Valextra meets Perimetro’s founder Sebastiano Leddi

Perimetro was born in Milan and is dedicated to exploring the unique beauty of the cityscape through a photographic lens. Sebastiano Leddi, Editor in Chief and Founder of Perimetro, talks to us about the nuances and charm of his hometown.

Valextra: Good morning Sebastiano. Thank you for your collaboration and this interview. Let’s start with the question, what does Milan represent to you?


Sebastiano Leddi: I’ve always lived in Milan. It represents the place where my grandparents lived and where my son grew up. Milan is a place I didn’t choose to live but I can say for all intents and purposes I can call it home.


V: Tell us a little more about how “Perimetro” came to life.


SL: The strong desire to return to the soul of Milan at a time when the narrative was aimed at promoting itself only in terms of territorial marketing.


V: Perimetro’s claim is: “Milan like it’s never been seen”. Can you tell us more about it?


SL: We wanted to tell new stories, aspects of the city that people don’t usually know, or that are under their noses but have never stopped to observe.


V: As you know, Valextra was born in Milan, in 1937 and really explores the art of observation, creating products that meet people’s specific needs. What’s Perimetro’s perspective on this?


SL: The theme of ‘needs’ is a broad subject that’s hard to address in a few lines. The needs of citizens are many and vary depending on the target group. A common need of people living in Milan could be the desire to feel like a citizen and not a “consumer”, to feel part of something.

V: How did the collaboration with Valextra come about?


SL: We got in touch with the Valextra project thanks to Ground Control, both of them thought we could be the right interpreters to describe the city, giving birth to SignTimes.


V: Tell us about the project you conceived for the Valextra boutique in via Manzoni and Valextra Caffè.


SL: SignTimes is a project that starts from a kind of photography that normally identifies with street photography. We launched an open call on our channels and selected four photographers. The choice was complicated because many photographers applied, and several of them deserved a space but unfortunately, we had to close the circle. Here is a passage from the curatorial text I produced for the photo project: “The four perspectives, although very different, show the present Milan, in a sense they represent it, sometimes in their objective reality, sometimes they’re abstract by reproducing an artificial image that always starts from real, concrete elements, that add up to produce surreal scenes. For sure, Milan is all this and much more”.


V: Which values should be held when living in the city?


SL: Living together in a synergistic way, creating a collective relationship, which is what should happen in any community; this, however, clashes with the strong individualism that society itself generates. It is not a coincidence that we are wondering if living in the city still makes sense and there are many young people today who imagine forms of alternative communities. The energy crisis itself will bring important social changes and new forms of energy communities (people sharing alternative forms of energy), leading people to live outside urban centres.


V: We selected and chose four photographers for the project: Rafa Jacinto, Guido Morozzi, Carolina Lopez, and Riccardo Cattaneo. Can you tell us more about their artistic directions?


SL: Here is a brief analysis that i did about the work of each of them: Rafa Jacinto created his series by finding rays of sunshine that bounced against glass buildings and then reflected on the road, or on the sidewalk. Once the light spot was located, he remained stationed waiting for someone to walk across the beam of light. Those moments in which a series of elements aligned cosmically in the surroundings, were when Rafa took his pictures.


For Guido Morozzi these moments manifested when two elements crossed each other and entered into dialogue. Someone sitting on a bench at the tram stop and turning to see the look of the supermodel featured in the advertisement that dominates behind him.


Guido waits for an expression, a reaction, something that generates an interaction between the two, just at that moment he takes the photograph. In that instant, the subject becomes a protagonist in the image and then lives with the other character as if they lived in the same dimension.


The term follower in recent years has taken on a very clear meaning for all of us, it refers to social media, those who follow our profiles and have access to our content. The private investigator follows and sometimes chases the subjects of his investigation in the hope of catching them in the act.


Carolina Lopez follows girls through the streets of the city center, photographing their necks as if she was obsessed with the hair, backs, and shoulders of the people she meets on the street.


The final result is a series of different shots and somewhat atypical, that offers however a very common point of view for those who walk through the streets of the city, hyper-realistic, but unconventional because it doesn't properly represent the subjects, they’ve become totally impersonal, distant from the “correct” representations we’re used to seeing.


Riccardo Cattaneo instead wanders around Milan moved by curiosity in search of the unusual. It’s a very time-consuming job, and it probably forces you to walk miles and miles. Unlike the other photographers of the group he doesn’t stay stationed and doesn’t wait for the shot.


After all, what’s the chance of witnessing the event of a man with a red and white striped t-shirt passing by red and white striped signage tape? It’s not a foreseeable possibility, or at least it could take years of waiting.


Riccardo’s work is strongly determined by chance, and he wonders with his eyes wide open.


Photographers in order of appearance:


Carolina Lopez

Riccardo Cattaneo

Rafa Jacinto

Guido Morozzi


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