Heritage Landscapes vol.35
Heritage Landscapes is the Promemoria Group newsletter created to observe the contemporary heritage landscape. Twice a month we share the most interesting news and the most innovative projects, investigating those archival stories that turn an object, a brand or an insight, into a legend.
Between architecture, design, fashion, food, technology. With no limit to our curiosity.
Between architecture, design, fashion, food, technology. With no limit to our curiosity.
1. Main Theme
Archives Design
Back in 2020, when Covid made libraries and archives inaccessible due to restrictions, the frustration of not being able to consult the material she needed created in designer Valery Marier a need that soon turned into an opportunity; thus archives.design, a digital archive entirely dedicated to graphic design, was born.
Starting with the Internet Archive, Valery has set itself the goal of collecting the archive materials dedicated to design, improving the user experience when searching for documents and offering a curated collection of content, selected on the basis of visual quality and expressive coherence.
The platform is designed not only for designers, but also for educators, historians, researchers and professionals, who can navigate through the content presented through its original cover. The Guardian's 1970 Black Panther Party supplement and the 1989 IBM Ergonomics Handbook are some of the highlights of this collection, along with collections of historical posters from the early 20th century.
The platform is designed not only for designers, but also for educators, historians, researchers and professionals, who can navigate through the content presented through its original cover. The Guardian's 1970 Black Panther Party supplement and the 1989 IBM Ergonomics Handbook are some of the highlights of this collection, along with collections of historical posters from the early 20th century.
"I figured that if I was having these problems, then there were
likely other folks who were as well. So I decided to put my design skills
to good use and work on a solution. The biggest issues that 1 felt needed to be solved were the user experience, and the content curation. For the archive's
curation, I opted to curate each item manually. While I could have likely figured out a way to curate these items using an automated script, I feel that there is an inherent value
to human curation."
- Valery Marier
likely other folks who were as well. So I decided to put my design skills
to good use and work on a solution. The biggest issues that 1 felt needed to be solved were the user experience, and the content curation. For the archive's
curation, I opted to curate each item manually. While I could have likely figured out a way to curate these items using an automated script, I feel that there is an inherent value
to human curation."
- Valery Marier
2. Avvistamenti. Traces of projects to keep an eye on
Tiffany & Co.'s new flagship store has opened in Milan, bringing the elegance and sophistication of the historic jewellery brand to the Milanese capital. In via Montenapoleone, inside Palazzo Taverna, art and design come together along the store's three floors, giving life to marvellous stained-glass windows by Venini, works by Pistoletto, Picasso, Kapoor and Arsham's Stratified Venus of Arles. A shop-museum displaying some of the icons of the Tiffany Archives (just think of the gallery dedicated to Elsa Peretti), paying homage to the almost 200 years of history of the maison and its bond with Italy.
At Palazzo Reale, Milan, you can visit, until 29 June, the exhibition Art Decò. Il trionfo della modernità (Art Decò. The triumph of modernity), with the Fondazione Museo Archivio Richard Ginori of the Doccia factory as a partner. The exhibition, made possible also thanks to the collaboration with Iris Ceramica Group, is a perfect example of how heritage can inspire contemporary design, recalling an aesthetic that, in a period marked by uncertainties, has been able to combine craftsmanship and innovation, without ever renouncing refinement.
YouTube is now 20 years old, during which time it has established itself as a global platform that has revolutionised the enjoyment of online content and entertainment. With more than 2.4 million monthly users, it remains the second most used app in the world today, accessible from any device, from smartphones to television, and offering a variety of content including music, podcasts, documentaries and films. Born as a platform for amateur videos, it has now become a benchmark in the digital landscape, and, in the future, thanks to the introduction of artificial intelligence, it promises to further simplify content creation for those who have made a career out of YouTube.
Credits: archives.design, Tiffany, Forbes, Hardware Upgrade, Wired.
3. Memory Lane. Things that happen, and we want to remember
The 80th anniversary of Confcommercio
On 29 April 2025 Confcommercio celebrated its 80th anniversary at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. For the occasion, the exhibition ‘Ricordare il Futuro’ (Remembering the Future) was inaugurated, recounting the history and pivotal moments of the Confederation, based on the documents collected in the historical archive created in collaboration with Promemoria Group.
Our Cecilia Botta and Elisabetta Dua had the honour, thanks to Confcommercio, of accompanying the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, together with leading figures from Italian institutions, politics and entrepreneurship, to discover a precious historical tale. A journey into the collective memory, among objects and images that restore the sense of a living legacy, capable of speaking to the present and future of our country.
Watch the Tgcom24 report.
Our Cecilia Botta and Elisabetta Dua had the honour, thanks to Confcommercio, of accompanying the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, together with leading figures from Italian institutions, politics and entrepreneurship, to discover a precious historical tale. A journey into the collective memory, among objects and images that restore the sense of a living legacy, capable of speaking to the present and future of our country.
Watch the Tgcom24 report.