In these timeless places, where the past and the future meet, the know-how – which is handed down – gives shape to machinery, iconic objects, photographs, patents and representative period documents of an industrial and cultural heritage but also elements of an evolving identity, capable of maintaining firm roots in one's memory and at the same time always looking towards change.
From the Kartell Museum kicks off today "In the Time of a Story", il project dedicated to company museums and archives, vehicles of synthesis between the country's history and innovation and mirror of the evolution of many Italian manufacturers, sponsored by Assolombarda e Museum enterprise (the association founded by Confindustria and Assolombarda) and made with the photographer Simone Bramante, in art Brahmin. It is a journey through business stories, which are an expression of people, work, research and processes, to make viewers witnesses and participants in the change that drives companies and that the companies themselves trigger.
Every week Brahmino will talk about two cultural realities around Italy through as many “stories”, within the Instagram profile of “What Italy Is”, his very popular blog. Each dedicated to one of one hundred museums and company archives associated with Museum enterprise, expression also of many companies associated with Assolombarda. Through his visits he will produce a real guide, made up of videos and author shots, to involve followers in a digital "participatory culture" project. The result will also be a story through the webmagazine Genius & Enterprise and the social networks of Assolombarda and Museimpresa to bring young people closer to the business world e to raise awareness of museums and archives, the soul of companies, promoting them as tourist destinations to discover the Italy of the villages. It is an invitation to visit museums and company archives, "alive" places even if physically closed in this pandemic period, and an enhancement of the tourist itineraries and beauties of our country.
“The story of a company tells many things: it has an extraordinary cultural value but also and above all a great civil value. Business is culture and its values, which have always inspired our tradition, can still teach us today how to face the present and how to plan for the future - he stressed Alessandro Spada, President of Assolombarda -. I'm talking about doing business which is resilience, innovation, technology, creativity. Values that have already been decisive many times in the past in overcoming the most difficult moments and which, today, are essential elements for making companies that engine of positive change to face the challenges that await us. All distinctive characteristics of Italian industry, a real heritage to draw on to contribute to the restart of our Italy".
"In this suspended time of forced closures, the challenge before us is to be an active part in the construction of new mechanisms for participation and use of cultural processes - said Antonio Calabrò, vice president of Assolombarda and president of Museimpresa –. The season of digital innovation must not go to waste which, despite the pandemic, has allowed our museums to be an open enterprise, to continue to involve the public through interactive paths and dialogues, virtual exhibitions and visits, distance learning. "In the time of a story" goes precisely in the direction of making the general public aware of the soul that inspired company museums and archives, living places of the community, in which creative and polytechnic culture, beauty and art come together melt. Places made of work, research, innovation, stories of people and production processes, which are linked to the great history of our country". (Look up Genius & Enterprise, the Assolombarda webmagazine, the interview with Antonio Calabrò)
Simon Bramante, artistic director and exceptional photographer, the corporate culture is: “A set of visions which, over time, have materialized and which have influenced and changed society. The aim is to tell the enormous treasure kept inside the company's museums and archives using the narrative register typical of social media. A language that leverages the power of images and videos to bring a new audience closer to the world of corporate culture”. (Read on Genius & Enterprise, the Assolombarda webmagazine, the interview with Simone Bramante)
First stop is the Kartell Museum, which tells the evolution of the production of the leading company in the design sector, founded in Milan by the engineer Giulio Castelli in 1949, one of the companies symbol of Made in Italy planning. At the center of Brahmino's lens is the manifesto "Kartell loves the planet”, which represents the company's commitment to environmental sustainability, from which AI was born, chair made by Philippe Starck using recycled material for the first time.
In addition to design, the story of the company's museums and archives will touch realities belonging to the most diverse sectors in the coming weeks. From chemistry to insurance, from the production of coffee machines to sports clubs, from the rubber and plastic giants to the historical archives of Italy, through a privileged look at ideas, know-how, people's stories, objects the treasured values.
For example, in the Cimbali Group headquarters in Binasco, what was originally one of the spare parts warehouses is now the MUMAC – the coffee machine museum. A space that encompasses over one hundred years of innovation, dynamism, courage and passion. And which houses the permanent exhibition with the 100 most significant models of espresso coffee machines and the collection of the most important volumes dedicated to the sector, from the end of the XNUMXth century to the present day. An original way to retrace the footsteps of design through the evolution of an object of daily use such as the coffee machine, witness of all the changes in taste and style of Italian society.
Passing through the photographs, historical magazines, papers and materials of theHistorical Archive of the Italian Touring Club, which tell a century of history and tourism in Italy and in the world. The testimony of how Touring has been the promoter of the process of discovering Italy, proposing and promoting tourism as an instrument of knowledge, culture and economic development. And from World Museum Milan to the Historical Archive Hound, Branca Museum, an industrial jewel in the city for over a hundred years, unmistakable due to the chimney that stands out from the imposing complex in via Resegone. One of the few companies to maintain a production unit in the city of Milan.
In the heart of the Bicocca district in Milan, the Foundation Pirelli, has been preserving since 2008 the historical-cultural heritage that the company has built in its 150-year history. Here culture is linked to production processes, the history of people to products and communication languages. Thousands of documents, sketches, photographs, films bear witness to the relationship between manufacturing and creativity, between the evolution of technology and the artists' narratives thanks to Pirelli's intense collaboration with intellectuals, designers and photographers.
And yet the appointment with Brahmin will be at the Cifa Museum,Historical Archive of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, Milan water plant, Foundation Mansutti, the Everyone's Museum is memorable, Museum OM Forklifts, Gallery Campari. A tour, which after Lombardy, will touch the museums and company archives associated with Museimpresa throughout Italy.
