UNIC [National Tanning Industry Union] and Cuoio di Toscana are supporting an edu-charity initiative for Missioni Sogni non-profit association: four paediatric wards in Italy and three hospitality and support facilities will receive a kit, designed by Giuseppe Zanotti, to be transformed into personal gifts and gifts for others.

Milan, 2 December 2020 – Spending the best days of the year in hospital is very hard for children and their families. This year, the COVID pandemic emergency underway has made external visitors, parties, jugglers, as well as entertainer’s visits, essentially impossible, thus making days even more difficult and seemingly endless. That is why, by partnering with Missione Sogni non-profit association (www.missionesogni.org), the Consorzio Cuoio di Toscana, the pillar of excellence in sustainable craftmanship, and UNIC, the most important tanning association in the world, backed by the creativity of designer Giuseppe Zanotti, support and guide this great initiative to make this time more carefree and joyful for the paediatric wards of four Italian hospitals, and two hospitality homes and social support facilities. The children involved are hospitalised in the paedatrics wards of the National Cancer Institute of the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan, the Stella Maris Foundation, the children of the Maria Letizia Verga Centre for the study and research of child leukemia at the paediatric clinic of the Milan Bicocca University, The Hospital Presidium of the Local Health and Welfare Agency Fatebenefratelli Sacco of Milan – Bambini V. Buzzi Hospital, the children housed in the hospitality homes of the Archè Foundation and the children supported with their families by the Social Services Consortium of Verbano. Everyone responded with great enthusiasm to the initiative.

Thanks to this project, conceived and curated by the costume scholar and professor of La Sapienza University, Fabiana Giacomotti, always attentive to the playful and experiential aspect of education, during the first few weeks of December, 300 children in long-term care will receive a ”Box of Wonders”: a kit of Christmas shapes made of leather, and small accessories and details to decorate them and turn them into ornaments for the tree, key rings, or nice accessories for mum’s bag or dad’s briefcase. The elements that make up the “Box of Wonders”, including bells, Christmas balls, elegant pumps and boots in the iconic Zanotti style, are packed in a box. They are exclusively part of large leather collections samples to which the craftmanship and creativity of the designer, combined with that of the children and their mothers, will be able to breathe new life. A playful, engaging, and interesting time to brighten up Christmas and, at the same time, suggest that everything can be transformed into something beautiful, everything continues to have value over time, as long as it is handled with love and respect.

A fun video-tutorial will guide the children. It was developed by Giuseppe Zanotti, whose Christmas greeting cards, which he draws and paints every year, are among the most anticipated by the fashion world. The children will just need a little imagination and good will to create beautiful objects for the holidays that may also be posted on the initiative partners’ websites.

As Antonella Camerana, the founder of Missione Sogni non-profit Association, claims: “During this dramatic period for our whole country, I am happy to be involved as President of the Missione Sogni non-profit Association to bring Cuoio di Toscana and UNIC closer to the Paediatric Wards of the Hospitals with which we normally work by organising therapeutic gardens, an activity that is suspended at this time. I am certain the “Box of Wonders” project will provide some joy and happiness to many children and their families during the Christmas season.”

Fulvia Bacchi, the General Manager of UNIC, adds: “We were very pleased to join this project that Fabiana Giacomotti proposed to us, to express our solidarity and closeness to the children and their families that are going through a difficult time. Our association represents the producers of a natural material, such as leather, that accompanies us throughout our lives in many everyday objects, and we are pleased to make its malleability known.

“Through the eyes of a child we can better see ourselves and the world around us”, states Antonio Quirici, the President of the Tuscan Leather Consortium: “By their example, children teach us the wonder and amazement that we adults tend to forget, particularly during times that put us to the test, such as the one we are experiencing. For this reason, Cuoio di Toscana strongly wanted to promote this initiative, because it is essential to preserve the little ones’ unique ability to face critical issues with energy and a smile.

“The Christmas holidays should be a time of joy, sharing, and carefree for everyone. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, particularly at a difficult time like the one we are experiencing. The “Box of Wonders” is an initiative to which I strongly wanted to contribute with the hope of providing a carefree, peaceful time to children who need it most, and to the families who take care of them”, affirms Giuseppe Zanotti, President and Creative Director of Giuseppe Zanotti Spa.