Hosted by CUBE, this event will comprise work-in-progress towards the research project ‘Trading Africa Italiana: Design, Production, and Circulation of Italy’s Colonial Economy (1927–1941)’
This work-in-progress seminar presents early findings for a postdoctoral research proposal (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship) examining the colonial material economy of Italian Libya and East Africa under Fascism. Drawing on archival sources, the research aims to explore how objects, commodities, and interior spaces were designed, manufactured, and circulated as instruments of Italy's imperial project between 1927 and 1941.
At the centre of this inquiry is a two-way movement of goods across the Mediterranean: craft objects produced at the Scuola di Arti e Mestieri di Tripoli and Istituto Fascista per l'Artigianato della Libia were exported and sold on the Italian market at department stores such as La Rinascente. While furniture and domestic goods manufactured in Italy were shipped to furnish the homes of settlers in the colonies. Together, these exchanges reveal how the Fascist government mobilised material culture as a transnational vehicle to integrate the colonies into a national consciousness and embed the empire in the fabric of everyday life.
In keeping with the Fellowship's objective to build bridges across institutions and networks, this seminar seeks to bring together scholars across the AAD: School of Art, Architecture and Design (Afropolitan Project), from CUBE (Architecture and its Cultural Context), the School of Advanced Study (Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies) and beyond, and to invite their feedback in shaping the research at an early stage.
Speaker
Dr Dorotea Petrucci is a design historian and researcher specialising in Italian material culture. She recently completed her PhD at IUAV, University of Venice which examined the role of Italian institutions established under Fascism, particularly the Institute for Foreign Trade (Istituto per il Commercio Estero), in promoting Italian design and craft abroad.
Discussants
Prof. Nick Temple is Senior Professor of Architectural History at LondonMet. His research focuses on the history and theory of architecture, urbanism, and the relationship between culture, topography, and nature. His current book, due for publication in 2028, is titled Seismic Shifts: Nature, Human Interaction and the Built Environment.
Dr Harriet McKay is a curator and academic with a specialism in interior design history. Her most recent contribution to the Afropolitan research theme was as co-investigator for the UK/Kenya Season 2025, commissioned by the Africa Centre on behalf of the British Council. She is co-editor, with Anne Massey, of the forthcoming compendium Craft-Design and Women’s Empowerment: Stories from the Global Majority (Bloomsbury).
Chair
Prof. Matthew Barac is an architect, educator, and researcher. He leads the Afropolitan suite of research and KE projects at LondonMet which anchors the University’s partnership with the Africa Centre. He is Director of CUBE: Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies, Acting Chair of the UoA32 Panel for REF2029, and Head of Postgraduate Research at AAD.
Image credits: The architect and ceramicist Melchiorre Melis (standing) is photographed alongside his students at the Scuola Mussulmana di Mestieri ed Arti Indigene, Tripoli. In Libia, n. 9, Settembre 1938.
Details
| Date/time |
Wednesday, 01 May 2026 5.30pm - 7.00pm |
|---|---|
| Book ticket | Event ended |
| Location |
Online
|
