Mi han detto di prenderla con leggerezza, 2024. Pendant light, porcelain, metal, led. Photo credit: Alice Reina.
Serra Alta
Mi han detto di prenderla con leggerezza (They told me to take it lightly) consists of a large but fragmented volume, permeable to light and mutable, which invites reflection on the themes of fragility and lightness, but with irony. The basic idea is that of an object that is transformed through the performance of an action that reveals its weight, sound and changes its appearance. The object is luminous: we will call it a lantern. In an initial configuration, the lantern appears to us as a faceted circular volume, dumb as white, resting on a plane. At the top, a small handle allows it to be raised and the movement reveals a first and then a second volume that unrolls in a telescopic fashion, until the final configuration that sees it hanging from the ceiling. The unrolling also reveals the different treatments of the three bands: the first is white, the second reveals the transparent traces of small elements that crowd into the third band, revealing a swirl of confetti that envelops us in a translucent rain. The movement is accompanied by the tinkling of the various elements: the sound of fragility. But the confetti, more and more numerous, suggest that we should not fear it and that we should take it lightly, suggesting that conscious but ironic approach to life that Calvino describes in his American lesson.
Alice Reina
Alice Reina is an architect holding a degree from Turin Polytechnic University in 2010. Porcelain entered her life in 2015, thanks to a short but life changing workshop. Shortly after she founded biancodichina: a contemporary porcelain studio working at the boundaries between design, craftsmanship and art.Her research investigates the theme of fragility, its multiple aspects and the way in whichits perception modifies our daily gestures. Her work is inspired by two continuous flows:on one hand, the intelligence of plants and their harmonious and resilient behaviour; onthe other hand, literature, which gifts her with words and concepts that she then turns into form and matter. Her creations include both functional porcelain in limited series and one-of-a kind pieces.