A design exhibition in a Southern Italian monastery? Sure please!

In a picturesque Seventeenth-century monastery in Salve, a city in Italy’s south-eastern area of Salento, a design exhibition brings collectively the work of fifteen modern creatives to have a good time native craft heritage and landscapes.

‘Intrecci•Intertwinings’: designers experimenting with southern Italian craft

Lots of the designers within the present, titled ‘Intrecci•Intertwinings’, have harnessed supplies or making strategies from the Salento area, often known as the ‘heel’ of Italy. The exhibition marks the primary chapter of a broader initiative to culturally regenerate Salve and the encompassing space, guaranteeing its id and financial system transcends the confines of seasonal tourism.

The vast majority of individuals are Italian, and embody glassmakers 6:AM, designers Duccio Maria Gambi and Andrea Vitti, and Tipstudio, the fabric research-driven design observe of Imma Matera and Tommaso Lucarini. Organised by the municipality of Salve and Maria Elena Perrotta, the exhibition is co-curated by design specialists Valentina Rito and Giacomo Niccolai.

‘In curating the exhibition, we wished to deliver ahead practices that intertwine, because the title suggests, the tangible and intangible heritage of the Salento area with modern narratives,’ says Rito, who has household heritage in Lecce, a province in Salento.

The three themes explored within the exhibition – gentle and ritual; threads and weaving; materials and roots – are all ‘grounded within the territory’s cultural historical past, however interpreted by new languages,’ Rito says.

The previous Capuchin monastery, surrounded by cypress timber on the outskirts of Salve, is ‘an lively participant within the narrative’ of the exhibition, Rito provides. ‘Its structure, unique frescoes, untouched rooms stuffed with reminiscence – all of this deeply knowledgeable how the works are displayed and the way they’re learn.’

The alternatives of designers and artisans for the present responded to the three chosen themes. ‘We had been in search of folks with a deep understanding of processes and supplies, who might absolutely embrace the exhibition’s exploration of heritage, each when it comes to craft and using native sources,’ says Rito.

6:AM, which attracted popularity of its Milan Design Week exhibition this 12 months, has created blown glass sculptures for the exhibition utilizing powdered ‘Pietra Leccese’ (Lecce stone), a limestone native to the area.

Andrea Vitti, a designer from Lecce, presents ‘Bolla’, a centrepiece made out of native olive wooden, crafted in collaboration with wooden turner Rodolfo Rolli. Like many olive timber within the area, the supply tree for the work was affected by the plant illness Xylella – however, by this creation, finds new life.

Florence-based designer Duccio Maria Gambi developed new work for the present throughout a residency with native stone producer Bianco Cave. His work with Lecce stone resulted in a collection of furnishings items, slabs and a wall piece that experiment with ornamental liquid pigments. Graphic motifs on the stone slabs make reference to engravings left on rocks at a seashore in Lecce, in addition to photos from Gambi’s personal recollections of holidays in Salento.

Different exhibitors embody artist and designer Cosma Frascina, Spanish structure and design studio Mayice, Milan-based designer Marco Guazzini and lighting artisans Morghen Studio.