Agorà Design will be back with a new edition from September 28 to October 1, 2023. This biennial event takes place in Martano and celebrates design in Salento
Agorà Design will be back to Martano, in the heart of Salento and more precisely in Grecìa Salentina, from September 28 to October 1, 2023. This event is dedicated to architecture and design culture, promoted by the homonymous cultural association with the support of a main sponsor, Sprech, and the collaboration of other public and private entities.
The event will offer workshops, talks, lectures in the Palazzo Baronale and in the historic center of the town. There will also be conferences, thematic workshops and meetings with companies and professionals. Finally, to complete the event, there will be an exhibition of the projects participating in the Agorà Design Contest 2023, entitled “Iperlocale: architettura e design dai territori” (“Hyperlocal: architecture and design from the territories”).
The protagonists of Agorà Design 2023
The list of this edition’s confirmed guests includes Riccardo Falcinelli, graphic designer and one of the most appreciated design theorists, with a masterclass on the color red, and Giovanna Castiglioni, from Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, with a conversation on the Castiglioni method and a workshop on anonymous objects. There will also be Francesco Zurlo, dean of Poli.Design at Politecnico di Milano; Francesco Faccin, designer; Simona Bordone, head of content and special projects for Domus magazine; Tommaso Bovo, professor of Graphic Design and Project Methodology at IED Florence; Francesca Carlino, architect and partner of ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel architecture and interior design firm.
Paolo Casati, founder and creative director of Studiolabo and the Fuorisalone.it project; Patrizia Catalano, coordinator of the inserts of Interni magazine; Giovanni Innella, designer; Francesco Pagliari, architect, architecture and art critic of The Plan portal; Marco Petroni, design theorist and critic, professor at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts; and members of the Officina Calabria Design project, to name a few.
Agorà Design Contest
The outdoor spaces of Palazzo Baronale will host the best projects from the Agorà Design Contest 2023. Participants in the contest include professionals, designers, artisans and students from all over Italy and abroad. The theme of this edition, “Hyperlocal: architecture and design from the territories,” stems from the desire to enhance the recovery of local traditions and cultures, contributing to the development of territories and the promotion of different social, cultural and productive realities.
The exhibition will close on Sunday, October 1 with the announcement of the winners in the two sections: Living, dedicated to the world of interior design (furnishings, textiles, wall and floor coverings), and Garden, dedicated to outdoor furniture, with daybeds (halfway between outdoor sofa and lounger), seating (sofas, armchairs and chairs), and outdoor coverings (gazebos, tensile structures, awnings).
Sprech’s valuable contribution to Agorà Design
In addition to prize money for the winners, all participants will have the opportunity to transform their project into a product. At the end of the event, Sprech, the event’s main sponsor, will choose some of the competing projects to create prototypes to be included in its commercial catalog – a unique opportunity in Italy in the field of architecture and design competitions.
Lastly, the jury will award a prize for the recovery of olive tree wood, an initiative that stems from the strong link between Agorà Design and Salento. Using the wood of eradicated olive trees for furniture and design projects, in fact, allows to give new life to plants affected by Xylella.
