO) Tel.+ 39 051 8659338 – Fax + 39 051 860965 – info@acropolidue.com – C.F. e P.IVA 03068021207 (BO) Capitale sociale i.v. Euro 10.000,00 1

The set up of the halls will be carried out in harmony with the concepts of the event, with signage of great visual impact, and elegant and comfortable stands, with a height of 4 metres for the haut décor sections, and 5 metres in the contemporary areas, already set up in well-organised and homogeneous spaces.

Focus in the commercial halls
Of the programmed events, “Memories” in hall 9 is an important exhibition on the trends in decorative accessories, textile editors and household linen, by Carlo Ninchi and Vittorio Locatelli.

Hall 11 will host an area for the contract sector run by ICE, where l’Istituto Nazionale per il Commercio Estero, with their own installation, will present visitors and invited delegations with their own overseas promotional activities.

Another interesting section of AbitaMi is Contemporary, dedicated to galleries which deal with specialised vintage or modern works, galleries of contemporary design, limited editions or those companies which make works intended for the collectors’ market. Contemporary will be a new event which will highlight the world of design, of modern and contemporary excellence, and developments on the Italian and international cultural scene, and will include the presence of at least 15 of the most prominent art and design galleries. Outdoor Decor

The outdoor merits its own focus, to which an area of about 5000 square metres will be dedicated in hall 13. Designed and curated by Frassinagodiciotto and entitled “Concentrati”, an expression alluding to time itself and the concentric spreading of creative action geared to contact with nature and the knowledge which comes from that.

The design concept places in hall 13, the commercial exhibition area envisaged as strongly linked with the external water pools area, visually amongst the most beautiful in the Milan trade fair centre, where exceptional pieces will be arranged by exhibitors. This should provide an ideal framework for exhibiting the finest names in outdoor decor and structures, as well as outdoor objects and decorative accessories.

The project also envisages the creation of a meeting area and specialised library, organised by the media partner, as well as a dedicated restaurant.

RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION EVENTS TOWARDS MADE IN ITALY

One of the founding principles of AbitaMi is that of overcoming the traditional idea of a decor fair, by creating a different kind of trade fair space. AbitaMi has as its subtitle Decor & Design Lab, which underlines the importance of the concept of research and experimentation.

Alongside the commercial halls will be an extensive area of exhibitions- covering a total of about 30,000 square metres – which will highlight design creativity, and will involve numerous architects, designers and young designers.

A commitment undertaken by the Scientific Committee, made up of high-profile experts: Carlo Amadori, head of the AbitaMi project, Philippe Daverio, art and design historian, Alessandro Mendini, architect and designer, Vanni Pasca, historian and design critic, Luca Scacchetti, architect and designer.

The events develop on two parallel levels: one which has commercial aspects, the AbitaMi Workshops, and the other more experimental, with the Research Exhibitions. Together, these events enrich what AbitaMi has to offer, as they provide the visitor with ideas for interior and exterior design, as well as new display and marketing solutions for sales outlets.

AbitaMi workshops

The workshops form an interesting section of AbitaMi; a series of exhibitions centred around design, living, objects, fragments, the dreams of our homes, evolution, transformation, trends and innovation in the world of design, and how this evolution is seen and interpreted by a series of authors who are as different from each other, as are their selected themes and stylistic approaches and methodology.

A world of design, that is what the exhibition is about, understood here in its widest and most general form for interior and outdoor spaces, research on materials, objects, décor, architecture in all its aspects, interiors and design, intended as an all embracing feature of the project. The exhibitions show different lines and points of view.

From those which develop research into new qualities of spaces, re-inventing the elements of construction in a continuum which overcomes the division between horizontal and vertical planes, between flooring and walls, or that between space and its objects, to those which with fable-like irony transform into noble stone, a series of kennels and refuges for animals, which in turn end up looking like metropolitan Skylines. From those which present furniture and objects in timeless theatrical immobility, to those which gather and promote the works of young and very young Italian designers, presented in regional settings, to reconstitute an Italian style and viable direction for Made in Italy. While Marco Ferreri, Piero Figura, Raffaello Galiotto, Gumdesign, Samuele Mazza, Simone Micheli, Alejandro Ruiz, and Walter Vallini have already confirmed their participation, other projects will be shortly confirmed.

Research exhibitions

These are exhibitions proposed each year by the Scientific Committee with the aim of re-opening reflection on “being in the world” in the twenty-first century, reflection which for some time has been dimmed. They are beginning by examining some elements in the debate on design which have characterised recent decades, and together propose hypotheses and thinking about living in the home today: all considerations needed when looking into the future of design, and how it is being delineated in its most obvious aspects, but also how we can understand, by observing this third phase of the industrial revolution, characterised by globalisation and constant technical developments, as well as by new aspirations for a life full of meaning.

The project, living and design for living: these are the themes which the research exhibitions aim to put at the centre of their investigations.

Three tales of fantasy
(curated by the AbitaMi Scientific Committee, set up by: Luca Scacchetti Architectural Studio)

This retrospective exhibition will re-examine the history of recent decades of Italian design, illustrating the experience and the role played by three companies which, on different scales, have been able to point to new design and production horizons: Alchimia, Driade and Produzione Privata.

On show will be furniture, objects, original designs, as well as videos, catalogues and books related to the three main stories.

The Alchimia Studio, founded in the seventies by Alessando and Adriana Guerriero, gave birth to the “secession” movement from the standards of modernity, revolutionising the theory and practice of design.

Driade, created at the end of the sixties by Enrico Astori together with his sister Antonia, and Adelaide Acerbi, has developed as an aesthetic workshop which, from phase to phase has investigated the transformation of the philosophy of living: in the ’80’s represented here, Driade have re-proposed the conviction that eclecticism, encompassing culture, curiosity and surprise, represents the real sense of our epoch. Produzione Privata, a brand formed at the beginning of the nineties by the architect and designer Michele De Lucchi, constitutes a valid example of individual artisanal production in the post-industrial era.

A room of one’s own
(curated by the AbitaMi Scientific Committee, set up by: Luca Scacchetti Architectural Studio)

The English author Virginia Woolf in 1929, in her story with this title, expressed the desire to create a secret space in the home, where the energy of thought could find an outlet and freedom, outside the conventions of social life. In this exhibition, eight women designers have been invited to imagine and set up “a room of their own”, from which to draw new and stimulating suggestions.

The authors invited for the rooms are: Cinzia Anguissola, Anna Gili, Nuala Goodman, Margherita Palli, Terri Pecora, Benedetta Tagliabue, Patricia Urquiola and Nanda Vigo. The area dedicated to their contribution will evolve around a piazza, enriched by the presence of artistic installations, also by women.

For the piazza, the following have been invited: Nathalie Du Pasquier, Maria Christina Hamel, Kaija Kiuru and Fulvia Mendini.

Surround Creative Women

Creative feminine passion is at the centre of this gallery of drawings of artists carrying out their activities, taken from photographs by Maurizio Marcato.

At Castiglioni’s home

(Curated by Giovanna Castiglioni and Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni, set up by Marco Marzini in collaboration with the Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni)

An inhabited space containing simulated scenes of everyday life, objects designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni during their illustrious careers, will be moved about by two actors ready to interact with the public and to welcome requests, arranging and transforming the spaces according to the needs of the visitors-buyers. It will be possible to observe, together, objects now out of production, prototypes (which could be ready to go back into production) and projects carried out with important companies with whom the Castiglioni brothers have collaborated historically.

Alberti’s Box

The multimedia cultural project for the architecture by Leon Battista Alberti (co-ordination: Fondazione Centro Studi Leon Battista Alberti di Mantova, centro DIAPReM, at the Laboratorio TekneHub del Tecnopolo dell’Università di Ferrara- Rete Alta Tecnologia della Regione Emilia-Romagna. Collaboration: Comune di Mantova and Centro Internazionale d’Arte e di Cultura di Palazzo Te)

From the collaboration between l’Università di Ferrara and the Centro Studi Leon Battista Alberti in Mantova, a multimedia, cultural, travelling project has been created, dedicated to the architecture of the celebrated Renaissance humanist. On show there are also nine wooden models of his projects, real jewels of cabinet-making, and audio-visual documents related to the works by this master of Italian architecture.

Our future between dream and desire

(project and set up by Aldo Petillo and Eliana Lorena)

Between dream and desire, the future of living presents itself like a utopian projection which the culture of design can translate into reality. In their installation, specifically created for AbitaMi, Aldo Petillo and Eliana Lorena present their design imagination through a series of hypotheses related to domestic interiors: the empty House, the fluid House, the aut aut House, and the digital House, where innovative materials or Italian know-how will be the protagonists.

EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS

A winning synergy created between AbitaMi and Macef, promises to create the most complete autumn event dedicated to living, inside and outside the home, with about 100.000 visitors expected. In that sense it is important to underline the capillary strategy of communication and promotion into the major overseas markets undertaken by the organisers. An important publicity campaign has in fact been launched on a worldwide scale, with particular attention paid to the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Far East, India and The United States.

There have already been two successful presentation conferences in the Ukraine and China, and others are envisaged in Moscow, and Sao Paolo Brazil. Furthermore, for the inaugural edition of AbitaMi, well-attended delegations of trade professionals from all over the world are expected, especially from Brazil, Canada, the Middle East, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, the United States and the Ukraine.

AbitaMi in town

During the fair, Milan itself will be involved in a series of initiatives and events which will spread the sense of Made in Italy beyond the confines of the fair, in its numerous expressions and manifestations: the windows of Rinascente, but also boutiques and showrooms in the centre will participate in the fair, in collaboration with important names in décor, fashion, and the trade press.

For the invited international guests, guided tours of the Last Supper by Leonardo will be organised, while the Fiera di Milano is involved with city institutions in order to open the most prestigious cultural areas of the city to the guests of Macef and AbitaMi. www.abitami.net

On the web site you can see all the texts and images about AbitaMi. It will also be possible to update yourself on the programme, the exhibitors, and all the events and initiatives at the fair and in the city. Finally, it is possible to pre-register and buy entrance tickets at reduced prices.

Milan, 26th May 2011

Press office Acropoli 2 Tel +39 051 8659338 press@acropolidue.com

Fiera Milano Spa press office

Rosy Mazzanti +39 02 49977324 rosy.mazzanti@fieramilano.it Elisa Vittozzi +39 02 49977456 elisa.vittozzi@fieramilano.it Fabio Pandolfini +39 02 49977676 fabio.pandolfini@fieramilano.it 5