The Perfect Union
Every year in the coldest weeks of the winter season, strange sculptures begin to appear in the fields all over the island. It is the moment for grafting.
Wild olive trees grow throughout the island and they produce perfectly tiny olives with a thin and bitter skin. However, though the oil from wild olives is supposedly superior to that of domesticated varieties, the yield is much, much lower. And so the grafting game begins. Wild olive trees grow throughout the island and they produce perfectly tiny olives with a thin and bitter skin. However, though the oil from wild olives is supposedly superior to that of domesticated varieties, the yield is much, much lower. And so the grafting game begins.
Pierpaolo Mandis
A woodworker from the hillside town of Mogoro, Pierpaolo Mandis works alongside his father and brother-in-law. A third generation artisan, he remembers the stories his grandfather would tell him of the years he spent building and selling chairs throughout the island. He insisted he was the first to bring wooden chairs to all of Sardinia and that they therefore originated from Mogoro itself. "My grandfather was a character," says Pierpaolo, "so I won't say that's the truth. But, until I see proof to the contrary, I won't say it isn't true either." Mandis specializes in chair building to this day, with a concentration on intaglio and caning.
What is your favorite place in Sardinia?
We used to travel throughout the entire island on an oxen-drawn cart, and it was rough, it was beautiful and raw. So there is no favorite place; every place is different, every place has its beauty. There is something, though, about the area of Sinis from Tharros on up.
