Joana Astolfi’s creative world is inhabited by toys, games, objects, it is a playful universe where play has a central place. That’s why he received the invitation from the iconic brand created by Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro in 1884 with open arms. The difficulty came later. “This is a playground very big. What am I going to do?” That’s when a member of her team remembered the spinning top, a toy that accompanies her in many of her jobs. “The spinning top is a playful object, everything that represents me is there, movement, play, playing with life, which is how I live my life”, said the architect this Monday, designer and artist at the presentation of his work for the WWB – WorldWide Bordallianos collection, in Lisbon.
The piece is called Spin and it’s a faience top, it’s not white, Joana Astolfi doesn’t like white, it has a “little color”, it has snakes – which could well be the top’s rope, but this top doesn’t have a rope -, the snakes are rising and with them pitchforks. The pitchforks, explains Joana Astolfi, are from a branded toothpick holder that has precisely a pitchfork holding a bull. The pitchfork was used, because she was looking for small figures. “You have to choose pieces that are already made”, they told him at the Caldas da Rainha factory.