♠️_Ciò che distingue l’umano dagli animali.. sono le mani.🖤🌹

Non è mai

questione

di tempo,

è sempre

una questione

di voglia. ⛓️♣️🖤

These days I have very little time to draw but I still wanted to participate in some way in the starberry week so here is my only drawing for the challenge I thought of it as a magical and alchemical recipe ⚗️🌟

During the 1960s and 1970s Italy was shaken by social and political upheavals that also caught the architecture and design scenes who radically questioned the status quo of their professions. Probably the most radical studio to emerge from this climate was Alchimia, founded in 1976 by Alessandro and Adriana Guerriero and influenced by the Neo-Marxist Radical Design movement. They, just like Alchimia, opposed excess production and sought the rapprochement of craft and industry, much in the tradition of the Arts & Crafts movement. In 1979 Alessandro Mendini joined Alchimia, a decisive moment in its history since he consecutively involved numerous designers with whom Alchimia realized projects, e.g. Ettore Sottsass, Michele de Lucchi and Robert & Trix Haussmann. The link between all designers involved was the rejection of austere design principles as well as the concomitant condemnation of decor/ornament. Accordingly, the designs emerging from Alchimia are exuberant, sensual and often made from cheap materials.

Until September 9 the Bröhan Museum in Berlin shows the first comprehensive retrospective of Alchimia, curated by François Burkhardt and director Tobias Hoffmann: „Alchimia - The Revolution of Italian Design“ is a tour d’horizon of the studio’s history and creative output, accompanied by an equally comprehensive catalogue published by Hirmer. It contains François Burckhardt‘s in-depth history of Alchimia and the social as well as artistic climate it arose from. Subsequently, Tobias Hoffmann dives deep into the particular history of Italian design between the poles of Radical Design and Alchimia, an insightful essay that reaffirms the radicality of the design scene at the time. At Alchimia the designs started from a word and ensuing discussion that would lead to a drawing which in turn represent the first „sign“ of Alchimia. The former was of pivotal importance to the studio since their work was aimed at leaving signs in the world that involve everything, i.e. photos, sceneries, spaces, furniture etc.