An Interview with: Alan Friedman

Alan Friedman, moderator at the Visio.Next Summit, the conference on the future of luxury and jewelry, which inaugurated the VicenzaOro Show on January 19th. What economic 'ideas' were you able to capture while visiting VicenzaOro and during you opening talk? «This is my first experience at VicenzaOro and it has taught me to appreciate the importance of a Show that I knew of but had never had the chance to attend. I have been able to see the importance of the international B2B community that gyrates around the event, and therefore the enormous potential and value expressed by made in Italy and international excellence. Wandering among the stands, I have also understood the imprint and innovative design that Italian Exhibition Group has managed to impress on the exhibition, with an organic division into the various segments in jewelry. It's all extremely beautiful and intelligent, and I pay my compliments to all the management, under the leadership of Lorenzo Cagnoni, Matteo Marzotto and Corrado Facco, for what they have done so far and for the many projects to come.» A comment on Italian exports. «From the figures that emerged during the Show's opening event, the Visio.Next Summit, which I had the pleasure of chairing, the Italian gold and jewelry sector registered exports equal to 5.2 billion Euros in the first 9 months of 2017. A trend that reflects the one recorded in the same year by the entire luxury segment, which grew by 10%. It's good then that the jewelry sector is also going at full speed in order to generate positive ripple effects and create allied companies in the territory, especially in provincial industrial organizations, in the best sense of the word, like Vicenza, or in other gold districts, like Arezzo and Valenza. I believe that, in a world of bitcoin speculation, the real value of gold and the beauty of so many things that Italy produces, will be appreciated more and more. The Italian style, much-loved the world over, is an advantage, but, now more than ever, it must try to get itself onto the markets that count and that generate important turnovers.»

Based on your knowledge of the international market and the Italian economy, which foreign markets could made in Italy luxury exports aim at? «If we speak of luxury exports, the scene has always been dominated by the United States, which has been joined overbearingly in recent years by the Gulf countries, China, India, Singapore and South East Asia, with a hard core of all that part of Europe that never gave in to the crisis. Strategic targets which Italy's savoir-faire could easily conquer, thanks to its undisputed and world-famous quality. In order to make this happen, you have to first be aware of how you can, and should, try to improve the image of made in Italy luxury abroad.» What is your advice? «In my opinion, you have to start from a simple but e reflective strategy: having a vision of a targeted and glob- al communication, able to promote the enormous potential that made in Italy luxury already expresses, in order to increase volumes and incomes. Your country's economy, even if in rather different terms, is also at central theme in my new book, which will be coming out soon. The title speaks for itself: Ten things to know about the Italian economy before it's too late (Newton Compton Editori, ed). In this book, I wanted to report on the light and dark of Italian economy in an easy way. But I would say that virtuous examples, like the VICENZAORO 'system' should lead everyone to realize which road to take to make the economy grow and to create jobs. It is a good example of the many pockets of excellence that there are in Italy.»