Artists, designers and craftsmen are always seeking inspiration—new ideas for their next great project—and sometimes they will look-backwards, to civilizations of the past and the artifacts they left behind. During the Post War Modernist period (1950's - 1970's), there was a boom in archaeological exploration of ancient sites—places (and their newly-unearthed objets) which proved fertile sources for creative artists "looking for something new."
Syracuse (called Siracusa in Italian or Syracusæ in Latin) is an ancient city-state on the Southeast edge of Sicily, looking-out over the Ionian Sea. Its advantageous position (and its strong alliances with Corinth and Sparta), made it the most important city in all of "Magna Graecia." It was as large and powerful as Athens, and, according to Cicero, the most beautiful of all Greek cities.
The mathematical engineer, Archimedes, was born in Syracuse. The playwright Aeschylus and philosopher Plato also lived and worked here. Saint Paul evangelized in Syracuse and Saint Lucy was born (and martyred) in the city (283? - 304 AD) and her feast day is still celebrated here every 13 December.
The large vase above, made by Ceramano in Germany, is from their "Syrakus" line of ceramics. It is a wonderful juxtaposition of warm, hand-incised roughness with crisp, cold gunmetal precision. What it has to do with Syracuse, I still do not know. But the line was inspired by the idea of the ancient Greek city-state, if not its aesthetics. Please click on the photo above to learn more about this piece.
LEO Design's Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed. While we contemplate our next shop location, please visit our on-line store which continues to operate (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
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LEO Design's Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed. While we contemplate our next shop location, please visit our on-line store which continues to operate (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
Follow us on Instagram: "leodesignhandsomegifts"
Follow us on Facebook: "LEO Design - Handsome Gifts"