Beautiful? Made by ‘Manos’

Published: 2009 - April/May, ZOOM

Beautiful, original, unpublished, that respects the environment. These are the characteristics that an object has to have to be desirable. Because industrial design products made on a large scale are being joined, slowly but relentlessly, by new market niches. On the wave of a return to craftsmanship. Anticipating this trend, beginning in Venice in 2006 ’Manos’, a display self produced design conceived and promoted by Spiazzi, a Venetian cultural association that has already become a reference point for young creative artists’ world wide.
Already in its third year of activity, ’Manos’ is a collection-market through which anyone who has the passion to create objects, but not the space to sell them, can present their work to the public. Clothes, bags, ceramics, jewelry, furnishings: the objects at ’Manos’ are also much in demand, with refined designs and handmade production, made using natural components such as wood or fabric, or recycled materials, so as to limit as much as possible their effect on the  environment. With two dates a year - in spring and at Christmas - in the Mercato area of the Rialto, the collection has achieved great success in the lagoon city, to which point in 2008 it was decided with the support of the council administration, to work also on the mainland, under the name of ’Mestre street design’.
“An unexpected result” for the architect-designer Gaetano di Gregorio, one of the promoters of the initiative: “initially ’Manos’ was born with an amateur aspect but now it’s constantly growing, both in the number of exhibitors, from all over Italy, and the growing number of buyers, who reveal themselves to be increasingly aware of the proposals of the young designers and sensitive to the question of eco-sustainability and the uniqueness of home made products”.  The Spiazzi association, founded in 2003 by a group of architects, artists and designers wanting to have a communal workshop where their creations could be made, is transforming into a workshop of creativity and center of original initiatives. With a workshop and an exhibition space, Spiazzi provide for their associates both a place to create, and also a window to show the finished product. Furthermore, to keep the cultural confrontation with the rest of the world alive, the association hosts foreign artists and designers interested in staying for a period of time in Venice.