When and how was the district of Tortona born?
Gisella Borioli: “Superstudio turns forty this year. We created it in 1983, me with my husband Flavio Lucchini, transforming a group of abandoned laboratories into the first hub of photographic studios and services for fashion, in via Forcella 13, thirteen studios, hence the name Superstudio 13, a tribute to the Florentine architects and friends of the Supertudio group.
In 2000 we acquired a group of warehouses owned by General Electric in via Tortona 27, a few steps away from Superstudio 13, with the idea of making it an artistic and cultural exhibition centre which would also offer opportunities for communication advanced and live, the Superstudio Più.
Our focus was art, fashion, design and innovation.
I immediately thought that design, then officially represented only by the Salone del Mobile with the corollary of some showrooms and other initiatives scattered throughout the city, could be organized in a temporary exhibition district (as I also imagined for fashion or for art) starting from our two nearby locations, Superstudio 13 and Superstudio Più.
The decision of Giulio Cappellini was decisive, a month before the start of the Salone del Mobile 2000, to come and exhibit all of his state-of-the-art production in our as yet unrefurbished 'factory'.
Success was immediate.