mustras translates traditional artisanal crafts of sardinia with contemporary expressions

sardinian artisans and international creators explore how ‘tradition’ can translate past values into a contemporary heritage.

Mustras edited by ravail khan February 2, 2023 3 min

translating tradition through contemporary design

Mustras is a humanistic-scientific research on the bases of Sardinian popular culture and its connection to the contemporary through the development of new visual languages. The project culminates as a manifesto founded by a collective of artists and craftsmen, questioning great universal themes using a grammar made up of common objects.

The series includes prototypes that combine traditional artisanal techniques such as hand weaving and ceramics, to create basket cases in rush and natural raffia, minimal tapestries, architectural rugs, and delicate pottery in a new contemporary language. Each work is easily recognizable as part of one’s experience and tools for connecting to one’s territory, and is handcrafted through a sustainable process using local materials and a legacy of tangible and intangible knowledge

all images courtesy of the author

mustras brings together international designers and artisans

Carried out on an international level, Mustras demonstrates how the term ‘tradition’ can translate past values into a contemporary heritage. The research project brings together traditional Sardinian artisans and local and international artists and designers in a collective reasoning on major contemporary themes through a territory of which each object represents a celebration.

Some of the works present a series of contemporary rugs as architectural projects. As an example of a contemporary city, a dense and infinitely repeated fabric pattern reveals across the surface, interrupted only by a large clearing. The installations feature ‘multiple signs in an ‘analogue score’ abstraction of natural and anthropic phenomena.’ In another piece, a woven pattern reveals ‘a tale composed in low resolution rather than a contemporary image as ill defined as they are unreal.’

Prototype that combines traditional artisan techniques in a new contemporary language. Basket case in rush and natural raffia This rug is an architectural project. A tale composed in low resolution rather than a contemporary image as ill defined as they are unreal. A prototype that combines a traditional artisan technique of hand weaving in a new contemporary language A prototype that combines a traditional artisan technique of hand weaving in a new contemporary language

project info:

name: Mustras
designers: Giorgia Cadeddu, Martina Carcangiu, Eirini Carera, Francesco Dipierro, Cristian Erdas, Alberto Favero, Fabrizio Felici, Roberta Liscia, Marco Loi, Osama Mansour, Alberto Olmo, Piero Angelo Orecchioni, Miriam Orrù, Giorgios Papaevangeliu, Silvana Sanna, Chiara Secchi

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.