Controluce

A wooden box containing carvings papers and hidden memories

Controluce was born from the desire to tell something ancient.
It is an homage to the art of cutwork embroidery—an inheritance passed down to me by my grandmother Rosina.
The corredo (traditional bridal linen set), which I rejected for years, takes on the role of legacy and transmission of knowledge.
Embroidery becomes a tool for matrilineal meditation—a knotting of threads that connects generations in a uniquely female system of knowledge.
Controluce is a lantern.
The light source, suspended at the bottom of the box, backlights the scene and creates a luminous passepartout. The embroidered paper becomes a sacred object to be preserved, hidden behind a second, thinner sheet of paper. The design only reveals itself when held contre-jour—against the light.
Like a small shadow theatre, a window opens onto another world, almost sacred. It is a tribute to our past, but also a bridge to seemingly distant cultures. It looks toward Japan and the art of embroidery on paper.
The motif does not arise from a predetermined design, but from an intuition born in the moment.
The paper is suspended inside the box at four central points, held in place by cotton threads that intertwine with the wooden panel through a small blanket stitch embroidery.
Type
Product Design
Materials
Poplar plywood, Fabriano Rosaspina paper 285 g/m2, Fabriano Ingres laid paper 90 g/m2, embroidered cotton thread, E14 LED bulb
Dimensions
L35x P 27 x h 21 cm
For
Agorà Design Contest 2023
Year
2023