(5 July 2017) The furnishings of Ernesto Basile, the famous Sicilian architect and exponent of Modernism and the Liberty style, come back to life abroad. Furniture in some cases now lost, after a century (and beyond), have been rebuilt by students of the Industrial Design Lab of the Architecture Course of the University of Palermo with materials and technologies of our day. Liberty style pieces will soon be exported to the United Arab Emirates and Russia. As the website of the Sicilian University communicates, in the foreign market, a catalog with 20 patterns of the most significant collections ("Turin", "Carretto Siciliano", "Crustacei") will be proposed. It is the result of three years of work by students coordinated by Professor Dario Russo, with the collaboration of the Caruso Handmade furniture factory in Palermo. It is an operation that is not only technical, but is above all cultural, which will culminate on October 20 with an exhibition at Steri di Palermo. "Us sons and daughters are not responsible for the 'Sacco di Palermo' - according to Fabrizio Lanza, a design student and a tutor to younger colleagues - we want to reap the benefits of the beauties of the Liberty style that for one reason or another have not survived to this day." (Red)

A MODERN RECONFIGURATION

In the absence of design products and tables, students have literally resurrected Basile's furniture starting from the photos stored in the archive. "Through a not-so-easy work based from photographs and later on, studio work - adds Lanza - it was possible to design and bring furniture to production. It is neither a copy nor a false one, but rather a material and immaterial reconstruction of furniture. It's as if Ernesto Basile had designed them today and Ducrot built them with the tools of the 2000s". A modern reconfiguration without sacrificing its recognisability, which is engaging nine aspiring designers in completing the collection destined for the foreign market. Caruso Handmade will market and produce the furnishings after received a green light from the Basile Archives the right to affix their brand to the name of the architect that is a symbol of Palermo's Liberty style.