Excellent Italian Hospitality Services (EXIHS) will return with a new concept to Host Milan, to take place at Fieramilano in Rho from 20 to 24 October.
Located in the Arredo & Tavola (Furniture & Tableware) area of the exhibition, EXIHS is an artistic performance, which provides an opportunity for contract furniture companies to showcase their products.
Dante O. Benini, co-creator and designer of EXIHS commented: “This is a strong concept, a breakaway, which, for the first time in 40 editions, will be bringing an artistic-design performance to Host, with no further commercial motive.
“The aim is to help bring foreign visitors to Italy, and to Host in particular, allowing them to learn more about the Italian culture that permeates our leading role in the hospitality industry.”
This year EXIHS will highlight the theme of “L’Italia fatta a mano” (Handmade Italy) using surfaces and materials that allow guests to travel through the evolution of mankind and hospitality.
According to the organisers of HostMilano, “This aptitude has been perfected throughout the history of Italy’s towns and villages, from its very earliest manifestations to the modern-day concept of hospitality, with a common thread linking ancient pottery and jars to glasswork and tableware, and everything else that is part of the modern-day hospitality industry.”
EXIHS will be shaped as a cube, with each of the four walls free from edges and made of a material that hints at a particular stage in mankind’s evolution: stone, wood, steel and waste.
While stone was the first material used by humans to modify their surrounding environment, wood represents the stages of civilization that used natural materials.
Steel symbolises the shift to an industrial society and waste represents humankind’s most recent challenge – sustainability.
At the centre of the cube is a deck level pool symbolising water and the passage of time from one element to another.
The walls are 40cm thick and made from a solid material to provide, while italicised words set against a black backdrop represent key moments of Italian culture.
Italian history will be celebrated with videos showcasing Italy’s beauty, screened inside and outside the cube.
The background wall of the lounge is aimed at being the most distinctive element of the event.
This year, it will be covered in square compartments containing Italian food and beverage products, from cheese to cured meat and grape, and a composition created using 2,000 eggs.
Davide Rampello, stage director and former president of the Triennale Foundation, who first developed the idea for the EXIHS exhibition space, said: “Italy is the country that most expresses the ability to combine materials and shapes and create unique welcoming areas that go beyond space and time.
“That’s why “l’Italia fatta a mano” is the motif of this cultural performance, which fits into and transcends the exhibition to become a message to be presented at art and architectural events, starting from important international Biennales.”
The creators of EXIHS want to transport the concept around the world to other international art and architectural events.
The first event will be the Beijing International Art Biennale, which has already confirmed its interest in the project.
