On Friday 16 January, at the Mirage headquarters, before representatives of the Municipality of Pavullo nel Frignano and of the company board, the award ceremony was held for the contest A roundabout for ceramics and the territory, organised by Mirage and sponsored by the Municipality of Pavullo nel Frignano with the aim of seeking creative ideas and solutions for the designing of a Roundabout located opposite the entrance to the Mirage premises.
Several proposals and projects were received, all geared towards developing original interpretations of the roundabout aimed at making the most of the cultural, landscape and economic resources of the local area concerned. Over 150 entries from more than 15 countries: creativity and innovation combined with a more institutional context, yielding results of particular interest focused on alternative, ingenious visions of the urban fabric.
The Jury voted unanimously to present the award to a project that blends smoothly into the production environment, thus bringing a stimulating synergy to the dialogue/encounter with the surrounding landscape: Frame, devised by a work group composed of the engineer Francesco Bursi and the architects Valerio Bianchi and Costanza Bruini.
The Frame project, in addition to enhancing the landscape, also creates an element in which the natural world meets the industrial dimension. The name, which derives from the project concept, imagines a perspective frame formed by separate elements at the centre of the roundabout, able to enhance and frame the space around it. The perception of those observing the work changes as they approach it, and it turns into an artistic installation.
As the observer drives along Via Giardini from both directions, the aim of the project is to recreate the emotional image of a postcard showing a view of the Apennines, a modern take on the much-loved postcard: it is a specific territorial reference, since it is the environment, the local context, the landscape and the changing of the seasons that will give the work a different appearance every day.
In this sense, the company is declaring and highlighting its link with the local area, engaging in a dialogue with the surroundings it was founded and developed in, becoming not the starring feature of it, but rather an admirer, an actor able to play it out.
The Frame project was also chosen by the Jury for the dual sense given to a "Gateway to the Apennines", a way to clearly highlight the entrance into the mountain communities and the Modena Apennines area.
Applause nonetheless also goes to all of the 150 + entrants from Italy, India, Taiwan, England, Northern Europe and the USA who responded to our call to creativity with interesting, stimulating, creative projects, the vast majority of which were anything but banal. This is a signal that shows how true creativity, when disassociated from business relations, remains very much alive and full of energy.
Mirage has chosen to tap into the creativity that travels through the web, the social networks and the blogosphere, exploring the relationship between business and the world of online creativity, already successfully entered into with the RESTILE contest, this year in its second edition.
