Zero Impact. The eight finalist works of the Dani Academy project, an educational reality that unites the tanning group and NABA, arrive in Milan. Their works will be on show on September 22-24 at Spazio Lineapelle, a showroom in Palazzo Gorani (opposite to via Brisa, 3). The Academy represents the new workshop of ideas with which Dani wants to build a research path on leather design anchored to sustainability. The first step involved students from the Design and Fashion Design areas.
NABA and Dani Group
Dani Academy has begun its journey. The first stop is Milan, where it brings the young talents of the NABA Academy, selected by the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021 as the best Italian Academy of Fine Arts. It is also one of the world’s top 100 institutions in the field of Art&Design. The students were confronted with the sustainable innovation of leather, one of the most appreciated sectors of the entire Made in Italy. Students were supervised by Claudio Larcher, NABA Design Area Leader, by teachers Natascia Fenoglio and Martina Grasselli, and by Manal Abu Monassar, NABA Academic Assistant.
The workshops
All the students of the Design and Fashion Design areas were involved in two workshops: the first was dedicated to creating a Zero Impact collection. Second was devoted to creating products resulting from creative recycling that recovers and transforms manufacturing waste. It is through these that the company wishes to give visibility to its sustainable business strategy. Optimising consumption and reducing waste in a circular economy.
Works on show
Eight works have been selected by a jury made up of NABA lecturers and Dani’s board. They will be on show at Spazio Lineapelle on September 22-24, during Lineapelle fair. Francesca Ponti and Elena Serafini, students of the three-year BA Program in Fashion Design, have based their research on the overlapping of materials capable of designing shapes between empty and full. Giulia Ciolas and Maria Llinares, two-year Fashion and Textile Design students, worked on the durability of leather, proposing interchangeable objects that never get boring. Vanessa Feroldi and Valentina Barbaro, students in the Three-year BA Program in Fashion Design, focused on resilience, using the ancient technique of kintsugi to sew together precious tears. Aurora Possenti and Aldo Mucciarone, students in the Three-year BA Program in Design at NABA, focused on the energizing encounter/clash of the natural dimension of leather.
The other finalists
Carrie Hack, from the two-year BA Program in Product and Service Design, focused on the essentiality of a unique piece, capable of becoming a bag and a container without waste. Ottavia Ferraris and Giulia Colombo, students in the three-year BA Program in Design, focused on the DNA of leather, as a place of memory to be sewn back together. Pietro De Longhi and Michele Rizzoli, students in the three-year BA Program in Design, shifted the focus to the usability of shopping bags that take on different shapes in a fluid manner according to their intended use in a zero-waste perspective. Last but not least, Silvia Prandini and Manuel Venditto, students in the three-year Fashion Design course, focused on the attraction of opposites and twins destined to be transformed into design objects, embellished precisely by their imperfection.
Fulvia Bacchi’s comment
“It is also thanks to enlightened entrepreneurs like Giancarlo Dani and his Dani Academy project that the new generations can deepen their knowledge of the Italian tanning sector,” comments Fulvia Bacchi, general manager of UNIC and CEO of Lineapelle. “For the sector, the themes of sustainability and circularity are fundamental pillars. Which have led it to assume an undisputed leadership position at a world level. A large part of the future competitiveness of our companies will depend on the determined pursuit of the development of increasingly environmentally sustainable products. The Dani Group is a virtuous example of how this is possible”.
Comment by Giancarlo Dani
“Research & Development has always been a fundamental part of our work,” adds Giancarlo Dani, head of the Vicenza-based multinational company. “The results of this hands-on experimentation aimed at the second life of processing waste are creative and enlightening: these young students have fully grasped the potential offered by the contest, designing collections that I am convinced could have good market potential. Our Academy also wants to be a bridge that can bring schools and the world of work and Dani closer to the finished product in a direct and concrete way, with increasing attention to recycling and waste recovery. Our vocation to closely follow each step of the processing chain is increasingly strong and heartfelt”.
NABA’s satisfaction
“In a context like the current one, which is constantly evolving, the learning-by-doing approach that we pursue in our training at NABA is even more fundamental – says Guido Tattoni, Director of NABA -. On behalf of the entire Academy, I would like to thank Dani for this collaboration. A project that we have embraced with enthusiasm since its beginning, and from which we have seen many valuable ideas and projects flourish”.
Read also:
- Dani Academy: between Naba and IUAV, under the sign of green leather
- Leather and ethical claims: Dani obtains the n.1 certification in the world
- A New Point Of Materials: Lineapelle and responsible innovation
