We have just come back from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in the north of Iraq, after an absence lasted one year and a half. With great pleasure we saw that despite the aggravation of the economic situation linked to the conflict with ISIS and the oil crisis, many public works have continued uninterruptedly, the great road that joins from north to south the country is now almost completed and much more will be done, thanks to the agreements for the direct supply of gas and oil to Turkey, without the intermediation of Iraq, which has drained all its resources.
We have met again the people we worked with for two years, between 2014 and 2016, when we built the fountains of a private Customer, and as always, we found a special welcome. We met also new people with whom we are beginning a new project: the construction of nine fountains, between 2017 and 2019, at Empire World, the real estate and city development project in Erbil, covering an area of 750,000 square meters including residential, leisure and entertainment areas, services and office / commercial space.
Of course, our customer is not a customer like any other, not just for his innate entrepreneurial and social skills, but above all for his insights and love for his country. It is a positive link generator, so that we are now in direct contact with Matthew C. Vander Borgh C Concept Design BV, who has completed the masterplan of Empire World, and with Koert Vermeulen and Brice Schneider of ACT Lighting Design, which together have designed the whole concept of the Towers & Empire Business complex lighting.
Always thanks to him, during an informal meeting, we presented Forme d’Acqua to the most influential stakeholders, including the spokesman of Kurdistan Government Sven Dzia, and the mayor of the capital Erbil Nihad Latif Qoja, paving the way for a collaboration with the institutions of a Region that has never lost its political stability, the desire to grow and get to the attention of a world scenario, not because of the conflicts around, but for what it represents with its millenary history. Consider the origin of the glass and then the link between those lands and Murano glass factory or the Citadel of Erbil, one of the oldest and best preserved urban settlements in the world, today under the auspices of the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) that with a conservative restoration in collaboration with UNESCO, is bringing it back to its ancient splendor.
In these years, every time I talked about our works in Iraq, the answer was almost always the same: “You’re crazy to go there!”
Well, in my opinion, you’re crazy if you stay at home!
We work with the top brands in the fountains branch and water cleaning, we adopt very high quality standards, we simplify the technology so that it can be used by as many people as possible and therefore usable, appropriate and effective in each place, in Iraq too.
This is not our “plus“, it’s just the normal working condition we always use and everyone can reach it, if you want. Our true “plus” is to be Italian artisans and, therefore, to be yourself.
Have a nice journey!
