Sunè Stassen – South Africa
Founding Director of Open Design Afrika
Sunè Stassen – South Africa
Founding Director of Open Design Afrika
In the heart of the port of Chiavari, the first exhibition of Anonima Chiavarese, a collective of five talented graphic designers and illustrators from the area, comes to life. The exhibition, entitled Cinque sguardi, unacittà, explores the relationship between art, design, architecture and craftsmanship, offering a contemporary reading of the Ligurian visual tradition.
The protagonists of this collective are Francesca Bezzan, Raffaella Vernazza, Camilla Giachetta, Gian Franco Randazzo and Riccardo Guasco, artists with different styles and backgrounds, united by their love for the area and the desire to reinterpret its visual identity.
Through illustrations, graphics and installations, the exhibition creates a dialogue between past and future, between craftsmanship and innovation. Calata Ovest thus becomes a meeting point between creativity and cultural heritage, offering visitors an immersive experience in which Chiavari reveals itself through five different but complementary points of view. An unmissable exhibition for those who love design and art as tools for narrating the area.
Wednesday 9 April in Sestri Levante, the communications agency and coworking space Social Levante will host a meeting between businesses, associations and citizens to discuss the urban regeneration of the Lavagnina district.
The Tigullio Design District will therefore be an opportunity to discuss the critical issues of the district, collect proposals and create new synergies from and for the territory. In this context, design will be a precious ally to reimagine urban spaces and give life to sustainable creative projects, to transform the existing with creative projects.
The aperitif at the end of the event will be curated by Cheers Cocktail Catering and Articiocca Cucina e Bottega.
On Tuesday 8 April, at the Palazzo Bianco of the Municipality of Chiavari, there will be the award ceremony for the “Pimp my glass bin” competition for schools, an initiative of CoReVe with Aprica and the Municipality of Chiavari for the art high schools and graphic institutes of the city.
The project to identify the new graphics to be placed on the new city glass containers, aims to raise awareness among young people about the separate collection of glass and sustainability, enhancing the territory through design. An opportunity to combine creativity and environmental commitment through design, making Chiavari even more beautiful and aware.
Competition judges: Antonio Segalerba | Mayor of the Metropolitan City Davide Conti | President of the Liguria Design Cultural Association Emanuele Sanguineti | Councilor for the Municipality of Chiavari for ecological services Federico Messuti | Mayor of the City of Chiavari Filippo Agazzi | Aprica S.p.A. Francesca Bezzan | Professional Graphic Designer
Aimed at all young university students from around the world who study in design faculties, specifically those of nautical and industrial design, who participated by sending a project dedicated to the major themes linked to the sea.
On 7 April, the first day of TDD 2025, the winners visible on our website in the section dedicated to the competition will be announced. This is the final jury of international professionals and experts who judged and decreed the winners: Amy Jiang, Cristian Visentin, Marcella Ottolenghi, Michael Young, Roberto Curtò and Tommaso Piazzola.
The "AssociazioneCulturale Liguria Design" during the Tigullio Design District will award the recognition / quality mark; "Best Shop" 2025 for the commercial activities of the Gulf of Tigullio, which respect the canons linked to beauty, services and history to enhance those entrepreneurs who offer the best experience to residents and tourists.
These are the businesses awarded in 2024: Antica Drogheria Seghezzo, Arredamenti De Bernardis SRL, Boutique Zia Luisa sas, Cordani Velluti snc, Grimoldi SRL, Meci Luce SRL and Officina Arredo di Sonia Alpi. The awards / cocktail evening will be Monday 7 April in Zoagli in the splendid Villa Vicini.
For this second edition, dozens of commercial activities in the Gulf of Tigullio have been selected and the jury of the Association, coordinated by the President of the jury Morena Mazzari (Director of the Fashion Institute of Genoa) has decreed the following winners who will be awarded with a certificate and quality mark. Evening in collaboration with Paolo Grotti of Banca Mediolanum Genoa branch. Results visible online from 7 April 2025 onwards.
Saturday, April 12, during the morning organized by the Liguria Design Cultural Association, the 1st Liguria Design Forum will be held, that is, the first regional meeting open to Ligurian designers for a morning of presentations, discussions and networking, a unique and special occasion, the first real territorial meeting for designers from different sectors, from graphics to nautical, interior designers, product designers and many others in line with the philosophy of "LiguriaDesign" the first Ligurian community for transversal involvement in the design sector.
The event will be held in the splendid location of the Hotel Vis a Vis in Sestri Levante, partner of the Forum, which thanks to its spaces will give a special value to the day, with a breathtaking view of the Baia del Silenzio and the entire Gulf of Tigullio.
It will be held in Chiavari, in the port at the cultural warehouse BOX 36, organized by “Liguria Design” and Lega Navale di Chiavari-Lavagna, with the curator the architect-paralympic athlete FIV Valia Galdi, guests will be invited to bring their experience including the company Barchelettriche with Michele Solari, CaDamà with Andrea Brigatti, and the association Noi Handiamo with Marco Carbone.
Also speaking will be Commander Salvatore Amenta of the Coast Guard of Santa Margherita Ligure, Alessandra Ferrara Councilor for the port and state property of the Municipality of Chiavari, Carlo Alberto Carrai of MadeIT4All and other guests.
The event will offer participants, thanks to the companies involved, an afternoon of boat tests with Barchelettriche and the Max Gua of Noi Handiamo, where they will explain, make known and tell the experience directly at sea to the participants of the forum, with the aim of a forum where theory and practice meet for a unique and inclusive moment.
Organized by “Liguria Design” and VermeProjects, curated by Massimo Verme, it will be held in Lavagna at the Sala Campodonico and will involve GerrisBoats, who will be talking about their design proposals, as well as the Vulkan company from Novi Ligure with Giulio Gennaro and PerMare from Sanremo with Maria Luisa Francia.
Many guests from the nautical sector will participate, such as, Stefano Pagani for Confindustria Nautica, Luca Rizzotti from We are Foiling, Giorgio Gallo and Alberto Carmagnani from RINA, as well as Fabrizia Pecunia, Mayor of Riomaggiore, Commander Salvatore Amenta of the Coast Guard of Santa Margherita Ligure, Guglielmo Caversazio, President of the Portofino Marine Protected Area Authority and others.
As a corollary to a two-year period, the exhibition “27x27; young talents grow” will be inaugurated in Zoagli in the wonderful Villa Vicini, where throughout the week the 27 projects created by the 27 groups that worked in 2023-2024 on the design workshop between land and sea will be visible, an action also preparatory to the future of the workshop, and the first exhibition of design created by high school students in the area, synonymous with the fact that ideas can become projects, projects cultural exhibitions and, if desired, opportunities for development, innovation and local enterprise.
Great involvement of schools, during the week of the Tigullio Design District there will be numerous workshops within the 5 institutes of the area, such as Giannini, Marconi, Luzzati of Chiavari, Da Vigo of Rapallo and Natta of Sestri Levante.
In the perspective of a widespread event, the workshop project, which began in 2023 with the initial involvement of a single institute, is also growing this year, with five actors involved, for hundreds of students in contact with professionals.
Here are some of the names of the designers whowill be speakingduring the week: Fabio di Bella, Filiberto Maria Festa, Francesca Bezzan, Rosangela Mammola, Danilo Rolle, Joseph Amoruso, Daniela Cantatore, Alessandro Valenti, Nicola Lonato, Umberto Tagliavini, Luca Porcu, Alessandra Lorini, Lorenzo Squadrito, Riccardo Suriano, Emanuele Spadaro, Simone Gallina, Marina Bo and others. Having grown so much, the workshop will be developed in a biennial format, starting with training and preparation meetings, and seeing the projects finalized in the next edition of the Tigullio Design District in April 2026.
Among the events included in the calendar, also the exhibition developed in preview in the last edition by "LiguriaDesign", Economic Society of Chiavari EFTS and the main actors of the Chiavari area, with great success from the public and critics, which aims to be a definitive proposal for the exhibition of the light chair of Chiavari from its beginnings to the present, in a new and growing formula compared to the first edition. In this edition, the exhibition will expand to become a widespread exhibition in the City of Chiavari, and reach an absolute record: an exhibition of chairs the largest in the world spread across an entire city, and from the design week in Tigullio it will extend until May 4th.
There will be over 250 chairs on display during this 2025, both inside the laboratory, the main location of the exhibition, and in the city among shops, boutiques, hotels and special corners. A moving, widespread, dynamic exhibition: its development also takes place in the laboratory with the presence of artisans and straw weavers ready to convey their work and this great Chiavari tradition to the public.
This edition therefore aims to tell the story of an iconic product of Made in Italy in the world, still created today after over 2 centuries of history in Chiavari, with appendices outside the laboratory, and in the city, laying the foundations for the largest chair exhibition in the world, finding appendices also outside the city in the Gulf of Tigullio but also at the Fuorisalone in Milan, with a view to territorial promotion that goes beyond its places of origin.
It will start with a grand inauguration in Santa Margherita Ligure at Villa Durazzo, on Sunday 6 April, where the 2025 event will be presented to institutions and the press, the main activities of this edition and the vision for the coming years.
The moment will be enriched by a fashion show of the Fashion Institute of Genoa and a preview of the exhibition "Trame Liguri: dialogue between Fashion, Art and Design", all of which will end with a final aperitif for all guests. Local authorities and the Ligurian territory, guests and institutions, bodies and partners of the Tigullio Design District, as well as the press and important personalities will participate, for a moment that is both institutional and convivial, of network and lifestyle.
