Slow Road, students relaunch terracotta with country design

Articolo disponibile anche in: Italian

When young, creative people explore the history and culture of the Chianti territory, they find the key to giving value and new life to the promotion of culture and tourism.

The ideas and projects of a group of students of Architectural design at the University of Florence relaunch six terracotta companies in Chianti: we see chairs in the shape of flasks and chalices, shining lanterns, play space for children, miniature towns, geometric forms in terracotta, modular support surfaces in terracotta and steel, design objects which become the expression and language of contemporary art.

These are some of the proposals elaborated by students and chosen for the pilot project, “Slow Road”, promoted by the Township of Greve in Chianti, born of an idea by Duccio Trassinelli and Demetria Verduci from Macina di San Cresci in collaboration with a seminar of the University of Florence Design Campus, and the support of the Bank of Credito Cooperativo of Impruneta/ Banco Fiorentino.

The project looks toward the realization of the ring of Montefioralle, an artistic and touristic itinerary integrated into Chianti territory, including areas for relaxation, game space and panoramas. It is aimed at tourists and families, through the creation of a new collaboration and intervention to valorize the productive system tied to typical Tuscan artisanship.

The objectives of Slow Road are many, crossing through various sectors, and valorizing the teritory through contemporary art, forming and helping youth to approach the workplace, to give force to productive activities and increase the usability of promotional/touristic potential.

The talent of the students who are involved in the project offers a new wave of creative development which will help terracotta to be inserted into new channels of promotion and marketing. Each will help the other: young minds which help stimulate the productive processes in the terracotta sector.

Thanks to the collaboratin activated by the School of Architecture and the subject major, Design, the project has acquired an important formative function. The students are coordinated by professor Giuseppe Lotti, who has centered the themes and contents in an entire seminar including final exam and grade regarding the initiative’s objectives.

The students experimented with the final projection and realization of the works which will be formed by the furnaces of the participating terracotta factories involved in the manifacture of the items; unique, functional, innovative and artistic.