«tschai» is used in a small area in the alps of Northern Italy to describe a traditional basket. About 50 years ago those baskets were widely used in traditional agriculture but they start to disappear now together with the local knowledge of basket weaving.
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This is the workshop of my grandfather. He is one of the very few who still practice this knowledge. I decided to learn the technique and started a project in which I am trying to make it accessible again to the local public.
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The outcome of the project was a touring exhibition. In it I try to explain the value I see in this traditional knowledge and I am also giving the visitors the possibility to try it out/learn it.
I reinterpreted the «tschai» and transformed it in a rucksack. This rucksack can be
I reinterpreted the «tschai» and transformed it in a rucksack. This rucksack can be
borrowed and contains tools (reworked traditional ones or some created from old illustrations) and books that describe the technique and dialectal terms that are referring to the basket weaving knowledge.
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The black book shows how those woven objects were used in the past. The reader will find out that the more he is turning the pages the more the pictures will have faded out. And in the end the photographs with the baskets have completely disappeared.
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The green book describes how to weave baskets and how to find and prepare raw materials.
The blue book collects dialectal terms that refer to the knowledge without which it is difficult to describe it.
