World Small and Medium Enterprises Day: June 27, 2024

Established on April 6, 2017, by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly through Resolution No. 71/279, it was supported by 54 member states representing more than 5 billion people worldwide. It is included as part of the 2030 Agenda, the "Programme of Action for People, Planet and Prosperity."

SMEs are the beating heart of the European economy.

SMEs account for 90% of businesses, 60-70% of employment and 50% of GDP worldwide. They are the backbone of societies, contributing to local and national economies and livelihoods, particularly among the working poor, women, youth, and groups in vulnerable situations.

Because of their characteristics, SMEs have the potential to transform economies, foster job creation and promote economic growth that promotes and sustains equity policies. The establishment of the Day aims to enhance and promote the role of SMEs and explore opportunities for their further affirmation of the good practices of the coalition of transnational supply chains. 

The Italian economic system rests on the strategic centrality of SMEs, a genuine economic infrastructure that has made networking among small and medium-sized enterprises a development model based on incremental innovation programs of processes, products, and meanings. This has made it possible to raise the quality of goods and services to the level of a business model, and a decisive competitive advantage related to export and market positioning. 

Small and medium-sized enterprises employ 82 percent of workers in Italy above the EU average and account for 92 percent of active businesses. These numbers say that SMEs are a salient feature of the Italian economy and reflect traditions and entrepreneurship spread throughout the territories. They are repositories of theoretical and applied knowledge, upstream cognitive subjects in value chains, and fundamental garrisons for the social resilience and socio-cultural development of communities. 

i-Mesh: the SME that "softens architecture."

In this scenario, where size is a datum that does not fully represent the mission and vision of the enterprise, given the specificity of productions that are among global segments, i-Mesh can be considered exemplary. I-Mesh combines the identities modes and perspectives of contemporary production - the contents of scientific experimentation and formal knowledge, creativity as a factor of innovation, and intelligent manufacturing that regenerates the know-how of tradition with anchors in the extended professional and transnational supply chains of savoir-faire. The patented, award-winning, sustainable, and fully customizable fabric for architecture, design, and art is a first. 

A nonwoven fabric composed of natural, high-performance fibers for indoor and outdoor use, a product consistent with circular economy protocols-optimized and tailored production therefore zero waste, and waste in minimal quantities reused for art and design production initiatives and programs. It is that manufacturing that has learned to incorporate in its goods and services the values of the original communities, and the intangible contents that refer to the value dimension made of sustainability, attention to the ecosystem, and the organic and holistic dimension of its conscious impact.

A diverse team, a multicultural team.

After more than 30 years of research and production of nautical and aerospace textiles, i-Mesh is now a multicultural community with architects, engineers, materials experts, computational designers, art curators and communicators in close contact with clients-architects, general contractors, and installers. The identity, pattern, network, and configurations are the result of visual research and scientific studies of the physical characteristics of high-tech fibers. Experience that comes from many years of designing technical products and fabrics where the highest levels of performance and reliability are required. 

From brands to the world: i-Mesh's "glocal" approach.

i-Mesh is produced and conceived in Italy, in the Marche region, a land of molecular capitalism, manufacturing traditions of the highest excellence, manufacturing specializations, positioning, and continental leadership.

The value system of the Marche region is an identity recognized and internalized from the designed landscape of the sharecropping tradition, where the elegance of nature and the softness of the hills are the result of a productive culture and an aesthetic, almost religious vision.

In this context, the roots that remain are the solid awareness of a message and a business culture that has been able to win the trust of important and demanding clients. A sustainable philosophy for a globalized world. The world dimension of i-Mesh is in its ability to translate contemporary trends, processes, and desires into a business model capable of providing proximity, planning, and service to clients around the world, along with flawless, just-on-time production performance.

The Promenade at Expo Dubai 2020 

Commissioned to create public comfort at a planetary event marked by climate challenge, the Promenade at Expo City in Dubai is an exemplary story among those of i-Mesh. The largest-ever folding sun screen was designed by Werner Sobek with the idea of harnessing i-Mesh's potential for customization-dedicated and identity-driven patterns and its unique structural features. 

This project represents the longest shaded pedestrian pathway ever and is an example of how comfort can be created in a city environment exposed to very high temperatures, without the use of heavy structures and cross beams typical of installations of this type. From a sustainability point of view, this has meant a saving of 30 km of extruded aluminum, which corresponds to 31 tons of CO2; producing the lowest amount of waste ever created for a textile installation of this size. The traditional textile industry normally has waste ranging from 20 percent to 45 percent of fibers and chemicals, and uses water at various stages of production, leading to serious pollution problems. The Dubai Promenade saved 16 tons of fiber and chemicals without using water. That sky against the sky of 52,426 m² is an amazing visual effect. 

Tapestries by Marco Ferreri 

Marco Ferreri's monochrome Forte Fibra tapestries are design and production experiences full of meaning, authentic metaphors with many levels of interpretation, and works of profound rational construction shot through with flashes that redefine identity and vision. 

The virtuosity with which the radicality of the thread is exalted, in progressive sequences until the essence of the decoration is composed, responds to a structured logic where the balance of the material merges with the construction of the weave and pattern. Alongside this harmonious layout appears the iridescent dimension and depth of planes that make the surface infinite, as well as the dialogue with light that prepares the change of language and perception. In Forte Fibra tapestries cohabit the strength of the project made of intuition and theoretical intelligence with the constructive capacity of the artifact. In search of a relationship with the context and the elements that surround it, I land on the immaterial and symbolic dimension of the pattern.