Artigiani di Via Calderai

About

On the edge of the ancient Jewish quarter of Palermo, Via Calderai took the place of the Kemonia River and has been the site of the metalwork of yesteryear for over two centuries.

Known as “e quararari“, once the copper welders of this street of crafts produced braziers, bronze pans and a large pot called “quarara” to boil potatoes, a week of processing the molten copper sheet then turned shaped, tinned, and hammered by different tools and skilled artisan hands. After the war, via Calderai alternated boilermakers, fountain workers, tinsmiths, turners and manufacturers of oil lamps, forks but also zineffe, awnings and fly catchers. The remaining shops are animated by blacksmiths, sons of the Masters who molded iron sheets into flues, aluminum sheets in trays and artifacts for the kitchen. Today they create objects for domestic use, fast food, and catering, as well as aluminized sheet and steel for cruets and table cruets. Tools are still forged with mechanical engineering tools, pedal or crank operated, to use less electric light.

This street is described as early as the 1800s as “perhaps the most tumultuous site in all of Europe, where considerable blocks of tin are piled up for the manufacture of lamps, forks and other table and kitchen utensils.”

A place broken by the rhythm of beating on metal. A rhythm punctuated by the precise blows of the mallet guided by the skilled hand of the many artisans.

Project
Speziale
A single container for spices, a sewing box in which these foods, special “tools” for the kitchen and for the body, can be kept, just like an ancient “speziale” would do.
The oblique dividers, which divide the interior spaces, reserve each element its own place, avoiding contamination and preserving the aroma and fortifying power of spices.
Partnership

The project was born from an idea of ​​Raffaella Guidobono, founder of Leftover “factory” born in Palermo in 2011, with the aim of telling the encounter between Design and Craft through unique, limited-edition objects.

Speziale was created by the artisans of via Calderai in Palermo, an important artery of the former Jewish quarter of the city, once the bed of the Kemonia river, a place destined for centuries for the processing of household tools, not far from the Church of Sant’Andrea degli Aromatari, site of the guild of the ancient Palermo apothecaries.

This box, whose name was used in medieval times to indicate the Masters of Aromatics, invites respect for the infinite resources of spices and emphasizes the urgency of reducing packaging within the agro-food trade.

The need in the study and analysis of the context is shared by Raffaella with Federica Messina of Negozio Leggero in Palermo, who is also constantly looking for a beautiful and sustainable lifestyle.

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