designed for: Eleit.it
in partnership with: LePolveri micropanificio
crafted by: Remark Glass Soffieria Artistica
all images: Nasrin Abbasi photographer
Atanor
ritual object for the care of sourdough yeast
Atanor is a vase dedicated to the ritual of refreshing sourdough (mother) yeast, as a preparatory phase of bread-making.
It results from one year of research around the theme of bread, in collaboration with contemporary alchemist Aurora Zancanaro, founder of LePolveri micro-bakery in Milan.
Yeast is the mother of life, Materia Prima of alchemical transmutation that turns the four elements into bread. We take care of the yeast, so it can feed us, giving us life, becoming our body. Breadmaking as an act of love.
The sacred act of eating and sharing bread is preconized by its preparation. The process has all the characteristic of a magical act: it requires specific timings and prescriptions, and it has been orally transmitted for centuries from mothers to daughters in the secret of their kitchens.
Atanor is a borosilicate glass vase for liquid-colture yeast, also known as licoli. Its inner shape accompanies the growth of the yeast after the refreshment phase, helping to monitor the doubling of its volume; the outer shape is to be filled with hot water to create an optimal environment for the fermentation of the bacteria.
Related research:
The name as well as the shape of the vase come from alchemical imagery. The Atanor is the furnace that provides constant heat to allow the alchemical digestion.
There are different etymologies of the word. Some relate it to the Greek Α-Θάνατος with the meaning of "without death", thus alluding to the neverending heat that lights up the oven. Others state instead it comes from the Arabic التنور, at-tannūr, which is quite interestingly used in talismanic alchemy with the meaning of bread-oven.
images: alchemical illustration; first concept sketch of the Atanor vase