Away from old stereotypes, Sicily 2.0 is appreciated today in the world of international fashion for some of the most innovative brands including Tarì Rural Design.
Founded by Ezio Lauricella and inspired by both tradition and innovation, Tarì Rural Design presents a collection of unique, trendy bags, targeting the young market of under 30 accessories’ lovers.
Ezio’s words are filled with passion and tells us the story of the brand identity: “As soon as I finished university, I started wondering about the paradoxes of today’s society, the lack of care for the environment and the mass production of goods, killing creativity and cultural identity. I decided to stick to my principles and my heritage and I got inspired by the beautiful traditions of my land. Sicily is a wonderful cradle of culture, arts and crafts. It is also a land full of contradictions and broken by years of corrupted politicians and criminals, it is a land crying for redemption. Tarì Rural Design is much more than a brand, it is an innovative idea based on the principle of re-birth with trendy fashion designs and eco-sustainable materials.”
Tarì Rural Design has already attracted the attention of the national Italian press and TV and in 2016 it has been featured in Vogue Italia, along with the most established and worldwide known designers.
In Ezio’s collection the love for his land and the passion for the Sicilian tradition is evident in every design.
One of the recycled materials utilised by Tarì Rural Design is the hemp of the bags destined for the harvest of the olives. In the new collection of bags, the company has established a dialogue with some Sicilian farms who have received thousands of hemp sacks for collecting olives. The workers at the end of harvest have returned the bags, then used as materials for the creation of the new Limited Edition handbag collection. Today, in Sicily, for the first time, the “aging” technique takes place naturally and ecologically, ennobled by the Work and the fatigue of Sicilian farmers.
The collaboration with some Sicilian farmers celebrates their hard work and allows the brand to produce eco-friendly bags, embracing tradition and innovation. This concept highlights the core principles of the Sicilian people, breaking the pattern of mass production and introducing new techniques to create unique designer bags.
The link to Sicilian traditions is reinforced by the words chosen to identify the brand; “Tarì” is the name of the coin circulating in the mediterranean area and minted by the official mint of Palermo, throughout the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The brand logo is the Sicilian Crowned Eagle. The same eagle that was impressed on the ’12 Tarì’ as well as on the Sicilian crest imported by the Emperor Federico and featured on the flag of the Sicilian fleet.
The names of the bags are a reminder of the historical Sicily and of Palermo’s Art Nouveau between the nineteenth and twentieth century, when the great Italian architect Ernesto Basile introduced the Liberty style: Alliata, Belmonte, Cavarret, Deliella, Conticello, Varvara, Partanna are only some of the dreamy villas razed to the ground in the 80s by the Mafia to give space to modern housing and real estate speculation. The memory of these glorious villas is celebrated by Tarì Rural Design collection.
