Communicating the Venice we love

Founders of Venezia da Vivere, Venice Fashion Week and Atelier Aperti – and coordinators of the network of historical companies Alto Artigianato Venezia – Laura Scarpa and Lorenzo Cinotti have made it their mission to support Venetian talent and promote Venice as the ideal city in which to live and create. For this reason, with their company, they have developed innovative communication formats: Venezia da Vivere, is a web and social guide to promote the creativity of the city. It brings together a community of designers, artisans, photographers and young creatives, to develop new projects blending traditional know-how and contemporary design. Laura and Lorenzo involve thousands of people on social media every day, especially Instagram, promoting the value of craftsmanship and making for the sustainable development of Venice. For them, the craftsmen are not just artists and entrepreneurs: they are the ones who transform the heritage, the culture and the history of the city into something contemporary, relevant and new.

We think of craftsmanship as uniqueness, a way to think and make ideas become real. Artisanal works convey meaning and are something that people can develop a relationship with. Craftsmanship is also a way to keep production sustainable and to create works that last, and can be passed on to others rather than be used for a short while.

We at Venezia da Vivere are committed to Venetian artisans and their success. Our mission is to support Venetian artisans in their dialogue with international designers, making them an active part in the world conversation on sustainability and to support them in developing their knowledge on digital.

We work with artisans on many levels. We coordinate the network of historical artisanal companies Alto Artigianato Venezia, which aims to bring craftsmanship and ancient manufacturing techniques into the future. We organise Venice Fashion Week, an ongoing project celebrating artisanal fashion, contemporary design and sustainability. We also organise Atelier Aperti, an event which promotes artisans and their crafts through digital communications and social media, working with local and international content creators. Finally we teach digital communication to artisans and produce digital contents in order to promote them.

We love to make craftsmen meet with designers and we curate the process. We love the exchange of know how which breaks the boundaries of both professions into something completely new: for Homo Faber, we created A Dress For Venice, a project where fashion designer Tiziano Guardini worked with ancient Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua in their weaving premises on Grand Canal in order to produce contemporary kimonos. The exhibition in Tessitura is part of the Homo Faber Event programme.