Chongqing - Over eight vibrant days from May 8 to 15, seven renowned Italian artists and designers embarked on an immersive journey through Chongqing's cultural landscape during the "Let's Create! Global Creative Masters in Chongqing" event. Focusing on on-site artistic creation in Chongqing, this initiative showcased why China's mountainous megacity earned its "City of Design" title.
From neon-lit skyscrapers to mist-shrouded tea mountains, Chongqing's colorful city life captivated visitors. Professor Carlo Pizzichini from Milan's Brera Academy described the city as "a living fresco where past and future pirouette through fog, concrete, and light." The group's delight peaked during a "Charming Chongqing" drone light show that amazed designers with its technological artistry.
At the Chongqing Industrial Design City, smart health monitors and urban mobility solutions revealed the city's practical innovation. "Chongqing's designs mirror its urban DNA - just as buildings climb mountains and trains pierce through towers, the products show deep empathy for citizens' lives," noted Antoinella Gaggi, CEO of VISIVA Design Studio.
After the first few days in the city centre, the delegation dove deep into regional heritage. In Rongchang, Perugia Academy's Professor Nicola Boccini crafted pottery and reinterpreted the "smash-the-bowl" ritual as contemporary art. Dazu's worldly known rock carvings left Professor Carlo Pizzichini with "1,007 inspirations - like the Thousand-Hand Guanyin." Jiangjin's paper-cutting and tea ceremonies were hailed as "living treasures of Eastern wisdom" by multidisciplinary artist Lorenzo Aresso Deda.
The event established five "Bayu Creative International Workshops" across districts, pairing Italian designers with local artisans to develop products blending Chongqing's cultural features with Italian tastes. During her visit to the Yunyang World Geopark Museum and the Dinosaur Fossil Site Museum, Antoinella Gaggi, a brand visual design expert, proposed an innovative concept—to potentially combine Yunyang's dinosaur elements and traditional pasta-making techniques with Italian woodcraft in the future. She also suggested promoting such creations on international platforms like Milan Design Week.
As fog curled over the Yangtze on the final evening, the visitors agreed: Chongqing's true design genius lies in its ability to weave 2,000 years of history into tomorrow's innovations. As the designer Giuse Vakanio concluded on this journey, "every artist must visit Chongqing once in a lifetime."