In Friuli-Venezia Giulia a virtual museum dedicated to design

The Design Museum of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, MuDeFri, is a virtual museum dedicated to the “culture of design”, meaning the processes and methods of design, as well as the skills of the designers involved. It was conceived innovatively, utilizing the opportunities offered by the internet: since 2016, it has been offering online design exhibitions accessible beyond the local level. A viewer allows visitors to explore the exhibitions in 3D within a digital showroom designed by an architect, observing “real” objects recreated in the “virtual” world through precise philological reconstruction. In addition to studying and promoting the region’s manufacturing excellence, the museum—managed by an association—annually organizes the Udine Design Week, a format designed to foster the meeting between the production world, the tertiary sector, and design creativity in the region.

“The MuDeFri”, explains the president of the association, which received funding from the Cohesion Policy under the ERDF Regional Programme FRIULI VENEZIA-GIULIA 2014-2020, “was born from an analysis of the composition of the Italian productive fabric, which consists mostly of small businesses often founded by passionate men and women who were inventors as well as entrepreneurs. In Friuli, and particularly in Udine, this was evident in the chair industry, with a district that was long very important. Our goal with the museum is to enhance the manufacturing culture, distilling quality from the industry with curatorial choices, to tell the story of what has led the Friulian industry to become what it is today”.

The virtual showcase of MuDeFri is “a virtually boundless, zero-impact space to tell the story of the small and large industrial revolutions that have changed Italy in general and Friulian design in particular” the president of the association emphasizes.

The synergy with Udine Design Week has proven to be one of MuDeFri’s most important decisions over the years: between 2017 and 2022, the weeks involved 222 public and private spaces, welcomed an audience of over 10,000 people, 14 schools, and more than 400 designers: “We realized that creating 'real' exhibitions to enhance the product design of local companies serves as a driving force and allows us to promote the Museum, provides contacts, and allows our 'virtual' space to grow”. Among the collaborations is also that with the scientific hub of the University of Udine.

The development project of the Desing Museum of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, funded by the Cohesion Policy, was monitored as part of the A Scuola di OpenCoesione project during the 2021-2022 school year by class 3BGC of the Marinoni Institute in Udine, consisting of 19 students specializing in graphics and communication. The intervention aimed to create a start-up that would take over the management of the Museum from the association, which ultimately did not happen due to subsequent issues that, however, did not compromise the Museum’s activities: “The resources, about 70,000 euros, were used to support the process of creating a start-up, with legal, marketing, and communication consulting. The project”, explains the president of the association managing the Museum, “ended in the year of Covid-19, a particularly complex period, and the initial plan did not materialize, so the museum remains managed by an association and relies on volunteer work”.

However, this does not mean giving up on the project of promoting Friulian design: Udine Design Week was also held in 2024, in March. And in 2025, on the occasion of “Go2025! Nova Gorica-Gorizia European Capital of Culture”, the Friuli Venezia-Giulia Design Museum has chosen to organize the first Gorizia Design Week. Designers were given the opportunity to exhibit their work, and a competition was announced to identify projects, prototypes, and products with a functional use that explore the world of textiles.