«Last year I was invited to collaborate on a wonderful social project created by Mark Bradford which would develop in Venice. Mark wanted to assist a Venetian association, Rio Terà dei Pensieri, which works with incarcerated individuals in Venice and reintroduces them into the workforce. This idea was marvelous and it was such a rare opportunity that I chose to accept immediately.
The task was to create a limited-edition bag autographed by Mark Bradford himself, which would be produced under the “Malefatte” brand in the prison lab. In order to design the bag I decided to spend several days with the leaders of the organization so that I could understand the possibilities and the limits of the project. I had to consider various factors, such as the materials, the manual skills of the prisoners, and the specific tools available in the labs.
After careful analysis I opted for a simple and effective design. I wanted to make a bag that could be used by everyone and which had contemporary lines, in which Mark’s work emerged without being just a decorative element. At the same time I wanted the printed work in PVC to be clearly legible. In other words, I imagined the bag as a white canvas, a rectangular format with the addition of the basic elements of a bag, the handles and the shoulder strap.
The bag also needed to be simple to construct, allowing the workers to perfectly handle the few finishings, the details of which make a refined project. Finally, the form had to be essential to respect the lines of contemporary design. The Limited Edition Bag #1 was created from all these requirements.»
Isotta Dardilli