The Harvest Society (“the harvest society”) is a collective culinary ritual curated by designer Giulia Soldati and chef Gabriele Camiolo to experiment with new forms of interaction with food and the table: a series of ceramic objects came to life through choreographies of gestures and movements, generating an intimate and at the same time shared narrative.
The event featured the ceramic prototypes developed last May at the Academy during the workshop Hands in motion, held by Giulia Soldati herself within the design laboratories of the Three-Year Course in Product Design and Visual Communication (teachers Giuseppe Arezzi, Diego Emanuele, Erika Pino; assistant Andrea Castiglia).
In his practice, Giulia Soldati uses design as a tool to explore culinary cultures and reveal the social, political and cultural practices linked to the preparation and consumption of food.In the workshop, students were invited to design a series of objects and experiences that encouraged an unconventional use of the hands at the table.
The Harvest Society, which takes its name from one of the objects, Harvest ("the harvest"), has brought these families of supports and utensils to life through an entirely plant-based menu conceived with chef Gabriele Camiolo. Five courses are divided into five acts—plow, field, totem, hand, sky—concluding with an epilogue celebrating water, the purifying element and common denominator of the table, transcending all cultures and geographies.
Starting from the act of gathering and sharing, the prototypes come to life on the table with choreography and gestures, revealing new gestures and narratives of the act of eating and sharing a meal. Diners thus become both spectators and active participants in the performance, experiencing this ritual of movement firsthand, activating the various ceramic supports and the ingredients associated with them, thus becoming part of the harvest society.
– Giulia Soldati
The event was organized as part of the NIMI project – The New Intelligence of Made in Italy, funded by the European Union Next Generation EU (NGEU) – for the internationalization of artistic and musical higher education institutions (AFAM) according to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) MISSION 4 COMPONENT 1 – INVESTMENT 3.4 UNDER-INVESTMENT T5 – CUP: H37G24000080001
with the contribution of two technical sponsors, Almerita's Pocket e Thief Pass, and with the support of a working group composed of students Gabriele Alecci, Aurora Milazzo, Yasmine Pellegrino, Lidia Persico, Arianna Reitano and Giulia Todaro.
The return to the use of hands and almost primordial tools has led us to reflect on the value of the non-technological dimension of human endeavor and the importance of ritual as a moment of sharing and connection. In this context, the distinctions between teachers and students vanish: everyone learns from each other thanks to design that expands beyond the object to create moments of sharing and exchange.
– Lucia Giuliano, Director of Abadir