“In the name of more and more sustainable creativity”: this is how Ercole Botto Poala*, president of Milano Unica, announced the key theme characterising the 30th edition of the Lombardy event. Started this morning (and running till 6th February in the spaces of Rho Fiera Milano), Salone Italiano del Tessile will accommodate 477 exhibitors showcasing collections of high quality fabrics and accessories for all ages. Quality and ethics will therefore be strictly connected: “When facing the uncertainties determined by the international political and economic situation – claims Poala – we can only raise the bar of our commitment to a sustainable industry, in turn able to raise the creative level of its proposals. All this also in view of meeting the needs of the market, more and more influenced by the sensibility of the new generations”. In this regard, the sectors dedicated to ‘Trends’ and ‘Sustainability’ are this year merged into a single area: the innovative samples presented in the ‘Trends’ category and the ones presented for the project ‘Sustainability’ (two thirds of the total) will be displayed in a common space, on the same tables, with the objective of drawing attention to the relationship between creativity – acknowledged throughout the world and on which the research and the tradition of the Made in Italy are founded – and sustainability, as the other pillar on which to base innovation and research.
Cittadellarte’s participation: the exhibition
Cittadellarte will be a protagonist of the event from the very beginning, with the opening ceremony including speeches by Ercole Botto Poala (president of Agenzia ICE), Marino Vago (president of Sistema Moda Italia), Ivan Scalfarotto (undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation) and Michelangelo Pistoletto. The participation of the Biellese organisation is not limited to the presence of the artist, but it extends to a photographic exhibition and an installation. The exhibition, in line with the contents of the Salone, is centred on Fashion B.E.S.T. (Better Ethical Sustainable Think-tank) and narrates the ten years this platform has dedicated to sustainability in the fashion supply chain. The link with the topics of the event is straightforward: Cittadellarte’s Fashion Office’s project intends to be an energetic centre where different forces like aesthetics, ethics, creation and production converge, conveying artistic sensibility and social commitment.
Cittadellarte’s participation: the Third Paradise
The installation is a site-specific representation of the Third Paradise, created by Pistoletto using sustainable fabrics produced by the companies protagonist of the 30th edition of Milano Unica. “Our role as an artistic institution – said Paolo Naldini, director of Cittadellarte – is to generate myths and rituals linked to the narrative and the symbol of the Third Paradise. Our objective is also to create spaces where to conceive, produce and experiment with fashion able to follow the research we all carry out as bearers of values”. For the first time, art has therefore been featured in the section Trends and Sustainability of Milano Unica with a photographic exhibition and a new installation dedicated to the Third Paradise, as a testament to Fondazione Pistoletto’s ten-year-long commitment to art, fashion and sustainability.
Biella UNESCO Creative City
For the evening, the programme includes an exclusive cocktail party (by invitation only) with a light dinner and a DJ set at Rho Fiera Milano Service Centre. It will be an opportunity to retrace, together with the exhibitors and visitors, the process of development of the event throughout its 30 editions. And not only that: ample space will be given to the news of Biella recently becoming one of the UNESCO Creative Cities and to a presentation of the behind-the-scenes of the operation with the participation of a few members of the steering committee of the candidacy.
*Ercole Botto Poala, president of Milano Unica up to this edition, having reached the end of his time in office. His successor will be Alessandro Barberis Canonico, CEO of Vitale Barberis Canonico and president of Ideabiella.
