On 18 November 2025, AANT welcomed Domitilla Dardi for a new Open AANT event dedicated to EDIT Napoli.
A design historian, curator, and co-founder of the fair, Dardi introduced students to the origins and development of a project launched in June 2019. At the centre of the meeting was a precise idea of design: not simply a showcase, but a platform capable of connecting independent creatives, companies, buyers, retailers, and designers.
EDIT Napoli was presented as a concrete response to a gap within the trade fair system, which is often difficult to access for smaller and more experimental realities. The event made it possible to explore the meaning of an authentic, responsible, and research-driven approach to design.
For students in the three-year programmes, it was an opportunity to understand how curatorship can shape both productive and cultural ecosystems. Dardi showed that the value of the project lies not only in the objects on display, but in the network of relationships those objects make possible.
Her presence at AANT opened a reflection on new forms of visibility for contemporary design and on the relationship between niche production and the broader system. The discussion also highlighted the profile of a professional figure able to connect research, museum institutions, and attention to emerging practices. The event thus became a moment of critical orientation on the present and future of Italian design.
