IDD2023: what the Italian Design Day brought to the world

The opening conference at the Farnesina

Among the salient moments of this international marathon, the opening conference of the event which was held in the Farnesina on March 8 in the prestigious International Conference Hall, which was attended by 267 guests, including representatives of Italian institutions, representatives of 101 foreign embassies present in Rome, including 43 Heads of Mission, and a large representation of the Design System.

The meeting was opened by the General Manager for the Promotion of the Country System of the MAECI Lorenzo Angeloni, recalling 9 March as "a significant day, in which in 119 Embassies, Consulates, Cultural Institutes and ICE Offices in the the world carries the voice of Italian Design through its protagonists: architects, curators, professionals in the furniture sector”.

Subsequently, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani underlined the importance of the 'Integrated Project' in which MAECI operates: "Exploiting the excellence of Made in Italy, in this case in the design sector, the MAECI aims to tell the story of the country and propose a renewed image faithful to its true identity. The image of an Italy that values its cultural heritage and at the same time places itself at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation".

The Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso then underlined how "through the IDD the Made in Italy brand is valued and protected, a term coined in 1972 in New York on the occasion of the exhibition at the MoMA curated by Emilio Ambasz, “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape”.

The Director General for Contemporary Creativity of the MIC, Onofrio Cutaia, concluded the first round of speeches stating that design is “an area in which culture is the vehicle of doing enterprise but also to support tourist flows entering the country and exports”.

The institutional greetings were followed by the round table with the intervention of Patricia Urquiola: “Design is here, in this beautiful room full of testimonials of know-how, but it is also all over the world, where we bring our products but also our unique workforce at an international level”.

The President of ADI, Luciano Galimberti, then went on to discuss the theme of the seventh edition, bearing witness to the great lighting tradition of the sector "born for a democratic and inclusive design ”.

Stefano Boeri, President of the Triennale Foundation, recalled the collaboration between MAECI and the historic Milanese institution, recalling that the latter "is the only International Exhibition recognized by the Paris Convention of 1928, which established the Bureau International des Expositions, the international organization that regulates and supervises international exhibitions” and which evaluates the candidates for the Expo: Rome is also present for 2030.

The new President of ICE Agency, Matteo Zoppas, recalled "the ever-increasing support that ICE provides to the IDD every year".

The meeting was closed by Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile, who underlined the strength of a Fair capable of getting involved, of structuring new strategies, of identifying the exhibition space not only as a business area but also as a place that supports companies (including foreign ones that participate) as well through cultural activities of great value.

Subsequently, the guests converged on the mosaic room where a preview of the Interni Light on Made in Italy exhibition was set up, a project financed by the MAECI and translated into eight languages available to all diplomatic posts for the IDD.

A modular project made up of 35 films and 21 photographic images on panels, aimed at giving voice to the most virtuous protagonists (companies and designers) of the system and at showing the quality of Made in Italy which characterizes not only the final products, but also the raw materials used and the production processes employed.

Interni was active not only at the Roman meeting with the Light on Made in Italy exhibition and the moderation of the event. In fact, on March 9 in Osaka (the city that will host Expo 2025) the director Gilda Bojardi and Toshiyuki Kita, both Compasso D'Oro ADI at the career, have been the protagonists of a “Journey into Design”.

Read the report on IDD2023 in Osaka

During the talk, which was held at the Conrad Hotel with the prestigious moderation of Marco Prencipe, Consul General of Italy in Osaka, Gilda Bojardi</strong > and Toshiyuki Kita told through videos, images and anecdotes the key moments in the history of design and the elective affinities that bind the two countries where the artisan tradition and the vocation to contemporaneity.

Gilda Bojardi also testified of all the activities carried out by Sistema Interni in over thirty years, in particular the exhibition events organized by the magazine on the occasion of the FuoriSalone, inviting everyone to visit Design Re -Evolution, the exhibition-event of FuoriSalone 2023.

Read Gilda Bojardi's speech in Osaka

Among the many initiatives carried out by MAECI on the occasion of the IDD, we recall the speech by Piero Lissoni at the London embassy moderated by Cajsa Carlson , deputy editor of Dezeen, who underlined how much the excellence of Italian companies is worth for Made in Italy; Carlotta de Bevilacqua, invited by the Embassy of Madrid, held three talks at IE University, ETSAM in Madrid and MATCOAM on the value of light; Michele De Lucchi in Tokyo illustrated the needs that design and architecture must meet to build the human landscape of the future.