CLIENT: Fendi
WHY: Fendi is an Italian luxury brand, founded in Rome in 1925, and remains one of the most famous in the world. For their convention, we were entrusted with the task of creating a teambuilding activity capable of merging two main objectives: on the one hand, to offer attendees a new yet authentic experience, rooted in the culture and tradition of Sicily, the region that would host the event; on the other, to ensure that the activity allowed the stakeholders present to reflect on the company's past and imagine its future.
WHEN: 25 March 2019 / WHERE: Verdura Resort, Sciacca (AG)
WHAT: Sicily has always been a land of narratives and storytellers, where everything becomes words, history, legend. Over the centuries, local storytellers have thus developed a wide variety of tools to help them make the stories more and more immersive, from classic hand-painted pictures hung on large frames to the Pupi Siciliani, a Sicilian puppet theatre with peculiar mechanics and repertoire.
The desire to tell and become part of the narrative then gave rise to the richly carved and inlaid Carretti Siciliani (Sicilian carts), whose surfaces became pictures of a story unfolding on the checkers (squares) on the side and rear boards of the cart - almost like ante litteram comic strips. Stories, whether religious or chivalric in origin, travelled around Sicily in this way, with the carter, becoming more and more widespread.
So, is there any better tool than a cart for a teambuilding exercise designed to combine tradition and storytelling?
HOW: Build a Sicilian Cart was a decidedly ambitious and multifaceted project, which required the complete reinterpretation of the traditional Sicilian cart, and the creation and production of a version of it, still in wood, but easy to assemble and then ready to be painted. In fact, the teams could use their own different skills to assemble the cart, work out the story to be told, and find a way to paint it on the sides of the cart itself, including through allegories and symbolism. Finally, in a moment of pure fun, they were able to compete against other carts in a picturesque and dynamic challenge of skill on a specially created circuit, taking the place of carters and horses.
The following day, at the conference, each team was able to use its own cart, specially brought into the room, as a storytelling tool, sharing the ideas and projects developed with the other attendees, facilitating sharing and discussion.
