AMISTAT. Bocciarda June 2023.

AMISTAT x SOI STUDIO x SERAFINA QUOTA

Good Things Take Time: Part One

Yvonne and Anja have been working together for eight years now, with a fusion of ideas, plans and creative inspiration that is sometimes approached chaotically, and sometimes with more purpose. But what is never missing is joy. From the very beginning, Anja has been fascinated with the unique projects that Yvonne has created with her cultural association, Serafina. Whether she was invited as an artist herself or as a curator for the association, the creative potential and inspiration that emerged simply by ‘being there’ is difficult to describe. And so, after founding her design studio ‘Soi’, it was only natural that Anja would continue working with Yvonne and her association.

So, what is the collaboration about? It’s about the good life, and sharing that experience with like-minded people. It enables you to arrive in a place which, for whatever reason, makes everything in life a little easier. A place where you can feel the light, smell the music, hear the colours and taste the wood. And so, in cooperation with SerafinaQuota, the first Soi Residency was created, a transmedia program that is as versatile as the artists who participate in it. It encourages you to be creative and find inspiration in what surrounds you, in the things that you experience and share with others. Everything is completely free and comes without any heavy requirements, because when boundaries are blurred, creativity can truly flow.

The concept was simple: Creatives who are willing to make a contribution to the Piedmontese cultural landscape were invited, with the form of this contribution to be determined on site.

Good Things Take Time: Part Two

Jan and Josef, better known as Amistat, know more than most how patience pays off. The brothers busked in Australia for 10 years before making their breakthrough last year with sold out concerts in Europe’s biggest cities, label deals and even fan mail! As twins, Josef and Jan share an unspoken connection that is not only visible but, above all, audible. They combine their eloquent songwriting skills and harmonies with their own unique characteristics, which they then manage to pack impressively into their beautiful songs. The only thing the musicians were missing was time – time for themselves, time for the music. So the invitation to the “Soi Studio x SerfinaQuota Residency” came along at just the right time. They got straight to work in our remote little corner of the Langhe, a corner without any cell phone reception or WiFi, but with a large supply of wine, good food, and a piano in the idyllic courtyard.

Good Things Take Time: Part Three

Yvonne had been waiting for their text for nine months. Why it took so long is partly due to the success of the residency with Amistat; so much had happened since then, with so many projects being implemented simultaneously. But finally, Jan and Josef were able to spend 7 days in the Bocciarda together with their bandmate Dimitri and music producer and pianist, Tobi. Inspired by the place even before the first espresso was drunk, with every day so full of ease as if it were the most normal thing in the world, they began composing in the courtyard of the Bocciarda.

The joy of the four musicians could not only be seen, but also heard, and it wasn’t long before two spontaneous concerts arose. The first took place in the Barolo Bar in Monforte where they were paid in homemade pasta, the finest Italian parmesan and a large slab of butter. The second happened in Casale to mark the unveiling of the new Do-What-You-Love wine label, designed by Arianna Cristiano as part of another wonderful project from SerafinaQuota.

For the songwriting, Yvonne shipped her old piano from Vorarlberg to Italy and had it strung and tuned by an old Italian music teacher. It was precisely this piano that was the central element for two of the songs that Amistat wrote in Piedmont and released with their latest EP in March 2024. The songs are currently enjoying their live debut on the band’s European tour. The entire residency was documented photographically by Anja on an analogue camera, with the images developed in the darkroom of the association’s cultural workshop.

Here are the links to the two songs that were created on the old piano in the Bocciarda courtyard. If you listen closely, you can definitely hear the influence of the Italian sun, the Pino Nero, the numerous table tennis matches during creative breaks, cooling down in the pool, and the pasta from the Barolo Bar:

Better Days: https://open.spoCfy.com/intl-de/track/22R4gjBqSMorFYpjqceQqb?si=93d77d92ef6248f0

Still Believe: https://open.spoCfy.com/intl-de/track/46naPdAGLVsr63vxfqMeNn?si=e9f79838f22a4352