109 HANDCRAFTED TALKING PLATES

Alice Schillaci’s tiny company, Casalinghe di Tokyo, creates artisan tableware and table lines. Inspired by Italian folk heritage with a playful Japanese touch

The name is odd, a bit baffling. Casalinghe di Tokyo translates literally as the «Housewives of Tokyo». You expect to see Japanese ladies scurrying around the kitchen. But, instead, you find yourself holding handcrafted, authentic Italian plates and tablecloths. Alice Schillaci is the true-blue Italian designer behind the products. She founded Casalinghe di Tokyo in 2014. The small start-up produces limited-edition tableware and table linens, working with specialized artisans. For certain projects, Alice partners with graphic designers and artists who bring her ideas to life. «I’ve tried to take a liberated approach to craft design. I enjoy experimenting». The company’s unusual name refers to Japanese author Kirino Natsuo’s similarly named novel, published in Italian by Neri Pozza. «I wanted this project to have a clearly feminine flavour beginning with the title. Thus, ‘Le Casalinghe’ (The Housewives). There’s a Japanese look that’s closely linked to my personal interest in the concept of ‘asobi’, that is, ‘play’ in the pure sense of unrestrained pleasure. But the idea is 100% Italian: drawing from the cultural heritage of the «bel paese» - both in terms of beauty and craftsmanship - to create objects for entertaining with a strong artistic bent». The legendary designer Bruno Munari inspired her. From the «maestro», Alice learned about transversality, the ability to invent by moving across artistic mediums. In fact, the spark for her first collection, Stereotypism, came from Munari’s own «Supplement to the Italian Dictionary» (published by Corraini Edizioni), in which he analyses and depicts through photos Italians’ ability to communicate with their hands. These gestures resurface in her collection. Lucio Bolognesi