Querceta, April 2020 – Salvatori and Milanese designer and regular collaborator Piero Lissoni have partnered with Food for Soul, a non-profit organisation founded by chef Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore, to design and craft a series of tables that shine light on sustainability and zero waste. The project entitled Design for Soul takes inspirations from Food For Soul’s guiding principles: Value of Hospitality, Quality of Ideas and Power of Beauty and highlights the role of design in celebrating tradition, technique and natural resources. The Salvatori collaboration will support Food for Soul in its’ mission to improve the social and environmental health of communities around the world by promoting more equitable approaches to food.

Composed of a reclaimed marble slab and supported by simple, study frame, the tables echo the sustainable and socially responsible ideas behind the Refettorio projects, Food for Soul’s community kitchens that serve nutritious meals using food that would otherwise be thrown away. In addition to using rare, heritage stone that has been discarded, rather than quarrying new material, the modular table legs are able to support a range of weights and their design means production and assembly is efficient.

The tables are available in round or rectangular formats and will be provided to Food for Soul Refettorios.

In 2015, internationally renowned Chef Massimo Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore began their mission opening the first Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan during the World Expo. Since then, Food for Soul has opened 7 projects around the world in Milan, Rio de Janeiro, Modena, Bologna, London, Paris, Naples and soon Mérida. Food for Soul’s Refettorios are places where gestures of hospitality and dignity are offered to all through nutritious beautiful meals made with recovered surplus food, job training and cultural programming.

Embodying the ethos behind Food for Soul, the series of tables designed by Piero Lissoni symbolize both the sustainable efforts in recuperating wasted food and, in the straightforward modular frame, the collective effort that drives Food for Soul’s diverse and international activities. An organic extension to Lissoni’s Lost Stones project, which the designer launched last year with Salvatori, Design for Soul uses discarded natural stone and marble from disused quarries to bring new life to already quarried material.

In many cases, the stone is the same that has been used for historic projects, such as the terracotta - coloured stone on Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the forest green marble chosen by Mies van der Rohe for the Barcelona Pavilion and Manhattan’s Seagram building, and a black stone used for St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

For the Design for Soul tables, the slabs are cut, cleaned and polished, before being placed on the versatile, modular legs. Lissoni has also designed a special version of the round table with a Lazy Susan in the centre. As with the Lost Stones project, the table uses the Japanese art of Kintsugi, normally used to repair broken ceramics, to join fragmented pieces of stone with a gold seam – celebrating, rather than concealing, the stone’s unique history.

Salvatori will donate 3% of each purchase of a Design for Soul table to Food for Soul. Each contribution will advance Food for Soul's mission to build a culture of value and enable the development of healthy equitable food systems and cohesive communities

ABOUT SALVATORI
Since 1946, Salvatori has been providing product and design expertise to some of the world’s leading names in retail, hospitality and private construction. From boutiques for Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan, to hotels including St Regis, the Intercontinental and Radisson Kempinsky, along with private villas at some of the world’s most exclusive addresses, Salvatori is renowned for delivering beautiful stone and luxurious environments.

Known above all for its innovative design and techniques, the Tuscan-based company has won a host of awards including the coveted Premio di Premi presented by the Italian President for its outstanding contribution to industry, and was also recognised as the single most innovative brand in the stone sector in Italy in the 20th century. salvatori.it

ABOUT PIERO LISSONI
With offices in Milan and New York, Lissoni & Partners has a thirty-year history in developing international projects in the fields of architecture, landscape, interior, product and graphic design, in addition to being responsible for the art direction for some of the most influential design companies. Led by Piero Lissoni, the practice combines a range of expertise with a tailored approach that sets it apart, establishing a stylistic code and a visual identity that are clearly and instantly recognizable.

The practice’s work is inspired by a sense of rigor and simplicity and is characterized by a regard to detail, coherence and elegance with particular attention to proportion and harmony. Piero Lissoni is creative director for Alpi, Boffi, Living Divani, Lema, Lualdi, Porro and Sanlorenzo for whom he also designs an extensive range of products. Recognized as one of the masters of contemporary design, he has worked with many international brands including Alessi, Antrax, Atlas Concorde, B&B, Bonacina1889, Cappellini, Cassina, Cotto, De Padova, Fantini, Flos, Glas Italia, Golran, Illy, Janus et Cie, Kartell, Kerakoll, KN Industrie, Knoll, Nerosicilia, Olivari, Salvatori, Tecno, Viccarbe. lissoniandpartners.com