P RATION - COMBAT FOOD
Ration P was born from the need to safeguard Sicilian culture by taking into consideration its most identifying aspect. In nutrition, pastry plays a role detached from the need to eat, carving out an exclusive sphere full of meaning, more linked to the profound universe of human nature, to rituals, to celebrations. In a historical period prone to the loss of cultures and the decline of diversity, it is appropriate to think of expedients that can preserve identities, favoring cultural exchange and the resulting growth. The project is a ration of foods representative of the Sicilian pastry tradition and uses the caption "Combat food" to refer to the rations used by the Italian army.
THE POST-INDUSTRIAL QUARRY
Standing before the former pumice quarries in Lipari, one is fascinated by an ancient monument, entrusted to us by who knows what civilization. Then the fascination yields to despondency. Charming, deplorable, the island landscape is a perpetual contrast. The Pumex factory looks like a looming specter in which everything has remained as it was: the employee attendance sheets, the list of materials to be purchased, the bags ready for distribution and a tangled mass of industrial equipment. Studying design in Sicily also means having to intervene in pre-existant stories, burdened with experiences like this one. The pumice quarries will no longer be able to operate when, sooner or later, the available material runs out. The project does not intend to redevelop the site in the Porticello area, but rather to experiment with the qualities of pumice, a primordial material that has not yet been fully explored. The compound, combined with fluxes to lower its melting point, was brought to a temperature of about 1000°, on stoneware supports. The project produced unstable results, typical of an experiment.
