Granai della Memoria

Bruno Tessa, weaver and ex elementary school teacher, has been interviewed for the Granaries of Memory in 2014. Bruno Tessa was born in 1946 in a small village set at more than 1000 meters above the level of the sea in Coazze (TO), in Val Sangone. After the secondary school, he became a teacher and continued this job for 35 years, without the loss of that strong bond with nature and mountains he always had.

Once retired, he decided to resume an ancient tradition of his area, weaving, above all hemp: this art needs time and dedication, especially when made with traditional and ancient tecniques. Time is, in fact, one of the most themes for Bruno, in particular the evolution of its relationship with value, totally modified by the non-logic of consumer society, based on the wrong belief that all the resources a renewable. During the interview, Tessa describes the peasant’s world in Val Sanguine, saying that he himself has been a witness of the transition from the Middle Age to the modern era because, until the ‘60s, really few thing changed in the centuries for the inhabitants of this alpine area. He also narrates how social relationship changed nowadays, from the transmission of knowledge to vaues like family and respect, but also children games, work, religious or village events, adding some stories of his personal life and some others told by the elders when he was a child. Bruno describes also the most widespread farm model until industrialization, the domestic farm; almost every family used to have some animals to obtain milk, meat, eggs or wool, and also some farmed land for potatoes and rye, that allowed them to survive with a small amount of animals and land. Other important themes for Bruno are water, sustainable agriculture, maintaining the distance from the definition of organic, and tourism, which should be more respectful of nature and people who lives there.  At the end of the interview, Tessa shows and explains the mode of operation of his old loom, still used for his handicraft products.