– 21.three Gelato Meccanico at Interieur, Kortrijk

– 21.three Gelato Meccanico has been selected by the jury to realise one of the bar concepts and prominent exposure during the Biennale Interieur 2014.

With Gelato Meccanico, the Italian team of Davide Fabio Colaci, Lula Ferrari and TourDeFork together with Laura Doardo, Ludovica Niero and Marco Savini convinced the jury with a concept based on handmade ice cream made to old technologies in an environment that stimulates participation. – 21.three reinterprets the process of making artisanal ice-cream on our Meccanica kitchen system. The modular frame system designed by Gabriele Centazzo for our sister brand demode engineered by Valcucine

The designed space is set up as a vast scenic device in which the guest, through direct visual and physical participation can become a performer in the ancient art of ice-cream making. Every hour or so the process of handmade ice-cream production will begin through all it's different stages, ending with the hand crank mechanical ice-cream whipping, using White Mounatian machines, which function thanks to salt and ice eutectic mixtures. A slow, mechanical and highly sophisticated ritual. The Ancient Romans would mix fresh snow with mulled wine or citrus juices to prepare sorbets but it is only since the seventeenth century, with the discovery of eutectic mixtures that the modern age of ice cream began. By mixing appropriate amounts of sea salt and ice it is possible to reach a sub zero temperature of -21.3° C, the chemical reaction involves adding NaCl (Sodium Chloride) to solid state H2O (Water), the salt melts the ice by lowering the mixtures freezing point and in order for the ice to liquefy it needs to absorb energy from the mixture, therefore lowering the compounds temperature well below zero. It was thanks to the discovery of this chemical principal that the “invention” of ice-cream was made possible.

-21.three is a versatile and adaptable project, the main elements that compose it can be easily reduced and transformed depending on the projects needs. Depending and spatial and technical requirements it can easily adapt to the 80 square meter space as well as the 120 square meter space without affecting the ice-cream's scenic production process.