We The Italians | Italian design: Giulia Zoavo, Italian Plates

Italian design: Giulia Zoavo, Italian Plates

Italian design: Giulia Zoavo, Italian Plates

  • WTI Magazine #124 Feb 16, 2020
  • 869

Giulia Zoavo is an Italian-born, Brooklyn-based graphic designer and illustrator. After several years spent working as a graphic designer in Italy, in 2016 she quit her job to pursue her passion for illustration. One year later she started collaborating with the creative agency Sagmeister&Walsh and moved to New York City to follow her dreams.

While living in the US, she became very fascinated by the iconic American license plates. She got the chance to discover and study them closely despite her little knowledge in motors. Giulia especially loves how they all differ from each others and the amazing drawings, symbols and nicknames that make them unique. In her project Italian plates she tries to imagine how would Italian plates look like if they had the same features as the American ones.

Giulia came up with this idea while traveling in her homeland and this project is her attempt to answer to that curiosity. Since the word “plates" evokes both automotive and culinary worlds, she designed them with a focus on traditional products from the 20 Italian regions. Wine and food are a big part of the Italian tradition, and every region is unique, so it was her goal to honor this diversity, with a hint of cuteness and humor.

Italian Plates is an imaginary road trip across our beautiful country and the culinary traditions she grew up with. But it’s also a project that sums up her story – the combination of her Italian roots and her new life in the United States and how these two identities are mixing up to create a whole new world; the encounter between her first job (graphic design) and her current occupation (illustration), and lastly puns and words, which are one of her greatest passions – along, of course, with food.

At the moment, Italian Plates is just a personal project, but Giulia is planning to bring it to life – her current challenge is to print them on metal just like the original ones. Another idea she would love to explore is to repeat this experiment with the European states instead of Italian regions.

She doesn’t know exactly where this project is going to bring her but she definitely has big plans for it. 

While we can’t wait to see how her project will evolve, let’s take a road trip through her magical and colorful world. And stay tuned for her next adventure!