Handicrafts, fashion and sustainability were the focus of the first focus group and webinar of Homo Faber Economy, the project for the city of Venice promoted by Ca' Foscari University in partnership with Fondazione di Venezia and Upskill 4.0 that kicked off last March 1. The meeting brought together some of the companies involved in the project and involved professionals in the field, Giulia Pordd, ESG and Impact Manager and Eleonora di Maria, professor at the University of Padua, as well as Stefano Micelli, professor at Ca' Foscari University.
Fashion is a highly polluting industry: for years the The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been arguing that this industry needs to move from a linear to a circular model. The fashion industry ranks 1st in energy consumption, 3rd in water and soil wastage, being responsible for about 20% of global drinking water pollution and 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment due to various manufacturing processes and to the washing of synthetic garments, 4th in environmental impact, and 5th in raw material use.
Already the report A New Textile Economy from 2017 claimed that 97 percent of materials come from finished virgin resources and less than 1 percent are recycled to make more clothes; moreover, in the past 15 years clothing production has doubled and the average use per garment has decreased by 36 percent, which means that, as of today, about every second truckload of clothes is dumped in landfills or incinerated.
Circular design goes beyond product design; it is about radical system change. It is about redesigning the system with the cardinal principles of the circular economy in mind, viz. Eliminate, Circulate, Regenerate: eliminate the idea of waste, circulate resources, regenerate the environment.
With respect to this new paradigm, Venetian artisans have been active for some time now with new production logics, with projects such as that of Demis Marin of Ramosalso, a brand specializing in upcycling, or that of Alessandra Defranza of Tabinotabi Venice brand of textiles produced exclusively with high-tech, biodegradable organic vegetable yarns. Behind these entrepreneurial projects are strategies and good results, but they often do not receive full recognition.
Giulia Pordd, ESG and Impact Manager., spoke at the focus group, presenting historical European and international legislation on sustainable development and a series of best practices and strategies for highlighting entrepreneurial sustainability and telling its story as a surplus value.
That toward sustainability is a path to a measurement of one's impact; it is not just a protocol to adhere to but a real process. ESG are interconnected criteria that determine the performance of a profit-generating enterprise. Circularity can be an element of competitiveness, the innovation system is being reconfigured.
The one toward sustainability is thus a process, sometimes a long and challenging one, as Stefania Giannici, creator of jewelry and design objects made of fine paper at Paperoowl, an artisan workshop in Venice, pointed out: adherence to international ESG policies is often perceived as something onerous and complex, making it difficult for artisans to comply or derive real benefit from them.
There is no doubt, however, that today there is a strong reciprocity between the customer and the product, companies, however, must make explicit their contribution in terms of sustainability, the positioning of companies must be distinctive. Technology, language and marketing must go hand in hand.
Second Eleonora di Maria, professor at the University of Padua, internationally, consumers are very attentive to product quality and durability, thus having shapes and features that last. A big growing trend is also related to the reuse of existing products.
Not only environmental sustainability, sustainability today also means social and cultural sustainability.
Stories such as that of Marisa Convento, creator of Murano glass bead jewelry in Venice, Impiraressa a.k.a. the threader of beads, an ancient Venetian craft, show us that the artisan also has an invaluable cultural impact in places like Venice. Marisa Convento opened her first shop-laboratory, on Calle della Mandola, in 2007, evocatively named "Venetian Dreams": a small workshop where Marisa spliced glass beads and conteria beads but also a place for many to meet and get to know each other. Today her workshop is housed at Bottega Cini in Dorsoduro.
How to systematize all these experiences so that we have full recognition?
For Stefano Micelli, it will not be the individual company, but a concert of operators that together must look to the future, a community that must project itself into the contemporary through a collective community effort. It is increasingly necessary to network and create a 4.0 storytelling project that enhances and systematizes individual realities, through digital and positioning marketing that creates a group identity.
Project "Homo Faber Economy" - Code 2120-0001-727-2023 - CUP H77G23000350002 - PR Veneto ESF+ 2021-2027 - DGR. 727/2023 VENICE I.C.O.N.A.