Sesto operaia

In the first decades of the 20th century, Sesto San Giovanni, a city in Milan metropolitan area, was known as the “little Manchester” because of the invasive presence of factories in the area. Today Sesto tells its story through old, huge, no longer functioning industrial buildings. Nevertheless, industry did not only invade the city physically: almost every citizen were factory workers and the industrial logic invaded every aspect of citizens' llives and their behaviors. The aim of the project is to record this peculiar, almost unique feature of Sesto San Giovanni - which has attracted the attention of UNESCO - through the study of objects, habits, lifestyles of the city in 1920- 1970. Our research about the factory power to mold Sesto, started from the study of workers' meals. The factory-system decided when, where and how workes should eat, according to a logic of profit and optimization of time and resources. “Vergella, Blumo e Bramma” are a fork, a spoon and a knife, but they are also “working tools in disguise”: the embossed name, the hole, the weight and the material remaind to the workers that they are working for the factory even while eating. This process of camouflage of the working tools in a context not directly related to the factory, can be transferred to every other aspect of workers llives, as education, leisure, spirituality, providing a hint for a reflection on the uniqueness of the bond between Sesto San Giovanni and its factories.