Rafts | Allegories of design

This book and project are a tribute to the raft (understood here as an abstract category and not just in the literal sense), the allegory of a journey that unites us and a metaphor of our intrepid nature that we so often tend to forget.. - Francesco Faccin

The raft is an imaginative, indispensable object that in human history has represented in various forms the ability to adapt, the attachment to life or the desire to go elsewhere.
Making the raft an allegory of the ability to design, Francesco Faccin collects in this book ten emblematic and inspirational stories that remind us of the importance of intuition and the ability to break the rules when necessary.

Thor Heyerdahl's journey across the Pacific Ocean in 1947, the balsas built by Cubans to escape Fidel Castro's regime, the boats of fishermen in Cameroon composed entirely of plastic bottles, the hot air balloon with which a bricklayer and a mechanic in 1979 crossed the East German border. Ten different stories to remind us that designing is a primal human need and therefore an act that must be cultivated as an antidote to alienation: "Designing not to be projected" as Enzo Mari teaches.

This book is edited by Sistemamanifesto, with a text by Michele De Lucchi.

Zattere is part of the Visual Essay Series, a collection of books for those looking for new visual cues to look at reality.