Tabula Rasa is a project in progress which starts on an open plane that will be filled with frugal objects, food containers, flowerpots, ornaments, decoration, final polishes, complements and still other objects necessary to convivial life. The table starts out cleared, empty, ready to be set with new ideas; not just for the table, but also for the life conducted around it. How much time do we spend at the table each day? The set table where we sit down to eat, the table around which we conduct meetings, or do our work; the “public” tables at restaurants, or at parties where we meet, to share a lunch or a banquet; the gambling table where we take our chances.
In human history, the table is a meeting point, a place of exchange between people. The table is therefore usually represented as a richly ornamented element, heavily worked and decorated to distinguish and confer uniqueness and importance to what happens atop and around it.

Tabula Rasa is a work-in-progress, a laboratory where we start off with a few objects; over time, the table will be set with works by the participating artists, during encounters in which the latest arrivals will be introduced.
With this project, Otto and its artists, designers and artisans, would like to propose a variety of interpretations of the table and the objects placed above and below. In this period of history, we consider it the task of those who design projects and produce the objects which surround us in everyday life to reflect on their identity and meaning, and to confront the ever-changing themes of everyday life. They will be unique pieces or limited editions, works which “reason” upon their function and suggest ways of interpreting the same through original and stimulating readings.

“Otto represents precisely a possible path which might be taken to make art a way of life, bringing to everyday objects the Beauty which ought always to characterize life. A sort of beauty and art which are not merely accessories to life.”

- Matteo Renzi, Mayor of Florence

Artists invited to participate in tabula rasa:

Mauro Lovi – Tables
Nicola Perilli – objects and table furnishings
Michele Martinelli – Table
Christophe Quarena – Table
Elia Marzetta – Table
Livio Tessandori – Tablecloth
Stefano Breschi – Objects for the table
Elisabetta Nencini – Table
Antonio Lo presti – Table
Danilo Trogu – Objectsfor the table
Kitta Martini – Objects for the table
RossoRamina ( federica and stefano) – Objects for the table
Benvenuto Saba – Stone throne
Vercelli-Giovannini-Bianchi – Chargers and place indicators
Adam Marelli – Art object
Matthew Licht – Menù and recipes
Lorenzo Perrone – Art object
Manuela Pimentel – Table
Ryota Shioya – Objects for the table
Marina Calamai – Table

CATALOGO