Consul General of Italy in Karachi, Danilo Giurdanella inaugurates 7th edition of the Italian Design Week at Habitt City.

The Consul General of Italy Danilo Giurdanella welcomed the guests at the 7^th edition of the Italian Design Week in Karachi on Thursday, 16 March, 2023 jointly organized by the Consulate of Italy with Habitt City – a community safe space for cultural initiatives and activities for Karachiites.

The event was organized to launch Don Corleone Objects in Pakistan by the renowned Sicilian ceramic artist, Antonino Forlin. Antonino Forlin and IBL/Habitt CEO, Munis Abdullah ventured together for a retail launch of the signature home textile and ceramic collections namely ‘Taormina’ and “Munis × Don Corleone” in Pakistan.

The event was attended by diplomats, foreigners, government-officials, prominent-architects, artists, selected members of press and notable members of business community. Some of attendees were Commissioner Karachi Mr. Iqbal Memon, Consul General of United States of America Ms. Nicole Theriot, Consul General of France Mr. Alexis Chahtahtinsky, Consul General of Japan Mr. Odagiri Toshio, Chairman Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Mr. Bashir Ali Mohammad and many more.

During his welcome speech, The Consul General of Italy Danilo Giurdanella welcomed the guests at the 7^th edition of the Italian. He termed this event as an important event. He added; “such is the importance of Designing in Italy that more than 64,000 Experts work in Design sector in Italy”. Italian consul further added that; “Italian consul in Karachi is collaborating with Pakistan in Textile and in Ceramic sector”.  

Munis Abdullah CEO Habitt City thanked Italian CG, staff at Italian Consul, IDC and his staff at Habitt City for bring Italian Design Day/Week which also includes Italian Markitt to life. He praised Italy for its exclusive and exquisite designs. Mr. Munis Abdullah also reminded that the concept of super-star (super-stardom) was first coined by Italians. Mr. Munis also shared that Habitt often referred as IKEA of Pakistan.

Commissioner Karachi Mr. Iqbal Memon said; “we have been seeing heavy rains for last couple of years, and this trend is expected to stay or maybe increase. To counter this, architects should design infrastructure like building, road, bridges etc in such a way that they can withstand heavy rains”

The Italian Design Day is an event conceived to promote Italian design abroad, to support exports and the internationalization of companies in this sector, to foster international know-how and exchange of technical and creative skills. This 7th edition focuses on quality, the ability to conceive and create products that combine aesthetic and functional needs using production processes that respect the environment and people’s health.

Besides the product launches of Taormina and Munis × Don Corleone collections in Karachi, the Consulate also organized the book launch and panel discussion of The FOLD – a book by Salman Jawaid, the first Pakistani architect invited in 2018 by the European Culture Centre to organize the Pakistan Pavilion at the International Venice Architecture Biennale, which created history for the people of Pakistan and opened the doors for others to follow. The book looks into the journey of a team of young passionate architects from Pakistan, who make a mark at one of the most prestigious international design event with their sheer determination and hard-work.

The Consulate together with Habitt City have lined up cultural events such as an Italian Markitt – a three day street food festival from 17-19 March, 2023 for people of Karachi to enjoy the Italian delicacies in their city. Furthermore, a ceramic workshop by Antonino Forlin has been organized for arts enthusiasts and students to get a chance to learn specialized technique and methods used in pottery and ceramics. An Italian Culinary Class has also been organized for ardent lovers of Italian cuisine to learn authentic Italian recipes, which will be demonstrated by Chef Gennaro Carrozza during the Italian Design Week.

The Italian Friends of the Citizen Foundation, a non-profit organization advocating the cause of TCF Pakistan in Italy has partnered with Indus Valley School for Art and Architecture and Salone del Mobile, the largest Annual Furniture and Design Exhibition in the world hosted in Milan. Dr. Faiza Mushtaq, Executive Director & Dean of Academics at IVS School of Art and Architecture took the opportunity to announce on the occasion of Italian Design Day, the ART4EDUCATION project, that aims to showcase award winning design pieces by Pakistani artists, architects and designers to be auctioned at Salone del Mobile in 2024 to support the TCF network in Pakistan.

Nationalism, History and Culture take centre stage at the Young Leaders Conference.

The 19^th Young Leaders Conference is running in full swing at the DreamWorld Resort in Karachi and it had special take away for the youngsters from its second day. Shireen Naqvi, Founder of SoL & YLC was the day champ for this day. The day’s theme, revolving around History, Culture and Narratives shed light on what is the ideology behind Jinnah’s Pakistan.

The day began with the mandatory SOPs check that has been significant at this year’s YLC. The second day was dedicated to taking a stroll down the memory lane of Pakistan, for in order to appreciate the present it is important to have an understanding of the past. Various activities, lectures, and workshops were arranged on the importance of arts, culture, and literature, and to allow a deeper understanding of Pakistan’s 73 years and evolution in the past.

Due to the current situation, few speakers were not able to come to the conference physically but that didn’t stop them from joining YLC. This year, YLC had 3 zoom sessions with Mr. Javed Jabbar, Mr. Raza Rumi, and Dr. Arfa Syeda Zehra. The participants were equally involved these sessions same as they were in the physical sessions. The spirit, the energy and the madness of YLC can never die, no matter what the circumstances are. Aamina Sayyid conducted a beautiful session on the importance of Literature to interpret the power and impact of word, art and culture.

The day also had an alluring theatre play by Sheema Kirmani and group, the theatre was based on a short love story “Love, longing and Death” The performance was a combination of live music, dance, poetry and dialogue. Furthermore, Dr. Adil Omer had a conversation with the participants on stigmatization and stereo-typing that is associated with artists from all walks of life, how in the masses they are treated and called out as “miraasi” hence the youth today needs to be told that beauty of this word and how this word shouldn’t be used as a stigma.

Waqar Ali, Master Trainer and CEO at SoL conducted a session on self-love, and how do we really know ourselves? The session helped the participants to get to know themselves better. Along the way, the session also helped the participants to discover why getting to know each aspect of yourself inside out is important.

This day also included cultural night, all the participants dressed up and got to represent their cultures at YLC, and it was a beautiful buffet of cultures, languages, and colours. The day ended with powerful performances by the participants on Sufism and mysticism in Sindh.

This year’s conference is being held under strict conditions – with careful observations of the venue, participants, as well as the SOPs. The event has been organized with thorough preparations on the part of the organizing committee, in light of the safety and health concerns of all present.

The event has been sponsored and partnered by YLC’s Founding Partner English Biscuit Manufacturers, and Cause Partners FNF, as well as KIA Motors, British Council, Marie Stopes Society, KFC, Viper, Hubco, IBEX. The Jang Group is the official media partner, Suno FM 89.4 as the Official Radio Partner for the conference while Double Click Pvt Ltd. is serving as the PR partner.