Free Standing refrigerator

Smeg & Dolce&Gabbana 50's Style Aesthetic

Walking through the central streets of Catania, it is almost impossible not to be drawn into a fascinating artisan workshop. Welcome to the small and charming kingdom of Adriana and Tiziana, mother and daughter, brought together by an incredible passion for the land they were born and raised in. Born respectively in 1977 and 1950, both Sicilian and both from, Catania, they work together in a volcanic symbiosis, forming an explosive couple. They work hard and devotion for their craft and maintain their sense of humility at the same time. United by a healthy and entertaining sense of irony, their secret is their love for Sicily, for culture, tradition and, naturally, for the art of the Pupi. The age-old culture of the carts, an important part of Sicilian “architecture”, is a source of endless inspiration for them. Adriana made her first Sicilian Pupo in miniature more than thirty years ago. It was her passion for art that led her to exhibit her works around the world. With art hard-wired into her, Tiziana was inspired by her mother and decided to create something new, a unique artisanal object, artistic transpositions of Sicily. They study the history of Sicilian art day after day and invent new ways of telling its story.

60 x 151 x 68.2 cm This refrigerator reproduces Sicilian playing cards, which bring together influences of the different cultures of the island’s various rulers. The death of Frederick II of Swabia marked the beginning of the Angevin period, and the "French cards", used at first only by the aristocracy due to their high cost, fascinated the Sicilians considerably. In this deck, the King wears the garb typical of Carolingian miniatures, while the Knight is none other than Orlando riding a donkey, the mount of the humble and the righteous. With the Spanish invasion, new imagery and figures were added to this tradition of French paladins. The upper part of the refrigerator is occupied by the symbol of the Trinacria painted in black and white, which accentuates the bright colours of the playing cards below. On the side panels appear two characters from the tarot deck: the Fool, who symbolises the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another, and the Empress, the symbol of life itself and its completeness. Painted on the top are several Sicilian cards: the three of coins, the deuce of cups, the seven of coins, the three of swords, the six of cups and the deuce of clubs.