This text is a part of our Design Special Section For the awe of handmade objects.
It took practically 5 years to purchase a cluster of destroyed homes in southern Sardinia.
The one-storey buildings, or relatively the skeletons which have remained, as soon as make up Furiadroku, a kind of agrarian neighborhood frequent within the southwestern area of the Italian island. The farm, in all probability constructed within the nineteenth century, was the house of a scattered household, which has lengthy deserted it for the lifetime of the village. Nonetheless, since 2022, the property has acquired a brand new identification: reminiscent of luxurious BIA, revived rural asylum, the place curious guests can immerse themselves in native tradition and the pure setting.
“I believe there have been 14 folks once we signed the deal,” stated Ms. Chenven, a 46-year-old lady with a brief harvest of blond hair and a shock of a blotch of purple lips. She adopted Mr. Azori, 48 – whose lengthy grey hair was tied right into a pair of French braids that rested on his shoulders – via their olive bushes, whereas explaining that Sardinia’s advanced hereditary custom signifies that homes typically break up between heirs by room. The couple wanted an entire 12 months and plenty of supporters to collect all members of the family and persuade them to promote.
D -Ja Cenven and G -n Atzori moved with their two youngsters from Tuscany in Sardinia in 2014. Though that they had died on the island and Mr. Azori had household roots there, it was a elementary terra incognita. G -Chenven grew up in San Diego and later works as a Set designer in New York, and her husband, a former graffiti artist who paints underneath the pseudonym Dumbo, is a local of Milan.
The couple was drawn to Sardinia’s deep and multilayered historical past. First inhabited within the Stone Age, it has lengthy been decided by its isolation from the continental half, which permits it to domesticate an unbiased and resistant tradition.
Their first sardine enterprise, referred to as Pretziada (“Valued” by Sardins), combines modern worldwide designers with native craftsmen to provide handmade objects and furnishings. The collections have included gloves with a hand depicting summary noragic architecture-a praiking stone constructions, distinctive to the island-and modern soak up ornamental household vases.
LUXI BIA (pronounce LOO-ZHEE BEE-U-Uh), which interprets as “mild that has been seen” is equally to the interpretation of the native tradition of the outsider. Most simple, it is a assortment of vacation properties. However for Gi Chenven and Mr. Asori, it is a completely different method to tourism – one that enables folks to Sardinia to stay briefly a typically uncared for world.
Luxi Bia is sitting on the backside of a shallow dish amongst movable hills, their slopes, stuffed with mastic, pomegranate and almond bushes, that are nearly to bloom on the finish of winter. From the comb of a hill you possibly can see a shiny slider of the Mediterranean, too far to see pale pink flamingos, shifting via the shallow marshmallow and stony seashores that disappear in pristine turquoise waters a 20 -minute drive.
D -Ja Cenven and G -n Atzori designed Luxi Bia to be as introduced as doable with the normal Furriadroxu. The defeated stone homes sit in a decent cluster, enclosed by a number of stone partitions and a quick -paced fence of prickly pear cactus.
After ending their very own house in 2017, they renovated a villa to host away visitor designers working with Pretziada. This venture, which has turn into a visitor home referred to as La Residenza, was accomplished in 2022.
The newest addition to the advanced out there on their web site is the two-bedroom Casa Corte, with one Casa Cubo bed room, which is able to observe later this 12 months. The 2 items sit facet by facet in the identical slim constructing, occupying the precise imprint of the unique stone home.
“Conventional structure has all the time been packing containers that can be added as your loved ones is rising,” stated G -Ja Cenven in regards to the lengthy rectangular construction. “We wished to make use of the identical idea.”
Within the restoration of the destroyed homes, Da Chenven and Mr. Aszori adhered as shut as doable to different people traits as they remained true to the trendy aesthetics of Pretziada.
The flooring, for instance, would initially be poured with cement or sinking floor – supplies that aren’t perfect for contemporary consolation or sturdiness. As a substitute, the couple makes use of tile tiles manufactured from native soil from an organization primarily based north by close by Calari. The ceilings are conventional tapestries of woven reeds saved rather than branched juniper branches coated with beeswax by an area producer to offer them a Hazelnut patina.
“Clearly the unique homes didn’t have these massive home windows,” stated Mrs. Chenven, referring to the glass wall from the ground to the ceiling that floods Casa Corte within the afternoon mild. “It was extra about visible language.”
Nonetheless, the roof is genuine, manufactured from tile tile, rescued from present ruins. The couple and their two youngsters spent days eradicating moss and filth from every bit by hand. “I believe one of many substances that assist this engine is unquestionably loopy,” stated Gia Chenven.
The homes are the furnishings and objects of Pretziada. Within the Casa Corte front room sits a facet desk impressed by the ft, just like the paw of conventional carved wood crates made in wooden ash and Sardini orose marble. It was created by Ambroise Maggiar, a French product designer who collaborates with Karmine Piras, a Sardinian carpenter, and the stones in CP Basalti, an area firm. On the high of the tile of the tile on the alternative facet of the room is a cluster of shiny black vessels from the daughter of Mr. Piraz, Maria Paola Piraz, ceramic.
Within the bed room, oval -shaped bronze, bronze {hardware}, impressed by the work of the Sardinian sculptor Kostantino degree, stands subsequent to a monumental wood mattress with a wavy, noticed board. Each are designed by Ptreziada Studio and are made by Pirpaolo Mandis, a 3rd -generation carpenter from Mogoro, a village within the heart of the island.
Though each Pretziada and Luxi Bia are drawn to Sardinian aesthetics – and the crafts used for them – d -chenven and d -at atzori stated the worth of the venture exceeds the enchantment of the floor.
“We wish to create an financial system,” stated Gi Chenven. That’s the reason they produce principally tracks in tracks, not in restricted editions, she stated, guaranteeing that their craft assistants have a relentless supply of revenue and why they largely extract the Luxi Bia supplies from Sardinian corporations. The couple has not put in a pool within the property as a result of they need guests to make their technique to one of many many native seashores, and within the course of they patronize surrounding retailers and eating places.
They criticized the rising development of impressed by people design tasks as a result of many stated they had been profiting from luring the normal craft with out making efforts to grasp or assist those that follow it.
“We take into account the duty of being cultural translators,” stated Mr. Aszori, “creating bridges between the island and the remainder of the world.”
