Italia Independent conceives, develops and produces "personal belongings" that translate the style and innovation of the Italian way of life into a global vision. The "personal belongings" are unique and innovative objects, conceived, developed and produced 100% in Italy. The basis of the Italia Independent concept is an eye for detail and the continuous search for quality with a distinctive style.

Master designer Giorgetto Giugiaro is celebrating his 40th anniversary this year and has joined forces with ChangeDesign under the tutelage of Italia Independent for this exhibition which forms part of Pitti Uomo 2008, leading the makeover of the vehicles which all feature matt-finished bodywork.

The cluster of exhibits comprises of evocative Italian high performance models and prototypes. The cars, bikes and boats on show in Florence comprised of a Maserati GranTurismo, a Iveco Massif, Fiat 500, a Ducati 1100, a Piaggio Vespa GTS, a carbon-fibre bicycle, and a boat made entirely from carbon fibre by Offshore Montecarlo. As well as the exterior matt finish, inside the models feature interiors made from a mix of lightweight materials such as carbon-fibre and kevlar as well as denim and leather.

ITALIA INDEPENDENT

The world is changing at light speed. Tastes are continually mutating. The net has unhinged market rules and regulations. Today’s keywords are: prosumer, pollination, crowd sourcing, participation, social network, empathy, user-generated content… words unheard of in business glossaries until a few years ago. The single mass market has been replaced by masses of niche markets. Everything is changing. Even old words have new meanings today.

Today luxury means “other”. Luxury is no longer linked to expensive products or status symbols. Today luxury is subjective. It varies from person to person. Luxury used to be explained exclusively through products. Today luxury is based on experience, on how the goods or services are seen by people and no longer on their characteristics or price. Today luxury is a verb. Luxury is an active word, no longer something thought up, produced and sold on the market. What counts now is the marvellous sensual feeling that people look for in a luxury product. Today luxury is personalisation, the impression of owning something that has been made just for you. Therefore luxury is no longer ostentation, distinction and pure narcissism; it is a unique, intense, private experience based on shared values.

Targets no longer exist. In 2007 concepts like consumer, cluster and target are obsolete and ‘out’. Time magazine has elected ‘YOU’ as the person of the year, in other words all those who express themselves publicly through texts, videos and audio podcasts and who are having a big impact not only on the media and on sources of information, but also on company decision-making. Today it is people and their behaviour, changes and creativity that are influencing, inspiring and greatly affecting the choices made by multinationals.

In an increasingly faster and more global scenario it is time to also rethink made in Italy. The concept of made in Italy has, in many cases, lost its meaning, at least literally. The policy of industrial delocalisation is a widespread practice followed by most Italian companies. In some cases made in Italy is still a child of the eighties, linked to old stereotypes, status symbols, ostentation and hedonism as a means to itself.