Hanukkiah - Componibili
This Hanukkah* menorah was inspired by the Componibili* storage system by Kartell, designed by Anna Castelli Ferrari.
Conceived with the goal of creating a distinctive product based on a familiar design, the Hanukkiah is inspired by the modularity of Ferrari’s original design. It plays with the stacking of elements to conform with the design principles laid out by the Talmud to make a kosher menorah: eight candles of the same size in alignment with a ninth candle, set apart and distinguished from the rest.
Personal project
Year: 2021
*"Hanukkah, the festival of lights, celebrates the restoration of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. In 164 BCE, a group of Jewish rebel fighters called the Maccabees regained control of the Temple from its previous Hellenistic rulers. According to an account in the Talmud, a single container of oil was found in the ravaged Temple, which should have only sufficed to light the Temple’s candelabrum (or menorah) for one day but miraculously kept it burning for eight days and nights.
Ever since, in the winter holiday of Hanukkah, the Hanukkah candles are lit on eight consecutive nights. Over the centuries, the triumph of a small band of resistance fighters against a mighty army grew into a legend that bolstered a common identity, praised bravery, and gave reason to believe in miracles."
Source : Judisches Museum, Berlin
*"It is the Componibili storage system produce by Kartell and designed by Anna Castelli Ferrieri in 1967. The Componibili has become so iconic over the time that, 50 years later, is still among Kartell’s best sellers and it is exhibited in the permanent collections of the Modern Museum of Art in New York and the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Anna Castelli Ferrieri was an Italian architect and designer, one of the first Italian women graduated in architecture and one of the few women in the design sector in those years. She is known for her collaboration with Kartell, a company founded by her husband in 1949 and a pioneer in Italy in research and production of everyday plastic objects.
The Componibili, initially called “mobili 4970/84”, were first presented in 1967 at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and reflect the idea of Anna Castelli Ferrieri of a design that should not only be beautiful but also functional."
Source: Mariana Bettinelli, HISTORY OF DESIGN: KARTELL COMPONIBILI STORAGE MODULE, June 7, 2019.