De Materia Prima
Laura Sonzini
De Materia Prima is a three-book editorial series exploring Argentine folklore as a living system of memory and transformation. Each publication approaches folklore through a different lens—music, textiles, and food—yet all are guided by the same intentional structure, moving between past, present, and future to frame folklore as something continuously unfolding. Together, they trace how traditions are inherited, reinterpreted, and projected forward.
Argentine folklore is often understood as a traditional music genre, but this project expands that definition. Folklore is the language through which memory survives and moves forward. It lives in songs, but also in gestures, recipes, materials, and rituals that shape collective identity over time.
The project began with music, recognizing how a new generation of artists reworks traditional sounds through contemporary production. From there, the concept expanded into textiles and food, revealing similar processes of reinterpretation across disciplines. Rather than preserving folklore, the work approaches it as material that evolves through generations.
The series takes the form of three printed books, each structured to move between historical context, contemporary case studies, and speculative futures. Printed on thin, textured paper and saddle-stitched by hand, the books intentionally carry a sense of handcraft. Their tactile and fragile quality evokes layering, time, and a connection to the earth.
The project reframes folklore as active rather than static, positioning it as a living system shaped through use and carried forward through reinterpretation.