World Hope Forum Italy
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Curated by Arianna Mereu, WHF Ambassador for Italy
Sunday, June 7, 2026
15:00-18:00 CET
9:00-12:00 EST
What does hope look like in Italy today? WHF Ambassador for Italy, Arianna Mereu, asked this question when compiling an inspiring representation of the country precisely at a time when its culture and identity are most evolving. Join us on Sunday, June 7th when a renaissance of hope awaits — spanning the vast reaches of this creative peninsula and exploring the craftspeople, designers, chefs and filmmakers reinventing our perceptions of Italy.
Arianna Mereu
Arianna Mereu is a foresight strategist, trend forecaster and futurist based in Florence, Italy. She helps organisations read what is coming before it becomes obvious, translating weak signals and emerging cultural shifts into strategic decisions. She coordinates the Master in Fashion Futures & Foresight Strategies at Polimoda, sits on the Advisory Board of the Fondazione Italian Institute for the Future, and from 2022 to 2025 coordinated the Master From Farm to Fabric to Fashion at Polimoda, mentored by Li Edelkoort and Philip Fimmano. She is a published researcher and international conference speaker.
Lidewij Edelkoort
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she co-founded the World Hope Forum with Philip Fimmano as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. Launched in 2020, PROUD SOUTH is a mesmerising visual book that celebrates the creative forces from the southern parts of the planet. Through the colourful and expressive lens of contemporary fashion, photography, styling and art, Edelkoort and Lili Tedde bring together emerging and established talents from wide and far, illustrating that the axis of global creativity has indeed dramatically shifted. In 2025, Edelkoort is launching a second edition of PROUD SOUTH focusing on craft and design. Of the movement, she says, “A southern generation of creatives is standing up, expressing local craft, embracing regional materials, recognising ancestral practices and cherishing indigenous values.”
@lidewijedelkoort
Philip Fimmano
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Philip Fimmano is a trend analyst and consultant, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies for international companies in fashion, textiles, interiors and lifestyle. In 2011, Fimmano co-founded Talking Textiles with Li Edelkoort; an ongoing initiative to promote awareness and innovation in textiles through touring exhibitions, a trend publication, a design prize and free educational programmes – including New York Textile Month, a citywide festival celebrating textile creativity each September. He is the co-author of the design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new platform for creative community building. Fimmano is the mentor of Polimoda's fashion forecasting masters and textile masters in Florence, and he is on the Board of Directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.