When everything seems to be increasingly fragmented, from relationships to spaces, there are those who strive to weave relationships and explore the territories of art and design. And to do so, they choose to connect, promote and support the work of emerging designers and brands: we’re talking about Movimento Club, a new project curated by Artefatto Design Studio and presented during Milano Design Week 2020 through the virtual reality exhibition The Lost Place. In what resembles a true manifesto of the initiative, we read: “Movimento is an online platform that offers a selection of surprising and innovative products aimed at collectors, design galleries, architects and designers”. But that’s not all, Movimento Club, among other things, offers a section on its website dedicated to news, interviews, in-depth analysis and an online shop where you can purchase the designers’ proposals.
Let’s start at the beginning, would you like to tell me about Movimento Club’s genesis?
It is a project created to encourage and support young designers and emerging brands, promoting their work through communication and commercial channels. It was created to give them visibility with the idea of creating a unique collective. In the form of collaboration, we firmly believe that the collective is an indispensable tool and value to give importance to individuality.
And how did the idea of promoting emerging talents come about?
Starting with an analysis of how the commercial design industry has evolved, or perhaps involuted, over time. From masters like Ettore Sottsass, Castiglioni, Magistretti and Mendini where the aim was to have fun and entertain through innovation, to the current situation where industrial players cannot take risks because they need to maintain stable budgets. It is precisely in this scenario of stalemate that the idea of putting young designers at the centre, whether they are publishers or self-producers so that they can continue to try in every way to get noticed, working on experimentation and technical and material research. Our role is to promote the courage of emerging designers in the world.
How do you become part of the club? In other words, how do you organize the work of scouting?
We aim to become a reference platform and container for products currently contextualized between the world of collectable design and the commercial design industry. To reach this goal, we find it essential to discover new talents around the world, aware of the fact that, although globalization and contemporary communication have to some extent levelled the differences, the perception of contemporary design by an Asian designer will necessarily be different from that of a European, as much as that of an American designer compared to a South American designer. In this sense, we carry out a lot of sector research, analysis of emerging talents, monitoring of magazines and journals, but above all, we attend the summer exhibitions of the graduates of the various design universities around the world. At the same time, we accept voluntary applications via email (info@movimento.club).
Movimento Club’s map is densely populated in the European area. Are you planning to extend the boundaries overseas, where you are already present anyway?
We do. It is necessary for the evolution of the platform and fundamental to Movimento’s manifesto to expand the boundaries of collaboration with designers from all over the world. It’s a diversity that brings the value, the real value.
“Collaboration is key. We are stronger and can achieve more when we work together,” reads your site. In a period like the one we are living in, this seems to me to be an essential value, even outside the design circuit. Do you agree?
We must move forward together, redesigning future scenarios starting from a community that shares the same values and supports each other. A melting pot of different disciplines and cultures is necessary.
What do you think will be the challenges facing emerging designers in the post-Covid era? Is it fair to talk about opportunities for the design world?
Absolutely. Probably the first feeling is one of discouragement. We have lost the chance to project our projects and programs into the immediate future can be confusing. But history teaches us that the best ideas and projects emerge in moments of great economic and social crisis. Certainly, this historical period has led us to a deep reflection on what could be the world of tomorrow, the community of today, the distortion of the present and much more. We strongly believe that new communication, design and artistic scenarios will open up.
Do you already have something in the pipeline for Salone del Mobile 2021, now that the dates have been announced?
At the moment we are in close contact with the organizers of the Collectible fair for Movimento’s debut in a real physical exhibition, it will be held in Brussels between May 27 and 30 next year. We have also recently taken a space in Milan that will become Artefatto’s office/showroom. The idea is to create temporary exhibitions of Movimento members. We don’t want to say more. We hope it will be a pleasant surprise.