Juan Mellen: "Design goes beyond aesthetics"

Among the participants in the II Biennial of Design of Havana is the Spanish communicator Juan Mellen, executive director of the Meeting of Design Companies in his country, RED, who has been granted an important space within the theoretical program of the event, with the presentation of a conference on Tuesday, at the Palacio del Segundo Cabo, and the realization during three days of a workshop, in the gallery of the Project Spaces.

"I am going to convey to you the methodology and the way of communicating the talent of so many professionals, to bring design to society as a cultural element," he told Arte por Excelencias who, in addition to his experience, brings BDHabana the scoop of the next one presentation of the new Spanish Design Institute in Madrid.

"Like RED, this will also be a non-profit entity, but with a social purpose and that in the future aims to be a design lobby in Spain to communicate the public and private, in order to promote the best image of the design that is created in our country and give service to those companies and organizations that have the design as a competitive strategy, "he comments enthusiastically.

Despite not having participated in the first edition of the event organized by the National Office of Design in the Bigger Antilles, Juan Mellen has closely followed the evolution of this discipline on the Island.

"I was not in the Biennial I, but I saw that beginning of the new times in 2016. I think it is denoted, in some way, how the design that is being created in Cuba, that new Cuban design - I am going to call it that - is reaching social levels that perhaps were not seen in previous years ".

About the relevance of meetings like BDHabana, the Spanish specialist told Arte por Excelencias:

"I think that this type of event serves, precisely, as a speaker and also as an antenna to transmit the best design that is done in Cuba and so that both governmental organizations and society itself can understand that design goes beyond aesthetics, materials or products; but we are talking about an attitude for things well done, for things that convey messages, an emotion and that do not need to have only a physical, material or cosmetic effect ".

Together with Mellen, more than 200 specialists from some twenty countries participate in the II Biennial of Design of Havana, which will culminate on June 16 in the city of Camagüey and will include the realization of the X International Congress of Design Form 2019, in the capital Palace of Conventions.