Near the Argentario in Tuscany, is Argentaia – a fairy tale by Lukas Wassmann

Rocks have to be broken, it takes time a castle has to be built, it takes eight years – photography Lukas Wassmann, stylist Edem Dossou for Lampoon 18, the Crafted

Editor’s Letter, Carlo Mazzoni – Argentaia, Choreographies by Lukas Wassmann

Time is an issue that cannot be surmounted. Rocks have to be broken; it takes time. A castle has to be built; it takes eight years. For as much as we talk about craft — making and re-making, constructing and fine-tuning the details — time is still an element, just like wood, lime, iron, and stone. We can see this through the lense of Lukas Wassmann.

Time allows for discipline and the dance of the hours seeks a grueling narrative. Argentaia by Lukas Wassmannis the title of a cerebral choreography that controls the work of the hands, the strength of the legs, and the skill of words. Italy, a land of resilience and of water — a pure water that slides down the Alps, through the pine trees and white marble, collecting in rivers and flowing through cities, taps, and construction sites, soiled between mud and soap.

In the end, the water finds its way to the sea — and what’s more beautiful than the sea? No other land can boast a mix of landscapes, roads, and routes like Italy. Nowhere is more international than Italy — only the Italians haven’t realized it.

From Lukas Wassmann to Massimo Listri and Ettore Mocchetti in Florence

At the home of Massimo Listri in Florence, we were speaking about Counter-Reformation together with Ettore Mocchetti, architect and director of AD Italia (Mr. Mocchetti recently passed away, in April 2023). The Counter-Reformation, which brought economic and infrastructure development to Milan thanks to Carlo Borromeo, took part in the downfall of the Italian civilization’s supremacy.

If in Northern Europe, the Protestant Reformation upheld the virtue of work, in Italy, the Counter-Reformation restored vigor to the Catholic vocation. If in the North, the economic rise of a free man was a cause for approval, in Italy, it remained subject to suspicion. Virtue and purity were the means for exploiting connections, cunning, opportunism and glory.

What’s more, in the North’s cold and rainy climate, what else could people do besides work? In Italy, both past and present, no one wants to miss a sunset.

Madame de Staël won’t be forgotten in any case

Education can’t resolve ignorance, curiosity can. If one fails to wonder how the year 1789 succeeded in changing history, that is their own fault. An individual flaw. It is much like someone who doesn’t know how to write a C-sharp and talks about hip hop culture.

We will not forget Madame de Staël in any case. If people do not understand that reading, watching, and listening to what others do means placing your own life at the world’s disposal, that is their own fault. If a nineteen-year-old doesn’t have the curiosity to hop on a local train towards Mantova or Urbino, to turn a thousand pages, that is their own fault. They will forever remain a predictable person to their friend, lover, and employer.

They can earn as much as they’d like — find celebrity even. It’s only in the evening, when the lights go out, that the wrinkles come out and the skin beneath the chin begins to sag. Standing before the mirror, it becomes clear that the questions have already been posed and that it is still the questions that count and not the answers.

Lampoon: a stinging, irreverent satire

Lampoon is an American word that means magazine — a stinging, irreverent satire. In this first issue, in a new direction, Lampoon has chosen craft as a journalistic approach. The search for a prototype before production. The science fiction of a laboratory rather than the workshop of a master craftsman.

We’ll stay clear of captions. Stories and images will be sharp, with cuts. I like to think the scissors of Alexander McQueen were the inspiration behind them. With Lampoon, we strive to achieve this attitude without the need to provoke. The language will remain calm, while the intellectual connections may appear chaotic — a

utopian sophistication.

Kerouac’s words come to mind, those about two mad guys — just like us — mad to talk, to never yawn or speak of banalities, burning like yellow roman candles and exploding like spiders across the stars. And we are there, looking up, and still saying awww!

Photography Lukas Wassmann, Stylist Edem Dossou

Hair: Giovanna Fucciolo @ Aura Make-Up David Jones @ Green Apple
Casting Director: Nicola Kast @ Webber Represents
Photography Assistant: Simon Hebberger
Stylist Assistants: Kenny Germe, Angelica Arienti
Production: Sofia Castellaccio
Models: Franziska Bachofen @ Rebel Management, Rohan Mirza @ M Management, James Charles @The Squad
Thanks To Paolo Vico @ Argentaia

Carlo Mazzoni

[envira-gallery id=”128241″]