On the occasion of the 2025 edition of Italian Design Day, the Italian Embassy in The Hague and the Italian Cultural Institute in Amsterdam are organising an event tomorrow dedicated to Manifattura Italiana Tappeti Artistici(Mita) by Mario Alberto Ponis. Matteo Fochessati, Curator of the Wolfsoniana - Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura in Genoa will talk about how innovation in design can improve the quality of life. The construction of the historical factory building took place between 1938, the year Ponis bought the relevant land in Nervi, and 1941, the year it opened. The rationalist building was designed by architect Luigi Carlo Daneri, who at the time was already working in Genoa with several examples of this type of architecture. The three-storey, reinforced concrete building, with a flat roof and ribbon windows all around the perimeter and furnishings designed by Saccorotti, deserved a mention in the magazines Stile in 1944 and Domus in 1954.
The building was occupied by the German army in 1943 and only returned to Ponis' possession after the end of the war. In 2008, it was declared an architecturally significant structure by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. It was later converted into an apartment building, but remains an important example of Genoese industrial architecture designed by an internationally renowned architect.
The architectural aspect of the structure represents the principles of Italian rationalism and international functionalism.
The conference, held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Amsterdam, also aims to highlight the figure of Mario Alberto Ponis, entrepreneur, inventor and collector, who founded Mita with the aim of combining the tradition of hand-knotted carpets with the technology of mechanical looms. Over the years, the factory became a centre of creative excellence, collaborating with the likes of Fortunato Depero, Gio Ponti, Emilio Scanavino and Arnaldo Pomodoro.
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