The 250-square-meter mural entitled “Ainnantis” is made in the garden of the Piazza Caduti sul Lavoro, and was commissioned by the Nieddittas Company, a company whose roots are in the sea and the territory and which has always promoted the territory also by supporting the development of culture and art, which commissioned it from Sangavinese artist Giorgio Casu. Inaugurated on June 24, 2016, the work tells about the territory and its excellences, natural beauties and food and wine productions of Terralbese. The protagonist of the mural is the figure of “Mother with Child,” here depicted with the face of the young Grazia Deledda. The starry blue mantle is that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a symbol for all peoples of the divine Mother’s protection. The child holds bunches of grapes, a reminder of the local, viticultural and peasant tradition. Around the mother and child the flight of the birds of the land, under a sky surmounted by constellations, a tribute to Our Lady of Bonaria of Marceddì. The backdrop is the tower of Marceddì, the Frasca peninsula with the NATO radar sphere and the sailing ship “Ainnantis” which, with full sails, plies the waves of the sea.
Giorgio Casu’s Merkaba (Nieddittas Space)
Near the mural is a work by artist Giorgio Casu, who found inspiration in the forms of the Mediterranean Mother Goddess and the similarity between the Merkaba symbol and the Nieddittas logo. The three-dimensionality may favor an interpretation as double Merkaba, or Merkaba in motion.
The idea is to create a geometric solid resulting from the union of 60 corten steel triangles pierced and arranged in pentagons, the basis for the sides of the dodecahedron. The corten triangular wall decoration follows the shapes of Sierpinski’s triangle, a fractal, pattern close to the forms of Sardinian craftsmanship.
Laser processing enabled precise textures to be created between the etched and painted sheets. The result is a solid, safely installed sculpture that adds value to the surrounding space. The modern and elegant character of the installation contrasts with the classic nature of corten. In the space between the sides here is a light, a glimpse of a bright future and an inspiration for new generations.
The Medsea Blue Eco Lab Bench – The first bench made from Nieddittas production waste.
The Blue Eco lab defines a circular economy model by designing solutions to recover waste from production chains.
One of the solutions developed, as part of eco-design made in Sardinia, focuses on street furniture: it is a renewed model of outdoor bench, with two seats, made by enhancing the value of waste from Nieddittas fish production.
The concept came about by observing the pallets used to transport fish products, made of polypropylene, which were then transformed into the slats that form the seat.
Mussel shells were then also chosen to be used: in fact, the bases of the bench were made with a recipe that combines water, cement, and ground mussel shells to supplement sand; as a complement, scraps from the Orosei marble quarries.
The project was strongly endorsed by Nieddittas with the coordination of the MEDSEA Foundation and the scientific contribution of DICAAR – Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Cagliari; research and development activities were aimed at studying materials and defining the prototype production process of the bench, the first in a series of eco-design solutions unique in environmental impact.
