The European design Oscar at Studio Otium in Castelfranco

Gold medal for the best art catalog for the project which contains the shots of the photographers Gianantonio Battistella, Francesca Cirilli, Anne Golaz, Vittorio Mortarotti, Igor Ponti, Antoine Séguin, Massimo Sordi, Marco Zanta, which tell the great beauty of the Northeast. Delivery to Tallin in Estonia

CASTELFRANCO. The Otium studio of Castelfranco Veneto wins the 2022 edition of the “European Design Awards”. The award ceremony took place a few days ago in Tallin in Estonia. Otium took first place in the competition for the best “Art Catalog”, which was attended by hundreds of studios from all over Europe.

The gold medal came thanks to the book entitled “Every Beauty 2018-2020” a project which contains the shots of 8 internationally renowned photographers: Gianantonio Battistella, Francesca Cirilli, Anne Golaz, Vittorio Mortarotti, Igor Ponti, Antoine Séguin, Massimo Sordi, Marco Zanta.

The curators are Massimo Sordi and Stefania Rössl OMNE – Osservatorio Mobile Nord Est.

The graphic project to which the prize is owed is Damiano Fraccaro, graphic designer and art director, since 2012 on the staff of Otium, graduated from the Iuav University of Venice, with experience also in the didactic field and already winner of numerous international awards. Alongside him in the project Matteo Bedaanother talented graphic designer from the Otium studio.

The volume is the result of the project “EVERYTHING – Osservatorio Mobile del Nordest” in which professional photographers have immortalized environmental, architectural, anthropological, social and cultural aspects of the Italian Northeast with an artistic approach. A journey that takes place on the territory in search of possible relationships between space, landscape and the body that inhabits it.

The book “Omne Beauty 2018/2020” is a box containing 9 volumesone introducing the work, another eight dedicated to each of the photographers involved in the project.

The files contain the photos and the conceptual insights around which they were made. All photos were taken mainly in the area between Castelfranco Veneto, Asolo, Bassano del Grappa and Treviso. “Analyzing the different aspects that describe the landscape of the North East of Italy and focusing on the interpretation of the critical factors attributable to the progressive processes of dispersion and fragmentation, typical of this particular geographical area”, he explains Alessandro Fraccaroowner of Otium, “OMNE North East Mobile Observatory continued the photographic campaigns started in 2016 by entrusting five artists in residence and three photographers invited with a survey on the Veneto area by proposing a reflection on the term Beauty. The volume is conceived as a casket that contains, in addition to a textual apparatus rich in contributions from teachers and experts, including “Will the world save beauty?” from Salvatore Settiseight files, one for each photographer, respecting a plural interpretation of the very concept of beauty ».

The first issue is entitled “City of G. or Giorgionesca”. Francesca Cirilli has collected here the echo of the painter born in Castelfranco Veneto through traces of a modern imagination, recalling the love story between Giorgione and Cecilia.

“Our time” by Vittorio Mortarotti tackles the theme of beauty by combining it with the concept of transience which is reflected, in the form of a portrait, in the figure of the adolescent and in the features of a fragile landscape, precisely that of the Northeast suspended between rapid development and protection of the precarious balance with the environment.

Con “Beauty” Igor Ponti offers a rich imagery of places in the area with a strong iconic value.

The project “Similar” by Antoine Séguin instead focuses on the contradictions of the contemporary landscape and on the hypothesis of an elusive visual mapping, suspended between modernity and the past.

“Views of Silence. Lens forays into the landscape of history. Monte Grappa 1987-2020 ” is the title of Gianantonio Battistella’s project on his explorations of Monte Grappa.

“Archive partitions in the Northeast at the turn of the century” by Marco Zanta proposes a foray into the photographer’s personal archive that invites you to inhabit the interior spaces of some Venetian companies in the golden age of the 1990s economy.

The series of images presented in “Around the tree” Massimo Sordi finally narrates the relationship between man and nature, suggesting new relationships with the cosmos.

This is not a first time for the Otium studio. In the last 4 years the Castelfranco studio has already been awarded 3 times at the European Design Awardswinning 2 gold medals.

Otium is one multi-disciplinary study of Castelfranco Veneto. It was born in 2007 from a group of professionals from different but complementary sectors, with the intention of following complex projects guaranteeing one shared and coherent design. He deals with analysis and general strategy of communication, graphics, photography, video, web design and development, publishing and museum set-up.

This year celebrates the 15 years of activity. Since 2010 the studio has been operating in the historic site of the Rusticali in Riccati Avogadro Palace in Castelfranco.

Otium regularly collaborates with the Antonio Canova Gypsotheca Museum in Possagno, the Bodoniano Museum in Parma, the Casa Giorgione Museum in Castelfranco Veneto, the Botanical Garden of Padua, Villa Parco Bolasco in Castelfranco Veneto, the City of Riese Pio X, Venice Garden Foundation , Istresco and with numerous Italian companies. ________________________________________________