CUT&PASTE BIO
Zoe Romano is a craftivist, digital and fabrication strategist, lecturer focused on social innovation, intersectional technologies, open design. She graduated in Philosophy at the University of Milan, worked for several years in strategic communication and developed her social skills as media-hacktivist on precarity, material and immaterial labor in the creative industries. She worked for Arduino as communication strategist from 2013 to 2017 and, in the same years, co-founded one of the first makerspaces in Milan. She’s now a consultant on R&D, teaches courses in various organisations and collaborates on EU-funded digital social innovation projects. She is the creator of interdisciplinary artistic and research projects at the intersection of e-textiles, digital fabrication and citizen science in the context of care.
ITALIANO
Zoe Romano è una craftivist, digital e fabrication strategist, docente focalizzata su innovazione sociale, tecnologie intersezionali, open design. Laureata in Filosofia all’Università di Milano, ha lavorato per diversi anni nella comunicazione strategica e ha sviluppato le sue competenze sociali come media-hacktivist su precarietà, lavoro materiale e immateriale nelle industrie creative. Ha lavorato per Arduino come communication strategist dal 2013 al 2017 e, negli stessi anni, ha co-fondato uno dei primi makerspace di Milano. Ora è consulente in R&S, tiene corsi in varie organizzazioni e collabora a progetti di innovazione sociale digitale finanziati dall’UE. È la creatrice di progetti artistici e di ricerca interdisciplinari all’incrocio tra e-textiles, fabbricazione digitale, citizen science e ambito della cura.
NOW I’M BUSY ON
- Woolshed (2024-2027) – Coarse wool, which is the rough, lower-quality wool typically not suited for fine textile production, is often discarded illegally or disposed of at high costs. WOOLSHED addresses this critical challenge by promoting innovation and cooperation among diverse stakeholders to transform this waste into a valuable resource. The project focuses on affordable, open-source, and user-friendly technologies to help small-scale wool processors and other businesses engage in the wool industry. Additionally, its focus on networking and design validates new economic opportunities for the Alpine region.
- Pacesetters (2024-2027 ) is a research and innovation action bringing together 15 consortium partners from across Europe, coordinated by NTNU. It carries out collaborative, artistic and practice-based research to keep pace with the transition, tests innovative ideas to set the pace of the transition and assess strategies to push the pace of the transition.
- Spearhead Makeaware (2022-2024) Spearhead aims to tackle the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance with a unique multidisciplinary research-based digital solutions and patient-centric approach that addresses stewardship and prevention. Read more
- Centrinno (2020-2024) EU-funded project focused on circular practices in 9 European cities. I’m the scientific advisor for Nema, one of the partner for Milan’s pilot
- Scale 7 – Fashion and design studios – I’m supporting the setup of the studios and curating the training program in collaboration with Fashion Tech Accelerator
- Fabricademy – Open source circular fashion module
- Out of Fashion – Sustainability and maker approach
I’m available from freelance projects in Italy and abroad. Interested in working with me? Drop me an email: Zoe Romano – contact (at) zoeromano.eu
PUBLICATIONS
- Zoe Romano – Lo-Tech is the New Hi-Tech – in Conference proceedings Commons in Design – 2023
- Maddalena Fragnito, Zoe Romano – On the Fall of Joy – in “Synthetic Becoming“ – Verlag 2022
- Zoe Romano – Produrre il futuro della moda. Proposte di utopie concrete – in “Remanufacturing Italy – L’Italia nell’epoca della postproduzione“. Accedi al volume rilasciato in open access. Collana: Quaderni della ricerca – IUAV Mimesis 2020
- Zoe Romano – From smart textile to on demand, locally fabricated design – Textile Intersections – Conference proceedings September 2019
- Zoe Romano et AA.VV – Rebelling with care – EU-funded Publication July 2019
- Zoe Romano, Serena Cangiano – Ease of repair as a design ideal: A reflection on how open source models can support longer lasting ownership of, and care for, technology – Ephemera Journal – Repair Issue – May 2019
- AA.VV – La Cura che cambia – Pratiche e culture di salute collaborativa in Italia – October 2018
- Zoe Romano – “Fablab e Makerspace: co-costruire l’innovazione fuori dall’accademia” – for Scienziati in Affanno, CNR – May 2018
- Serena Cangiano, Zoe Romano, Matteo Loglio – “The growth of Digital Social Innovation: an open source approach to support the innovation for the societal good” for EAD conference Design for Next’, Rome – April 2017
- Zoe Romano, Serena Cangiano – Chapter: “Open Sourcing Wearables: the Impact of Open Technologies and User Engagement in the Design of Body-Borne Interactive Products” in Empowering Users through Design – Interdisciplinary Studies and Combined Approaches for Technological Products and Services – Bihanic, David – Springler 2015
- Serena Cangiano, Zoe Romano, Massimo Banzi – “From wearable computing to the design of interactive open wearables”. 10th European Academy of Design Conference – Crafting the Future
- Adam Arvidsson , Giannino Malossi & Serpica Naro – “Passionate Work? Labour Conditions in the Milan Fashion Industry“ – T&F 2010 – More info
BACKGROUND
I live in Milano, where i got my degree in Philosophy at Università Statale and enjoyed my passion for digital culture at the Master in Media Science and Technology at University of Pavia. In the ’00 I’ve been into media activism and political visual art for 10 years, working on precarity, social production, material and immaterial labor in creative and service industries.
PAST PROJECTS
I co-developed several projects in the context of the Italian and European post-1999 movement, such as Chainworkers.org, EuroMayDay.org, and the icon of Italian precarious laborers and their struggles, San Precario. In 2005, I was part of the initiators of Serpica Naro media hoax, the fictive fashion designer accepted to the official calendar of Milano Fashion Week. Since then, I’ve been developing the Serpica Naro Collective brand and its non-profit association with several events and initiatives. I’ve been earning my bread working for advertising agencies as copywriter, content manager and social media strategist for more than 10 years.
Read more about Serpica Naro:
- On the Life and Deeds of San Precario – by Ilaria Vanni and Marcello Tarì 2005
- Images within the Precarity Movement in Italy – by Alice Mattoni and Nicole Doerr in Feminist Review, No. 87, Italian Feminisms (2007), pp. 130-135
- Serpica Naro and the Others. The Media Sociali Experience in Italian Struggles Against Precarity – by Alice Mattoni 2008
- From open source branding to collaborative clothing – by Zoe Romano
- Staging precariousness: The Serpica Naro catwalk during the Milan Fashion Week (PDF) – by Silvia Gherardi and Annalisa Murgia 2013
- “Why Save The World When You Can Design It?” Precarity and Fashion in Milan – by Ilara Vanni 2015
From February 2013 to 2017 I joined Arduino team to give my contribution on digital strategy and special projects on wearable technology.
I started getting interested in digital manufacturing especially regarding the way it could accelerate the process of spreading open-fashion, micro-social-enterprises and p2p economies. I’ve been exploring these topics co-founding two projects: Openwear (2009/2012) and Wefab.it (2010-2012).
I’ve finally co-founded (together with Costantino Bongiorno) a collaborative lab in Milan in 2014 focused on digital fabrication and digital social innovation: WeMake Makerspace and Fablab. Take a look at some cool pics from the lab. I sold my shares of WeMake in 2019 but I still collaborate with its team.
I’m happily part of Smarketing network.
I CONTRIBUTED TO MAGAZINE LIKE
Digicult – Enjoy digital culture
Doppiozero – Rivista culturale
CheFuturo – Lunario dell’innovazione (closed in 2015)
I DESIGN AND TEACH TRAINING MODULES ON
- Wearables
- E-textiles
- Agile Fashion & new business modules
- Digital fabrication for fashion applications
- Co-design
Interested in hosting a module? Drop me an email: Zoe Romano – contact (at) zoeromano.eu
CONTRIBUTIONS
- Advisory Board Open!next – Transforming collaborative production creation
- Remodel expert panel for Danish Design Center
- Scientific Committee of REIsearch’s Citizen Engagement and Media Campaign on the Next Generation Internet
- Advisory Board of Digital Social Innovation for Europe
JURY PANEL
SELECTED CONFERENCES
– MakerFaire Vilnius – Empowering diversity with soft electronics and open source design – Vilnius 2019
– Out of Fashion / Agile Fashion towards Manufacturing 4.0 module at Polimoda – Firenze 2019
– Europadigitale: Inclusione Innovazione / Spazi innovativi di interazione at Meetcenter – Milano 2019
– Focus Olivetti – Panel on social innovators in urban landscape – Torino 2018
– MakerFaire Barcelona – Panel on Embedding Digital and Bio Technologies in Fashion – Barcelona 2017
– What next for digital social innovation conference at Nesta UK – Chaired a panel on Sustainability and Business models on DSI projects – London 2017
– Seoungsu Social Fashion Show – Seoul (South Korea) 2016
– Innovation & Ready Made – Manufacturing technologies, new production models and product life cycles – Mons 2015
– Wearable Futures – Exploring the future of wearables – Ravensbourne – London 2013
– Alternative Fashion Systems – Lecture at Parsons New School of design – New York 2012
– ACRE – Framing a competitive future – The creative and knowledge economy in European cities – Barcelona 2010
– CREAM, International Festival for Arts and Media – Yokohama 2009
– UNIFORME – Espace Temporaire – http://www.grutli.ch – Geneva 2009
– WinterCamp – Institute of Network Cultures – Amsterdam 2009
– Migrant / Media / Metropolis New Labour Struggle in the global city – Amsterdam 2008 -Migration and media-activists gather with theorists and labour organizers to discuss and share best practices in the fight against precarity and insecure labour conditions.
– Schiller Festival – “Utopia Reversed – An Assault on Neurospace” – Weimar 2005 – A two-day meeting about new forms of art and activism hitting the global mind
– Hoax is More – Furtive (re)production et Xavier Society for the Blind – Paris 2005
Do u want to get in touch? Drop me an email: Zoe Romano – contact (at) zoeromano.eu
EXHIBITIONS
– SYNTHETIC BECOMING Exhibition at Galerie FaVU in Brno
– Life on Planet Orsimanirana exhibition at MK&G – 2021
– Les Moulins de Paillard – “eTextile Cuveé” – Poncé sur le Loir 2017
– Espace Temporaire – “UNIFORME” – http://www.grutli.ch – Geneva 2009 (with Serpica Naro Collective)
– S.A.L.E Docks – “TroubleMakers” – Venezia 2007 (with Serpica Naro Collective)
– Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa – “Dis-orders” – Venezia 2006 (with Serpica Naro Collective)
ZOESCOPE 