Young designers at our school leaders on the international scene

Young designers at our school leaders on the international scene

Here is a copy of the article by Silvia Pieraccini, published in "Il Sole 24 Ore", on 17/12/2013.

Furniture and design objects from Tuscany to Berlin

Silvia Pieraccini

Contaminating artisan furnishing industries with design boasts of Made in Italy and allowing them to have hands-on contact with the reactions of the international market for innovative products coming out of unusual alliances. This has just taken place in Berlin, at the Berliner Freiheit Gallery that looks out over Potsdamer Platz where 30 objects were displayed, prototypes ready to go into production, resulting from the project "Rethinking the product", promoted (this is the sixth edition) by the Chamber of Commerce of Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Terni who have involved 46 Tuscan and Umbrian industries and 16 designers, six of these coming from the companies involved and ten students from the bachelor's degree course of Design at the Accademia Italiana in Florence.

The idea is that of uniting worlds that have distant thought processes, habits and markets to innovate products and clients.
From the encounter between knowing and doing, new technologies and creativity have given rise sto objects that look towards new needs, like the book-mark lamp made in plexiglass and wood lit by led lights that go out when the book is placed on top of the light to mark the page; or objects invented for new markets such as the wall clock in wood formed by a panel that holds the technology to product high fidelity sound.
"The project has highlighted quality that would perhaps never have come out without this process of hybrid" explained the organizers "and has made the most of these thanks to the team of young designers, opening a new season of innovation that dips into the material culture and to artisan know-how to shoot itself into the future that has more diverse and complex needs."

Now the challenge is that of the market, and being able to produce and sell the prototypes that are currently on exhibition in Berlin. The first success has already been reached, however: these industries have invested in new talent, the Accademia Italiana has put its students in direct contact with the real world of industry.