Art as a means to reintegrate into society. In Florence, the installation of the boys of San Patrignano.

From Sept. 16 to 18, 2022, the Corsini Garden in Florence will host the XXVIII edition of Crafts and Palace and will once again this year welcome a number of socially valuable craft cooperatives that, through training courses, help people in difficulty reintegrate into the community.

" Manual labor has a social function because it connects people to society, integrates individuals with different backgrounds and, in this sense, can contribute to the rebirth of those who have been marginalized," explain organizers Sabina Corsini and Neri Torrigiani. “Therefore, stores, places that have always been based on sociality and a reference point for an area where one can rediscover one’s identity, lend themselves well to creating employment opportunities for isolated people with difficulties, thanks to the diverse nature of the many activities.”

The installation L’Abbraccio (The Embrace ) by young architect Cosimo Bonciani, with his Studio Cosimo Bonciani & Partners, created by the San Patrignano Design Lab’s Cabinetmaking Laboratory, with the support of SCM Group and RENNER Italia, at the Loggia del Buontalenti in Palazzo Corsini and visible during the days of the exhibition, therefore falls within this framework.

A wooden weave that wraps the portico in an ideal embrace where stories and experiences united by the love of craftsmanship converge, and where the pietra serena columns are meant to represent the oldest members of the group, ready to support their new companions in adventure.

"We have taken up the challenge of Artigianato e Palazzo,“ explains Cosimo Bonciani, ”and produced an installation idea for the Buontalenti Loggia that starts from the interlocking of individual planks matching one another, like tiles in a mosaic, each with a different dimension and ’personality’ but united, however, by a single color, sky blue, indicating the supernatural strength that men can have, united in difference but with a common purpose, just as happens in a community."

By fitting together, the planks become self-supporting, just as people become aware of their own strength through the ritual work done together with others to become self-sufficient.

“So even the most complex personalities, represented by the planks that protrude from the boundaries of the Lodge itself, have their own role in the interweaving and become fundamental parts in the wholeness of the structure,” said Sandro Pieri, head of Design Lab San Patrignano.

The planks that make up the work will then be transformed into design products to give them new life in a concept of reuse and recycling.

The San Patrignano Design Labs, which have been invited for years to exhibit at the Corsini Garden, now have about two hundred young people on the path to recovery, and the organizational model of activities is inspired by strategic design for social, focused on the enhancement of individual creativity.

For info: www.artigianatoepalazzo.it

Art as a means to reintegrate into society. In Florence, the installation of the boys of San Patrignano.

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