There could be no better representation of the concept expressed in The Manifesto than the first bookcase: ITACA. It is no coincidence that it tells of Ulysses' journey home, after seven long years spent on Calypso's island — the concept of nòstos thus becomes the supreme emblem of the journey of return to the cultural, social and moral role that belongs to us.
The book that inspired this bookcase is
“An Odyssey” by Daniel Mendelsohn.
I warmly recommend reading it.
Constituent Elements
The bookcase reads from the bottom up, like the journey it tells: each element is a stage of Odysseus' nòstos.
01 / 04 — Trident and Shuttle
Waiting and Captivity
The bookcase is composed of two base groups, in bronze, placed on the right and left sides. Each group consists of three cylindrical elements forming a trident, held together by another cylindrical element running across them that represents a shuttle. The trident is a symbolic reference to the figure of Poseidon - god of the sea - who prevents Odysseus from returning to Ithaca - after the latter had blinded Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and Thoosa.
For this reason, the trident sits in the position opposite the apex of the bookcase, the symbol of homecoming. The second element is the shuttle: this tool was used by women in ancient Greece to weave cloth. The reference is therefore to the figure of Penelope who, to gain time while awaiting the return of her beloved, tries to deceive the Suitors, promising to give herself in marriage once she has finished weaving the shroud: by day she wove, and by night she unravelled the cloth.
Beyond the shuttle, the elements of the trident also recall the theme of weaving: bronze weights were in fact used to keep the cloth taut. The cloth itself is symbolised by the hemp rope which, at this point of the bookcase, is “separated” into its constituent strands, resembling the threads of a loom. Symmetrically to the first trident stands the second. The elements are the same, and yet here we find a golden shuttle. Once again the reference to the Odyssey is explicit: “...inside, singing with a beautiful voice, she passed the golden shuttle through the loom”. This is how Homer introduces Calypso, who stands as the symmetrical element counterbalancing the bookcase not only structurally but also narratively: Calypso is indeed the second predominant female figure in the Odyssey, who imprisons Ulysses for seven long years on her island out of mad love for him: “I am not willing to let you go: I compel you to stay with me, on my island”. This double meaning of love - requited (awaited, positive) and unrequited (forced, negative) - is here powerfully expressed through the structural balancing, always held in suspension, as we shall see, by the support.
02 / 04 — Fir Shelves
The Navigation
Following the weave of our journey, we arrive at the central part, where the bookcase presents four wooden boards whose shape and choice of material symbolise the theme of Odysseus's navigation across the sea on his return to Ithaca.
Fir was in fact a type of wood widely used in ancient Greece to build the hulls of ships, while the rounded geometric shape recalls the very sides of those vessels. We thus move from a condition of stability to one of mobility: Odysseus leaves Calypso, thanks to Athena's intercession, and sails again towards his homeland. The fact that the structure, when unloaded - that is, without books - floats, is a symbolic reference to the theme of navigation and to the awareness that without culture we are like sailors at the mercy of the sea.
It is up to each of us, through our own subjective and intimate life experiences, to fill these shelves with the books of our own lived story, steady our vessel, chart a conscious course and finally return home.
03 / 04 — Bow and Arrow
Struggle and Balance
In the upper part of the bookcase, the strands that make up the rope reorder and entwine: our Nòstos is about to end. The bow and arrow elements appear at the centre and are an explicit reference to Odysseus's fight against the Suitors to reclaim Ithaca. The chosen material is Yew, the wood that has defined the millennia-long history of archery.
Although the hero's weapon was a composite bow, the choice here was to celebrate the pure archetype of the bow. Yew, which by its very nature embodies the perfect balance between tension and compression, thus becomes the ideal manifesto of this architecture. And yet, underlying this structure lies a further reflection: had the wood been straight, the weight loaded onto the structure would have stretched the hemp rope through elastic deformation, causing the “arrow” element to fail and compromising its structural function.
The curved shape therefore arises from an innovative and rigorous engineering calculation aimed at balancing the forces at play. And is this not, after all, the same trial Odysseus was called to face on his return home? Instead of yielding to the impulse of his feelings, the hero had to weigh the forces at play, master his emotions and draw on the skills matured over his long journey - cunning, calm and calculated action - to reclaim his land and his beloved.
04 / 04 — The Support
The Nòstos
The final element, supporting the entire structure, takes the shape of an ancient bed leg to become a symbol of the celebrated wedding bed that Ulysses had built by carving it from an olive tree. It is thanks to this secret — keeper of their deepest and inviolable intimacy — that Penelope finally recognises her husband. This single load-bearing element is also an allusion to the inexhaustible willpower Ulysses had to show to overcome all the trials his journey home set before him and finally return to his beloved, becoming the ultimate embodiment of a love that sustains and guides.
Thus closes the material climax of the bookcase: after Fir for the voyage and Yew for the fight, Olive marks the stability regained. There is no more sea to brave nor time to chase: the nòstos of Ulysses, like our own, ends here.
Engineering of Balance
The bow and arrow elements do not serve a narrative purpose alone: they form a complex structural node. Through a precise redistribution of the acting forces, the curved geometry cancels the bending moment on the wall joint, ensuring an anchorage of exceptional safety and stability.
This solution, unprecedented in furniture design, has been the subject of a patent filing to protect its innovative function.
