Genius Ludi

The "Genius Ludi" project proves how creative and culturally aware design can revitalise the authenticity of a place when it is expressed in contemporary craftsmanship. In Assemini, clay has always been worked on the potter's wheel. Following a practice that probably dates back to the end of the 19th century, it was common to place a small sculpture in the shape of a horse, with a hollow, round, elongated body and a rider on its back, on the roofs of houses, as a sign of good luck and protection. The designer and the ceramicist have sought to reinterpret and update this "useless" and playful object, which is also a tangible expression of the genius loci within a community so strongly rooted in the art of ceramics. “By stylising the shape of the horse as much as possible,” Sonia Pedrazzini explains, “exasperating the contrast between full, round geometric shapes and more angular, flat elements - citations and references to Cubist and Futurist art - and by playing with the colours and the riders (a little woman and a little man), I figured that we could create a contemporary decorative object that was fun and light-hearted, and at the same time deeply symbolic and representative of the cultural identity of the area to which it belongs.”

still-life by Daniela Zedda