Abstract

"Italy's First National Trade Catalogues for the US Market (1939) and the Emergence of the 'Made in Italy' Brand"

Dorotea Petrucci, London Metropolitan University (dpetrucci@iuav.it)

In 1939, The Institute for Foreign Trade – a state funded institution set up in 1926 by the Fascist government in collaboration with leading Italian industrialists (and still existing today as the Italian Trade Agency) – began to publish Italy’s first national trade catalogues to market crafts, textiles, and foodstuffs to its expanding US market. These recently discovered catalogues – Artistic crafts in Italy. Ceramics, glassware, marble and alabaster, woodwork, metalwork, gold and silverware and jewellery, leatherwork, laces and embroideries, fabrics and carpets, straw and rafia work (1938); Italian textile products and wearing apparels (1939); and Italian Foodstuffs (1939) – reveal how government institutions of the Fascist era worked with private stakeholders to develop the core concept and early promotional strategies of the ‘Made in Italy’ brand – a concept that still persists today and is widely used by official authorities to promote Italy’s design excellence abroad.

In particular, the national catalogue Artistic Crafts in Italy includes artefacts developed by small Italian businesses in collaboration with contemporary architects, and illustrates the official narrative – uniting tradition, quality and innovation – shaped and endorsed during the interwar years to market Italy’s design culture overseas. Artistic Crafts in Italy was widely disseminated in the United States. It was freely circulated to the public on the occasion of the New York’s World Fair, and diplomats assigned to the Italian Chambers of Commerce in the US were also given the task to circulate it amongst importing companies, suppliers of Italian products, and department stores.