L'Autarca

Cesara Garbarino Mazzola e Dina L. Garbarino Cima 2007 Genova - donazione

Fasce, Angelo

GG2007.22

noce nazionale meridionale, acciaio, alluminio, vetro

Patented in 1936 as a "table containing everything necessary for serving meals", L'Autarca was designed in 1935 by the Genoese notary Angelo Fasce with the intention of offering six diners the possibility of eating a complete meal without the help of service staff.
Inspired by its basic function - full "convivial" self-sufficiency - its name recalled one of the most officiated precepts of fascism's civil liturgy: autarchy.
Fascist autarchic political action officially began in March 1936, in response to the sanctions issued by the League of Nations on 18 November 1935, after the Italian aggression against Ethiopia. A mobilisation in favour of economic independence and in support of national production had, however, begun to manifest itself in the years following the 1929 economic crisis, which had brought about those protectionist orientations consolidated by the economic blockade imposed by Geneva. A hammering propaganda, characterised by graphic solutions with a strong visual impact, by slogans that have remained famous (‘We will shoot straight’ or ‘Italy will do it by itself’) and by exhibitions of great appeal, such as the Autarchic Exhibition of Italian Minerals, was deployed to promote Italian products and to counteract the harmful effects of the embargo. Autarchy, which for some time seemed to contribute to the consolidation of the regime's image - distracting public opinion from the critical nature of its political action and its authoritarian and dictatorial nature - favoured above all the search for new materials, offering an extraordinary field of experimentation to the most innovative directions of Italian design.