1Solo.com – Vintage and Antiques have their own Marketplace
THE BALON IS AXTO BUT ON THE INTERNET: THE MARKETPLACE IS BORN 1SOLO.COM
CIRCULAR ECONOMICS, REUSE, COLLECTING AND ANTIQUES PROTAGONISTS MARCO GIUSTA COUNCILOR: “PILOT PROJECT FOR OTHER REALITIES IN THE SECTOR”
The Balon Merchants Association inaugurates the new virtual market where citizens will be able to sell, buy and negotiate prices only for unique and original products.
Direct sales will be carried out by professionals in the sector: restorers, antique dealers and in the future also selected collectors
One of the largest centers of antiques and vintage at national and European level moves to the web: thus the marketplace is born 1solo.com, a platform where Turin citizens and regular visitors to the Balon will be able to sell, buy and deal only with unique and original products thanks to direct sales carried out by professionals in the sector: antique dealers, artisan shops, Hand Made operators and, in the future, also selected ones collectors.
The Balon in Turin has existed since 1857, and has always been the historic flea market of the first capital of Italy: organized since 1987 by the Balon Merchants Association(www.balon.it),takes place every Saturday in one of the most evocative districts of the city, Borgo Dora and, every second Sunday of the month, the largest edition is staged, with over 350 exhibitors, called Gran Balon.
The Balon is therefore the beating heart of 1solo.com, for a project conceived in collaboration with the Magma Marketing Agency: right from the conception phase, the goal was set to support traditional trade and crafts, giving the opportunity to launch a platform with services and functions that kept the characteristics intact intrinsic to the antiquities.
«The Balon is a historic market that has a great renewal force. In a moment of emergency and extreme difficulty like the present one, initiatives like this are an excellent starting point for reinventing and relaunching oneself – says Marco Giusta, Councilor for Decentralization and Suburbs of the City of Turin -. It is the sign that the AxTO project has really worked, combining ministerial resources with the capacity of the Municipality offices and finally with the great desire of the Turin area to prepare for the future. I hope this example can inspire other companies in the sector».
A real project “born from the bottom” to bring to the web the peculiarities of a sector that drowns its roots in local tradition.
The idea then met the right opportunity when the City of Turin launched the “call of proposals” for innovative experiments aimed at enhancing the city suburbs, as part of the Living Lab – AxTO on Circular Economy projects.
AxTO – Actions for the Turin suburbs is a project for the care, maintenance and regeneration of the territory carried out by the City of Turin and co-financed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers as part of the Periphery Call.
The marketplace project, presented at the end of 2018, was ranked at the very top of the ranking and, after about 9 months of experimentation and a further 3 of assiduous comparison with sector operators, took shape and substance at the beginning of 2020.
Turin citizens and fans of the vintage and antiques sector will therefore be able to access to 1solo.com in complete safety via pc, tablet and smartphone, finding unique and original pieces, 100% guaranteed.
To guarantee customers there will be the rigorous procedure for accrediting the platform as a professional shop or as a verified collector: in fact, there are some selection and control steps on the documentation that ensure the presence on 1solo.com only of holders of VAT or identified individuals.
The product categories, already present in the hundreds on 1solo.com, hey are many and embrace all the types of objects that you can find at Balon: from furniture to furnishing accessories, from “hand made” objects for home and fashion to works of art.
nd more watches and precious items, music and instruments, books and prints, objects and collectibles, to continue with vintage branded clothing: we are talking about designer or “hand made” clothing from proven craft shops.
From now on, therefore, also due to the containment measures due to the Covid19 pandemic, it will be possible to attend this fascinating history and costume workshop in complete safety on the web: in this regard, a magazine has also been activated (1solo.mag a which can be accessed directly from the main site) which intends to inform and give ideas to all fans of the sector also through valuable collaborations curated by experts and operators.
Balon’s History
The sun is shining at the Gran Balon.
The old man tries to repair himself with his hand, he is asking the merchant about the condition of the rubbers of the fountain pen spotted among the many, indicated with childish conviction. Then he takes a step and places himself in the shadow cone, takes out his monocle and approaches the tiny fountain pen. He is an expert, his are almost sacred gestures, the meticulous examination of the ancient, archaic object, which current fingers could, with the purchase, regenerate.
Along the village the radios on Sunday matches are at full volume as was the custom in the years in which the current antiques lived their first glory. Dialogues on how well the sun feels good, how vice versa the cold stings here where the sun does not shine, here where the junk dealer stands still and sees those who defy time and look for something they have lost.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is translated Pride and Prevention; two bedside tables, painted in light blue and green, cost 220 euros; 50 cents for the postcard that Aunt Giovanna sent from Terni, stamped January 2, 1966, to the grandchildren of Rivoli bringing them obsequious greetings in elegant handwriting.
No shelter from the sun, on the other hand, on the open space between via Mameli and via Borgo Dora, where the wedding dresses find space, kissed by the rays. Some have yellowed, most have remained white. Two women, mother and daughter, review them, touch, appreciate and disdain, comment. Once again the young woman’s eyes light up: she feels it: she falls in love with her.
At the Gran Balon, the second chance market, where time is circular and space is marked by the moving borders of the shadow line, when the girl pays for the white dress the sun begins to go down.
(Things I saw today STORY, published in La Stampa, Chronicle of Turin, Saturday 16 March 2013)
Marco Giacosa
Magma Marketing - agenzia comunicazione, pubblicità, gestione social network, marketing digitale a Torino
- Published in Markets