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Following its success at the last edition of
Macef, Percorsi d’Innovazione will continue at
Macef September 2008, having developed
collaboration between around 30 artistic and
traditional Italian craft firms and a group of
20 designers, offering product concepts linked
with interesting areas for innovation, such as
luxury goods, the typicality of Italian
products, home gardening and the male or female
characterization of objects.
The Percorsi d’Innovazione project is
promoted and realized by ICE and the Tuscany
Region, in agreement with CNA and
Confartigianato Imprese, with the operational
support of Artex – the Centre for the
Development of Artistic and Traditional Crafts (www.artex.firenze.it).
Of great importance is the partnership
with Macef, initiated with the aim of
reinvigorating innovation in accordance with a
market pull logic which sees companies offering
the market relevant, up to date themes and
products. The Percorsi
d’Innovazione initiative has been organized
on the basis of thorough research into trends
carried out by Artex and coordinated by Marco
Migliari, aimed at supplying suggestions for
projects on themes such as luxury goods and
wellbeing, the care of plants and the desire for
a more informal home, typical traditional
Italian articles and quality souvenirs, objects
designed for their singularity and for well
defined targets.
A distinctive feature of the project
concerns the involvement of international
distributors who are given a preview of the
projects at the Macef Buyers Club so that they
can give useful suggestions about concepts
before they go into production, with the aim of
obtaining commercial validation.
Equally significant is the market
research into current trends and the
opportunities for Made in Italy in the United
States markets, beginning with
consumption of Italian products for the home and
gifts and supplemented by quality-quantity field
research, including several focus groups with
American consumers and buyers.
This research, commissioned and coordinated by
the ICE office in Atlanta and carried out by the
renowned American agency, Unity Marketing”, has
furnished designers with a fundamental tool for
re-appraising design.
The main points to emerge from the research are
the following:
- Exclusivity of Made in Italy.
Italian products are above all of
interest to well-off consumers with
sophisticated tastes, who appreciate
their value and quality. This luxury segment
consists mainly of more mature consumers,
particularly the over-45’s. This target is
mainly drawn to articles in glass and crystal,
ceramics, terracotta, leather, ornaments for the
home and small gifts for festivities, with an
eye to characteristic local styles such as
Tuscan. Attention is paid to design, style,
quality and originality of the product.
The key to success is, therefore, to become even
more exclusive and characteristic in flair and
inventiveness. Well-off young adults are
embracing a less formal life-style,
freeing themselves from tradition and excess in
favour of clean, simple but elegant, trendy
lines, often turning to Italian products
without making a particular conscious choice.
Managing to attract this segment of consumers is
of fundamental importance for future
development.
- Reinterpreted tradition.
Italian manufacturers, particularly artisans who
produce articles linked to tradition must revisit
their classic pieces through a contemporary,
original reading that does not distort the
memory of the object but helps it evolve towards
relevance and modernity.
- Functional aesthetics,
according to which the beauty and fun
aspect of an object should not compromise its
practicality and ease of maintenance.
- Environmental ethicality of the
product, where respect for
the environment and the quality of production
methods are important factors for
approval.
Workshops will shortly be organized in Italy
where the research will be presented and
distributed to interested companies.
During the next edition of Macef in September
2008, an exclusive presentation of new
projects and some prototypes to international
buyers will be held, in view of the
exhibition of collections that will be realized
for the January edition of Macef 2009. On that
occasion, ICE will organize a mission of foreign
operators, sector professionals, journalists and
distributors.
Press Office
Simona Musazzi
Tel.
+39 02 48550469
Email:
smusazzi@fmi.it
Caterina Zambelli
Tel. +39 02 48550334
Email:
czambelli@fmi.it
Communications Consultant
Paolo Mastromo
Tel.
+39 02 48550407
Email:
paolo.mastromo@gmail.com
Fiera Milano Spa Press Office
Rosy Mazzanti
Tel. +39 02 49977324
Elisa Vittozzi
Tel. +39 02 49977456
Edelman
Maria Grazia Vignoli
Tel. + 39 0263116.259
Email:
mariagrazia.vignoli@edelman.com
Lea Iervoglini
Tel. + 39 0263116.266
Email:
lea.iervoglini@edelman.com
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