Italy wine, design to be showcased in Design Shanghai fair

ROME, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Italian wines as well as design products will be showcased together at the next Design Shanghai trade fair in a "collective house" curated by architect Mauro Felice, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The next edition of what has become the leading Asian design fair takes place March 14-17 at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

The Italy house will showcase leading interior design and furniture brands from the Mediterranean country, according to the Italian foreign ministry.

A special place will be reserved for wine, with a Vinitaly Lounge and a preview night dedicated exclusively to Italy's wines.

"The blend of two distinctive Italian elements such as design and wine will create the right perception of our national brand," said Giovanni Mantovani, the director-general of Veronafiere SpA, a trade fair organizer specializing in the promotion of Italian products.

"The Chinese market is still a 'promised land' for Italy," Mantovani said, adding that Italian wines hold only a 5.7 percent share of that market.

As far as the design sector, sales in China of Italian furniture and other design products have risen 50 percent over the past five years, and the sector is expected to expand by another 20 percent in the coming decade, according to Italian Ambassador to Beijing Ettore Francesco Sequi.

In the first ten months of 2017, total Italian exports to China exceeded the overall number for 2016 at over 11 billion euros (13.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to Italy's ISTAT statistics agency. Enditem