After the success of the 2022 edition, the Consulate of Italy in Detroit and the Dante Alighieri Society of Michigan have decided to confirm their participation in the 2023 edition of the Detroit Month of Design, with the project called “LoveITDetroit“, which won the first edition of the “City of Italian Creativity in the World” organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The Exhibit
Based in Detroit, the only UNESCO city of design in the United States, the exhibit will be open to the public and viewable from 1 to 30 September at 1001 Woodward Ave (in Campus Martius, the main square of Detroit, which this year won the title for best square in the US) from 11am to 6pm.
The installation will also be the venue for 12 in-person events (with sectors ranging from aerospace to fashion, from sustainable mobility to wine, from opera to cinema), with keynote speakers from Italy and their local Detroit counterparts. It will also well as it will be the launch site for the entire city’s design month, an annual kermes held as the only UNESCO city of design in the United States.
On this occasion, the Consulate of Italy in Detroit, represented by Consul Allegra Baistrocchi, has once again confirmed to Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba, Ambassadors of Italian Design in the world and catalysts of many international projects, the role of designers and curators of the show.
In the 2023 edition, LoveITDetroit will once again aim to attract the attention of the international public, elevating and exalting the Made in Italy vision. In particular, the installation will highlight how Italian companies have embarked on a path dedicated to sustainability, integrating this approach into their creativity.
LoveITDetroit will be an engaging exhibition that will celebrate the ties between Italian creativity and environmental sustainability – from the wooden art pieces of the Verginers (Willy, Matthias and Christian) and the glass ones of the Murano glass master Chiara Taiariol; from the textile materials of virtuous realities such as Dolcevita, Orange Fiber and Rada, obtained from the recycling of materials (from recycled cotton, to orange waste, to plastic collected from the oceans) to the look of the designer Stella Jean (who combines sustainability with elements of social justice). The opening evening will be dedicated to the ecological transition of Kartell, which will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Phillipe Starck’s “Louis Ghost” (60% less polluting today than its initial version) flanked by the rechair (completely made with recycled Illycapsules), which they will be painted by the 6 most important Detroit artists, exhibited for the entire month, and then auctioned off to benefit local Detroit charities.
The exhibition will incorporate the aptitude for contamination that distinguishes Palomba Serafini Associati, described in the words of Ludovica+Roberto Palomba: “We can define our approach to design as “holistic”. We develop every detail focusing on the overall image because in the end, all the individual elements of the design – like the voices of a choir – come together in a single identity.”
The installation will show how Italian companies are at the forefront of adopting sustainable practices and processes along the entire production chain. The progress made in the use of recycled materials, the optimization of energy efficiency and the adoption of production processes with low environmental impact will be highlighted.
The metaspace
To represent the value of Italian design (not only) in Detroit, also for this year, a parallel event will be hosted in the Metaverse with a highly engaging exhibition in which the virtual and real worlds will dialogue, executed also for this edition by Wedoo from a space conceptualized by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba. The 3.0 version of the LoveITDetroit metaspace, after the Made in Italy exhibition in version 1.0 and the art exhibit of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome in 2.0, will be launched on September 1st with an important exhibition that is yet to be announced.
This space, like the physical one, will maintain the focus on sustainability with the contribution of DTE, the Michigan energy company, which will provide energy compensation (CO2 offset) so as to make LoveITDetroit zero impact.
In the words of Consul Baistrocchi: “LoveITDetroit will once again become an international showcase for Italian excellence, while helping to spread the importance of a sustainable approach in the creative industry and to inspire the adoption of Italy’s best practices, integrating tradition and craftsmanship with technology and innovation. For the love of Italy. For the love of Detroit. And for the love of design!”
SOURCE: Italian Consulate in Detroit