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.

Italian Consulate Karachi circulates E-Book “Le Piazze [In] visibili” to commemorate Italian Republic Day on 02nd June 2020.

On the occasion of the 74^th Republic Day of Italy on 2^nd June 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation led by young and energetic Mr. Luigi Di Maio circulated an E-Book “Le Piazze [In] visibili”.

Due to the ongoing health situation in Pakistan, which has restricted people to gather and celebrate, the Consul General of Italy in Karachi Ms. Anna Ruffino, thought to bring Italy to us via this E-Book, as a special souvenir on the occasion of the Italian National Day 2020.

This E-Book is dedicated to the popular Piazzas of Italy; all of those Piazzas wore a deserted look and were seen totally empty during the pandemic. For those of you who have no clue what a piazzas is? Please don’t confuse it with pizza, its known as piazzas, which translates as a public square or marketplace, where town folk come to socialize. In our local language of urdu piazzas can be translated a ‘chowk’ where people would come to meet and greet or play board-games etc, drink coffee, snacks, discussing current affairs, gossips etc. etc.

This E-Book has shares images and texts mentioning Piazza-del-Popolo, Piazza-Navona, Piazza-di-S-Maria and Piazza-Scossacavalli in Rome. This book also gives a very over view on Piazza-Santa-Croce and Piazza-della-Signoria in Florence along with Piazza-San-Marco in Venice, Piazza-Carignano in Turin, Piazza-Baldaccio in Anghiari, Piazza-del-Duomo in Catania, Piazza-del-Popolo in Todi, Piazza-del-Duomo in L’Aquila, Piazza-Sebastiano-Satta in Nuoro, Piazza-Baracca in Lugo, Piazza-dei-Martiri in Carpi, Piazza-Saint-Antonio-Nuovo in Trieste, Piazza-del-Popolo in Ascoli Piceno, Piazza-delle-Carceri in Prato, Piazza-Benedetto-Brin in La Speziam, Piazza-Vittoria in Napoli, Piazza-San-Nicola in Bari and Piazza-Duomo in Milan. Texts relating to these piazzas have been contributed by 20 Italian writers connected to these places by memories, experiences and literary references. Meanwhile for images 18 photographers contributed.

On circulation of “Le Piazze [In] visibili”, Mr. Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said; “on the occasion of Italian Republic Day, on June 2, we decided to give this book to all those abroad who will gather virtually this year to celebrate the date, in anticipation of when they’ll be able to do it in person again. It is another way of underscoring the role that the world of Italian culture and creativity can and must perform to accompany the reopening and re-launching of our national economy overseas, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to support. We are aware that we are facing great challenges, but nonetheless believe that we have the ability to rise to them and draw the impetus needed to overcome them from our sights firmly set on the future”.