Domestica | Formafantasma

About the project: Commissioned by Dilmos Gallery, the low chair Domestica is an investigation by Studio Formafantasma of rural craft and its archetypes. The reference is to the Gerla Basket, a container usually used by farmers to collect harvested cereals and transported as a bag-pack. In some region of north of Italy, the Gerla basket has in time assumed other connotations and it is often considered as a symbol of the Italian resistance movement during World War II. Woman were in-fact using the basket to bring foods and ammunition to partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians. As a reference to this historical connotation a little Italian flag is stitched on the military-green blanket that finish the upper part of the basket. The design of the seat refers to a small stool used as a support to help take off the Gerla basket once it is full. More then designed, Domestica appears as the result of a natural gesture, as if the basket is hung on the back of a chair and, as time passes, the two objects are fused together. By linking the extra function of containing to the seat, Studio Formafantasma is transforming the low chair into an intimate environment, almost a nest. The design of the object and its undefined functionality invites the user to invent new gestures and rituals. Such rituals are stimulated by ancient memories evoked by the familiarity of an object rooted in tradition. As with the previous work of the Studio, Domestica reintroduces objects from rural culture into contemporary life.