The nest of spiders

#50 Segno Italiano focuses on the desire to resurrect lost Italian productions, as in its latest collection of baskets, created in collaboration with Antonio Marras. #salone2015

Segno Italiano, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, vista dell'allestimento, Circolo Marras. Photo Jacopo Valentini

“We are very familiar with what a recession means.” Alberto Nespoli, born in 1981 and founder of Segno Italiano, confesses this with satisfaction and a touch of pride but the recession was hitting hard when he started out eight years ago.

The field he and his two partners, Domenico Rocca and Leo Prusicki, have carved out is difficult and complex but, as he admits, a totally virgin one with no competitors to date.

Segno Italiano’s work centres on the exquisitely Italian and a desire to resurrect productions that have vanished. “We want to create a system slightly like SlowFood, identifying clusters and working with Italian artisans and hundred-year-old skills”, he says. This business involves a lot of research but strategy, communication and marketing form an equally key part of it.

After Scarperia knives, Chiavari chairs (“the mother of the Superleggera”), Tripolina, Monte Isola hammocks, Atestina ceramics, Trentino copper pots and Empoli green glass, it is time for another adventure, this time with the finest Sardinian craft-workers (from Monteputzu to be precise). A collection of baskets woven from river reeds, myrtle and olive wood with willow handles is presented at the Fuorisalone in a delightful and impressive installation in the Antonio Marras showroom.

“We tiptoe into workshops to learn and understand and may happen to notice forgotten pieces that have huge potential for us, like the collection of green glass from Empoli that they stopped blowing 20 years ago”, he continues. We aim “to trigger a virtuous mechanism that resurrects lost productions.”

“It may be a reaction to industrial design that no longer has the same production process”, he admits. Points of reference in the design world? “I like Castiglioni’s design and Sottsass’ poetry. Generally speaking, I appreciate design that is well thought out and produced.”