Subalterno1: Venice Future

#157 Subalterno1 proposes Breaking the Mould in collaboration with Materiaterza and Salviati. Craftsmanship and technology to illustrate an Italian approach. #salone2015

The exploration of the analogue and the digital launched some years ago by Stefano Maffei and Andrea Gianni of Subalterno1 continues. After “Analogico/Digitale” and “Mondo Pasta”, this year the gallery presents the results and story of the Breaking the Mould experiment conducted in collaboration with Materiaterza and Salviati.

“It is a story of the two worlds of craftsmanship and 3D printing brought together”, explains Andrea Gianni. “The materials are glass blown by Salviati and a refractory ceramic component (3D printed by Materiaterza), added during the process, a collar that remains imprisoned inside the glass being blown.”

This year’s project has generated a whole collection of glass objects blown in the Salviati furnace featuring ceramic and glass with different textures.

“They are finished objects but the project may still evolve in many directions. More than anything else, we are interested in the process. We are narrating an Italian approach that mixes craftsmanship and new technology”, continues Andrea Gianni.

Andrea Gianni. Photo Davide Prestigiacomo & Milo Mussini

The aim is also to understand what any potential future scenarios and pursue alternative approaches to changing production methods: self-produced design, mini-series, crafts mixed with new technology…

“It is a subject that fascinates us; there may be a second round of these works or we may go and explore some other new relationship with craftspeople”, adds Patrizia Bolzan of Tecnificio and Subalterno1. “Initially, we wanted to work with porcelain, which requires three passages in the furnace but, unfortunately, it brings a fragility that we have been unable to manage with Murano glass at the moment.”