Sustainability meets design and helps trees grow

Designer and architect Fabio Novembre’s installation To Make a Tree successfully connects design, art, technology, and urban ecology. This Italian designer’s objet d’art involving the Fiat 500 will be presented at Qubique on the forecourt of Tempelhof Airport. Fiat is also the trade show’s exclusive automobile partner.

At first, trees growing out of cars seems to be a paradox. Nature and the automobile do not complement each other like salt and pepper or design and art. Nevertheless, in Fabio Novembre’s installation, diverse trees stretch up out of fiberglass models of the Fiat 500c.

The Via Montenapoleone is one of the most expensive and exclusive shopping arcades in Europe, which features brands like Gucci, Armani, and plenty of illegally parked cars, since the street is subject to a blatantly disregarded no parking rule. At the same time, the Via Montenapoleone has another conspicuous feature: there are no trees. In 2009, Milan’s mayor decided to initiate a project for the street, for which he could win over Italian designer and architect Fabio Novembre. The project was intended to help develop a solution for the Via Montenapoleone, and Novembre designed the installation featuring the name ›To Make a Tree‹. In the summer of 2009, trees grew out of 20 life-sized models of the Fiat 500 positioned on the street. The installation combines both of the mayor’s requests: the street now has vegetation, and the parking problem has also been addressed. About one year later, the installation was also able to be admired in Paris at the Place Vendôme.

To Make a Tree comes to Berlin

After Milan, Paris, and London, To Make a Tree will be presented in Berlin this year. Presenting the installation by Fabio Novembre at the Qubique trade show was equally interesting for both Fiat and the show’s organizers, since they recognized many potential points of contact between the Fiat 500, the installation, and Qubique. Individualism and an original design are two of these points. Qubique will be presenting brands that are authentic, that have a history, and that are also focused on the future. To Make a Tree plays not only with the history of this cult car, it is also a symbiosis of design, technology, and the configuration of the human habitat. The overlap between the Fiat 500, the installation, and the trade show is fortunate for everyone involved. Visitors to the trade show can look forward to being greeted by this impressive example of design in harmony with mobility and sustainability right at the entrance.

An everyday Italian masterpiece

Since the re-launch of the 500, Fiat has continued to be involved with more projects in the fields of design and art. With the return of this cult car, which represents a masterpiece and part of many people’s childhood, Fiat is also initiating the exhibition ›Everyday Masterpieces‹, which presents seven celebrities with their own favorite consumer goods. Already during the 1960s, it was the car’s unique design that made the 500 into an icon of its time. There are over half a million design options available for the modern version, which means that everyone can be a designer and create their own personal Fiat 500. This year, Fiat is also excited to receive the Compasso d’Oro ADI, one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious design awards. With this award, the Fiat 500 sets another standard and enforces its status as an ›Everyday Masterpiece‹.