Archive for September 1st, 2007

01
Sep

Rethinking the Italian Souvenir

Italian Souvenirs by Giulio Iacchetti and Pandora Design

In past posts, we’ve featured an item that’s currently one of the most popular Italian souvenirs as well as a 2005 competition that challenged designers to rethink those trinkets that tourists take home.

Now another Italian design company is headed in the same direction. This year, Pandora Design hired industrial designer Giulio Iacchetti to restyle the Italian souvenir and we’re utterly charmed by a couple of the items he produced.

The first is a ceramic juicer shaped like Rome’s Saint Peter’s Basilica. As you squeeze your citrus across the dome of the basilica, juice fills the piazza.  Don’t know if these are for sale yet, but we’ll be searching the Pope’s usual haunts for them.

The second, called Bye Bye Fly, is a fly swatter gridded like the map of Milan. Try to kill that pesky bug by hitting it with the Duomo! Oops, missed! Got it with the Sforza Castle instead! These were featured on the cover of Abitare in April and are sold by Charles & Marie.