ZERI Function

EXCLUSIVE – The Salone del Gusto/Terra Madre, which will join together as a single event this year (October 23-28), will adhere to a project that is part of the Torino World Design Capital 2008 program. The aim is to progressively reduce the impact on the environment of events through sustainable consumption and management, converting outputs (waste) into inputs for other processes, hence giving them fresh economic value.

A concrete attempt will thus be made to reduce the environmental impact of every single activity at the two events—use of recyclable prop materials, differentiated waste disposal and recycling—and C02 emissions will not simply be compensated for but actually cut.

The Salone del Gusto/Terra Madre will the first event of its type to adopt this systemic approach. Next time round, in 2010, a set of ‘good, clean and fair’ guidelines will be drawn up to which all exhibitors must adhere.

Slow Food’ main partners in the project are the Industrial Design department of Torino Polytechnic and the ZERI Foundation and other partners. They and others will consolidate their commitment to move towards the application of a holistic vision of events, venues, organization and Presidia, continuing a trend already launched experimentally in 2006.

This Industrial Design (Torino Polytechnic) degree course trains industrial designers, project-management experts who create products or services, such as tech-product components, useful everyday objects, street furniture and games, on an industrial scale.

The industrial designer’s job is to define a product or service which is simple and easy to use, versatile, safe, reliable, multi-functional and eco-compatible, and which can be properly integrated into the environment it is designed for.

His or her work may involve various steps in the industrial cycle: idea development, draft projects, modeling, production engineering, production, quality control, performance checks and communication and promotion of the final product.

The Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI) Foundation is a global network of creative minds seeking solutions to world challenges. The common vision shared by the members of the ZERI family is to view waste as a resource and seek solutions using nature’s design principles as inspiration. The Foundation is currently working on 50 active projects around the world.

The 2008 Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre will be the starting point for a journey of many years in which they will assert their innovative role and educational function.

Find out more
Torino Polytechnic – DIPRADI – Department of Architecture and Industrial Design
www.polito.it/ricerca/ dipartimenti/dipradi/index.en.html

Zeri Foundation
www.zeri.org/