The Residenza Origin Story
Caseificio Mural, Alex Todaro / 2018
REsidency origin story
In August 2018, Alex Todaro, an American artist and designer, visited Lago Scuro on a whim by recommendation from a close friend. He intended to stay three weeks to learn about cooking, but instead he stayed for three-months, walking away with a completely renewed sense of personal values and perspective on living sustainably and slowly.
The farm made a considerable mark on Alex, so in return, in his final weeks there, he left his own mark and painted a mural on their Caseificio (meaning ‘dairy’ in Italian). The mural served as a gesture of gratitude to the Lago Scuro family and by the time it was finished it brought so much excitement and energy to the farm that they decided they wanted to continue the gesture of generosity and invite other creatives from around the world to share in a similar experience.
Residenza Lago Scuro was born! Fundamentally, it is about nourishment. In every sense of the word - from the food we eat, to how we eat it, to who we share it with, to the practices we create to make space and time for these moments. It is a collaboration between Alex Todaro, Luca Grasselli, and the extended Lago Scuro family in the spirit of the exchange that we had in the summer of 2018.
Our hope is that this program honors and expands that starting point, creating the conditions for positive and impactful mark-making between a range of curious and creative individuals who want to learn to live a little more sustainably and slowly, emphasizing pleasure, enjoyment, and nourishment.
THE ORGANIZERS
Luca Grasseli is co-owner and operator of Cascina Lago Scuro where he works alongside his wife Federica, his five children, and his parents Paola and Fabio. Luca received his masters degree from the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche in Pollenza and is now focused on expanding the farm to wider audiences beyond Italy and wider practices beyond agriculture.
Stefania Quaini has over ten years of experience in social innovation and has an educational background in contemporary art and art management. She focuses her work on the verge of different disciplines in order to find the proper sustainable combination between all of them. She has experience in business development for impact startups and venture philanthropy, collaborating with Italian foundations and associations to create connections with the public and private sectors. In the past, she concentrated on the challenges of a sustainable food system within Italy. Stefania is a sailor, a yogi, an explorer, and a craftsperson.
Alex Todaro is an experience designer and artist from Colorado with a master’s degree in Interaction Design from the School of Visual Arts. Since Lago Scuro he has been growing increasingly more passionate about food systems and agriculture and is currently apprenticing on a farm in upstate New York, while dreaming up different ways to bring new cultures and audiences to farming.
Julia López Varela is a change maker with more than 15 years’ experience in entrepreneurship, education, feminism, arts and cultural affairs. Her working experience includes several international projects and she is cofounder of Ultrazul, a strategic design company that develops projects related to social innovation, sustainability and architecture willing to create positive impact in society. She is exploring ecology, circular economy, and how to respectfully bring the rural into urban contexts, especially related to sustainable food.
She is a cosmopolitan traveler, a dancer, loves all kinds of sports and she is passionate about Italian culture.