Mission to Turkey for Nico-design
From December 15 through 17 2009, seven Piedmont design studios took part in an entrepreneurial mission to Turkey organized within To-Design in the world, a Turin Chamber of Commerce project in collaboration with Ceipiemonte. Its aim was to make Piedmont designers known on the international scene by opening new commercial outlets and emphasizing their capacity for industrial design and strong propensity for innovation and research.
The Piedmont designers who took part in the mission specialize in various areas:
Officine Multiplo is a group of designers specialized in numerous sectors: home/wellbeing, hi-tech products and vehicles. Osvaldo Ferraris is a designer with considerable experience in flatware and household goods. Bibi Gramaglia designs jewelry and trinkets; Nico Design produces a line of designer eyewear frames. Profilo Design is a product design studio that recently has created and produced “Thorneo”, an innovative and ironic collection of jet helmets; Easyhome is a “home design” studio that finds solutions for overcoming architectural barriers and also produces “design for all”, a line of furnishings and accessories that meets the needs of disabled people. Magmaprogetti is a design and exhibit design studio experimenting with new lines of ornaments and furnishing accessories.
Design is one of the elements that most characterizes Made in Italy and, together with the industrial and artisan expertise that animates Turin and Piedmont, it is one of the jewels in its crown.
The initiative promotes meetings between Piedmont designers and Turkey’s producers of consumer and industrial goods who need to raise the quality of their articles. The main sectors are furnishing, electronics, white goods, household goods, apparel, sports equipment, medical, safety devices and leisure goods. The aim is to create the conditions for setting up a collaboration and to indentify importers and distributors for positioning Piedmont products with high levels of design in the Turkish distribution network.
Turkey is increasingly open to international trading and is growing progressively closer to western models. It is, therefore, an interesting market for a segment that plays a leading role in Piedmont. The strong concentration of companies in this sector has made Turin unique, to such an extent that in 2008 it was the first city to be named the “World Design Capital” by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.
