As part of the Italian Creativity Capitals in the World 2026, the Italian Cultural Institute in Bangkok, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy, will showcase Italy this year through two symbols of identity and sustainability—coffee and restoration design—with events, workshops, and collaborations between businesses, institutions, and young people. Italia Reloaded. Italian Tradition, Aesthetics and Innovation between Taste and Memory, selected by a commission composed of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, promotes creativity, innovation, and project coherence. The program of events, born from collaborations between institutions, businesses, and young people, is inspired by National Made in Italy Day.
The IIC Bangkok, in collaboration with the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno di Firenze and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, opens the Italia Reloaded. Italian Tradition, Aesthetics and Innovation
between Taste and Memory program of events with the exhibition “FROM LEGACY TO THE FUTURE. RESTORATION AS A DESIGN PROJECT,” a project curated by P&M Palterer Medardi Architecture and developed in Bangkok by Distortion Studio. The exhibition invites the public to reflect on the importance of preserving the past and passing it on to future generations through the art of restoration, understood as a practice of innovation, protection, and sustainability, capable of engaging with an international audience.
The restoration of a work of art is in itself an art form, expertly passed down in Italy by historic institutions such as the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno di Firenze and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, both founded under the enlightened guidance of the Medici family. These two institutions are part of Bangkok Design Week as emblematic stories of Italian ingenuity and savoir-faire.
L’Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence has sent a resin copy of Michelangelo’s River God. The original work recently returned to the L’Accademia delle Arti del Disegno following a restoration that restored the fragile sculpture of raw earth and plant fibers to its extraordinary materiality, freeing it from ancient alterations and strengthening its structure.
In Ancient Rome, and even earlier in Ancient Greece, the River God symbolized the historical continuity of communities, assimilating the inexorable passage of time to the constant flow of the river. Michelangelo’s River God—an allegory of historical memory and the harmony between man and nature—revises the figure of God in a humanistic key, creating a bridge between classical and Renaissance culture. The restorers, combining scientific knowledge from physics to chemistry with profound dedication and meticulous attention to detail, have brought to light the work’s original white patina, allowing visitors to admire its original splendor.
The Opificio delle Pietre Dure’s main contribution to the exhibition is equally unique. Founded in 1588, the Opificio is now a leading international institution in the restoration and conservation of artistic heritage. Specifically, it specializes in the processing of semiprecious stones, Florentine inlay, and the restoration of fabrics, bronzes, mosaics, statues, paintings, frescoes, and works in gold, wood, and stone. It contributes to the exhibition with a Florentine inlay version of Giuseppe Zocchi’s celebrated painting, Allegory of the Earth, created as a pictorial model for a commission for the Kaiser around the mid-eighteenth century. The Florentine inlay of the painting required years of work and meticulous selection of materials, a true painting in stone designed to astonish visitors.
The exhibition design, curated by P&M Palterer Medardi Architecture, accommodates the works in a perfectly conceived manner, taking into account their specific needs, both from an artistic-expositive perspective and from a practical and scientific perspective, illustrating the structural, physical, and chemical characteristics of the works.
The exhibition opening will be held on January 29th at 5:00 PM.
The exhibition will be open from January 29th to February 8th, from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, at the TCDC Thailand Creative & Design Center.
