Archive of October 2007

We have divided the speech Elio Fiorucci gave at the Stefano Forni gallery during the opening of the Grand Design Tour into 3 parts. This is the first extract.

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Fiorucci underlines the key role of ceramics in contemporary design as well as the forsaking, by many architects, of the limited “functional” rationale of ceramic tiles: today ceramic is the perfect material for decoration thanks to its resistance and, at the same time, its strong aesthetic potential.

We are taking the occasion of the Blog Action Day, this year focusing on ecology issues, to start introducing a very important topic for DesignTaleStudio and for contemporary architecture in general: the theme of bio-building and of the adoption of eco-friendly materials as the cornerstones for design spaces.

As we well know, the environmental issue is (or should be) the focus of the world political agenda: just thinking back to the recent Nobel Peace Prize given to Al Gore and his campaign on the global warming and climatic shocks. In the ceramic industry, the “hottest” themes from an environmental point of view are energy consumptions, pollution and the extraction of raw materials. In recent years, all of the most important companies in the sector, and Refin was amongst the first ones, have obtained the important Ecolabel certification as “a guarantee of the steps taken forward towards raw materials selection, higher efficiency in the use of energy and water resources, considerable reduction of polluting releases as well as in the great increasing of material re-cycling processes”.

In this context, DesignTaleStudio wants to be the standard bearer of a new productive philosophy that, by reviving the craftsmanship values and the small scale production, tries to bring into question the immutable productive logic of the industry. In the same way as the concept of “Slow Food”, based on a culture consisting of quality, creativity and freshness opposed to the “barbarism” of fast/junk food, which, in recent years, has become key to the restaurant sector, we would like to become the spokesperson of a slow approach to design, conceived as research, experimentation and uniqueness. A basic approach for today’s market which has been invaded by Asian products of doubtful quality .

Ours is the relaxed pace of those who don’t need to hurry. “Rediscover the right measure, re-conquest the expert calmness of craftsmen. Substitute the noise of machines with the silence of paint brushes for a new concept of art, creativity, experimentation”: this is what our new Cersaie catalogue states and we believe these are the values to revive for a really sustainable, eco-friendly design.

In this video, we see Laura Villani, “director” of The Grand Design Tour event and Paolo Cesana, Refin’s marketing manager, who comment on the ceramic slab created by Lucio Dalla for DesignTaleStudio: a graphic work characterized by a neat drawing and a careful use of colours. The video was filmed at the Trimarchi art gallery in Bologna during the inaugural evening of the Grand Design Tour.

Finally, we can start showing the videos taken last week during The Grand Design Tour. The quantity of interesting “footage” is huge, more than we expected, so we decided to take a couple of days more to decide how best to use all the clips.

Today, we present a short trailer showing some snapshots of the opening event, which took place on Wednesday, October 3. Laura Villani and Elio Fiorucci guided us throughout the entire itinerary of the exhibition, commenting on the prototypes of the famous artists and designers who collaborate with us. We hope we managed to capture the magic atmosphere of the evening, of the portico of Bologna at sunset and of the intense emotion, which rose to a crescendo as the tour moved from one interesting art gallery to another.

Following the opening of Cersaie yesterday, today it is the turn of the DesignTaleStudio’s Autumn 2007 “fuori salone” event. Today, at 6 p.m., at ICF Trading, 7/B Via Santo Stefano in Bologna will see the start of The Grand Design Tour, the “en-route” exhibition of the Prototypes d’Autore designed by Karim Rashid, Michele De Lucchi, Elio Fiorucci, Peter Halley and many other important artists and designers for DTS.

Fashion-designer Elio Fiorucci will be the guest of honour at today’s inauguration. He, together with the organizer of the event Laura Villani, will guide our tour through six of the most important art galleries of Bologna, on the quest for design and creativity. Trimarchi Arte Moderna, GAM, Otto Gallery, Galleria Forni, Galleria Ariete and Galleria Stefano Forni: these are the legs of the Grand Design Tour.

See you tomorrow with the video and interviews on the event that will surely be must for every art and design fan.