As we’ve already seen recently, at the moment, the production of glass is not as sustainable as it seems, as well as the methods of coloring. Once tinted, it can’t be recycled as it can’t return to its transparent state. With the From Stone to Glass project, Salomé Maarek, student at the Bezalel Academy, wanted to create a naturally colored glass with local resources.
The designer considered using fruits and vegetables to naturally color the material, however it was found that this would have a harmful ecological impact. She then starts looking for possible local natural resources in different regions of the country. Potash, wood, copper, sand, clay… The final decision was Israeli stone.
From the Negev desert to the Eilat desert, Israel has a multitude of stone varieties with a wide range of textures and colors. To get to these regions, travel was done on foot or by bus, in order to have the smallest possible carbon footprint.
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The stones were analysed by the designer alongside geologist Navot Morag to find suitable components. They were crushed to a powder that revealed a wide selection of colors, such as green moldavite, turquoise blue, indigolite, amber-orange, yellow tourmaline, and many others.
In a container, silica, sodium bicabornate, Dolomite and Borax are deposited to create a part of the glass, with the addition of the powder, serving as dye to the material. An artisanal method was used to melt the glass at around 1200°C for 8 hours. This made it impossible to hand-blow it, therefore Salomé opted for the mold-blown technique.
After two years of research, the result of the project is a glass with different characteristics: first of all it’s resistant to shocks up to 5 tons and can withstand temperature changes without cracking. Moreover, “shaping, sharpening, cutting, or even drilling this glass is a more durable alternative to Haute-Joaillerie“. The new glass is now available as jewelry products and for use in industrial production.
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Come abbiamo già visto di recente, al momento, la produzione del vetro non è così sostenibile come sembra e, allo stesso modo, anche i metodi di colorazione di questo materiale, dato che, una volta colorato, non può essere riciclato in quanto non è possibile riportarlo allo stato trasparente. Con il progetto From Stone to Glass, Salomé Maarek studentessa presso la Bezalel Academy, vuole creare un metodo di colorazione naturale del vetro, che sfrutti risorse locali.
La designer ha inizialmente considerato l’utilizzo di frutta e verdura per tingere in modo naturale il materiale, tuttavia si è scoperto che ciò avrebbe avuto un impatto ecologico dannoso a causa della produzione. Inizia quindi a cercare in diverse regioni del paese possibili risorse naturali locali, tra cui potassa, legno, rame, sabbia, argilla… La scelta finale è ricaduta sulla pietra israeliana.
Con la volontà di creare un prodotto con la minor carbon footprint possibile, dal deserto del Negev a quello di Eilat, regione ricche di varietà di pietre dalle diverse trame e colori, Salomé ha sempre viaggiato a piedi o in autobus.
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Le pietre sono state analizzate dalla progettista insieme al geologo Navot Morag per trovare i componenti adatti. Sono state frantumate per ottenere una polvere che ha rivelato un’ampia selezione di colori, come moldavite verde, blu turchese, indicolite, giallo tormalina e arancio ambra e molti altri.
Per creare il vetro sono stati depositati in un contenitore silice, bicarbonato di sodio, dolomite e borace a cui è stata aggiunta la polvere con funzione di colorante. Salomé ha utilizzato un metodo artigianale per la fusione, a una temperatura di circa 1200°C per otto ore. Questo vetro non viene quindi soffiato a mano, ma è adatto alla tecnica del soffiaggio a stampo.
Dopo due anni di sperimentazione, il risultato di From Stone to Glass è un vetro con diverse caratteristiche: innanzitutto resiste ad uno sforzo pari a 5 tonnellate e può subire sbalzi di temperatura senza rischiare di creparsi. Inoltre, “modellare, affilare, tagliare o addirittura forare questo vetro è un’alternativa più duratura all’Haute-Joaillerie“. Il materiale finale è adatto per l’utilizzo nella produzione industriale e disponibile come prodotto per le gioiellerie.
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During Milan Design Week 2018, Snarkitecture, for Caesarstone, payed homage to the center stage of the home: the kitchen island. Named “Altered States”, the installation created a relation between the raw elements – ice, water and steam – and the guests.
“Our aim for the Milan version of Altered States is to use ice, water and steam to create a mesmerizing collective experience around a kitchen island that has been designed around these simple elements. We took caesarstone surfaces and turned them into something voluminous and engaging, further highlighting the strength and flexibility of the material…” commented Snarkitecture.
Located in the courtyard of Palazzo dell’Ufficio Elettorale di Porta Romana, three different basins welcome visitors, each of them shows a different stage of water and it is made with a unique Caesarstone color: vanilla noir, alpine mist and white attica. Under the cupola of the interior, the studio presented its proposal for a round kitchen island made with caesarstone’s white attica and a dark contrasting faucet. Around it visitors are surrounded by a landscape of Caesarstone’s metropolitan collection – cloudburst concrete, airy concrete, and rugged concrete – placed on top of cylindrical metal mesh.
Pinuccio Sciola was an Italian artist known for his intervention in his hometown in San Sperate – Cagliari, Sardegna – where you can observe more than two hundred murals depicting the rural world. Later his artistic research has gone further, and today his name is linked to something extraordinary: sound stones. In his house-museum, geometric stone blocks populate the courtyard entrance and letting slip the hand on them – or another stone or a violin bow – the stone begins to play. A few meters from the house-museum, a horizon of megalithic stones permeated by the scent of citrus, huge monoliths that may seem like sculptures but in reality are musical instruments, lithophones. Apparently silent and motionless, these giants at the first gust of wind free sounds, different sounds for each form and volume. Stones to look, to listen, to caress.
Last April I met Tiziana Scaciga, founder and director of Pietre Trovanti. During our last exchange she recommended the book “Estetica del Rottame”, in which I was struck with the romantic concept of “beautiful ruins.” I recommended to her “La Vita è un Raccolto”, Agnès Varda’s film documentary about the lives of contemporary gleaners who, out of necessity or to give a second life to everyday scraps, repeat the ancient gesture of collecting what remains on the ground. “The beautiful thing about salvaged objects,” says an artist midway through the film, “is that they have a past.”
It is precisely on the revaluation of waste’s “precious past” that Pietre Trovanti is based, the brand that Tiziana Scaciga has founded in collaboration with Andrea Scotton (production director) to recover the remnants of natural stone processing – including marble powders and “scraps” left over from the production of parent company Moro Serizzo – and transform them into design objects capable of conveying the stories of their land of origin, the Val D’Ossola, with their wild and primordial aesthetics. Back from the last edition of Maison & Objet, Tiziana Scaciga told us more about her circular brand.
I descend from a family of artisans through generations. The family business specializes in high craftsmanship of natural stone, a male-centered craft that, over time, has turned into a female entrepreneurial experience, with my mother Mariateresa and my sister Raffaella running the company today. After graduation, I began to develop a special interest in the scraps of this production, which are very symbolic and evocative. Today with Pietre Trovanti we recontextualize the role of waste stones from the Ossola Valley in everyday life. We enhance and transform wild, imperfect and irregular matter into objects of design and applied art, a resource to be explored in an ethical, poetic, aesthetic dimension.
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And where did the name come from?
When my grandfather Giovanni Mario Moro, a stonemason from Montemerlo, Padua, came to the Ossola Valley in 1940, he began working stone using Trovanti – those uneven rocks commonly found in the woods. Textural relics from a primordial geological time, more easily known as erratic boulders. My grandfather would “hew” the Trovanti in situ and then they would be transported and processed downstream. There was no talk of a circular economy back then, yet the thinking behind this approach was already being applied, spontaneously, in the everyday life of stonemasons. Trovanti is also the present participle of ‘to find’; it is a way of reversing the perspective, between the finder and the found.
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Currently there are three main collections. Could you tell me about them? Is there anything new coming up?
The Trovanti are objects that have an easier reproducibility, Erranti the non-replicable pieces, while the Adam collection is based on the use of sawing sludge regenerated from cutting stone, a research born in collaboration with artist Marta Palmieri and architect Carlo Antonelli. Adam transforms the identity of a residue – sludge, the “waste of waste” – into raw material. We design unusual objects for everyday use, with sober, essential lines, following a vision inspired by the cycle of nature: from every end a new beginning. Today we are expanding the Nebula collection – created with artist Teresa Carnuccio – in which the sparkle of palissandro marble crystals interacts with the evanescent chromatics and hues generated by the cyanotype technique. We are continuing our collaboration with Argentine designer Josefina Muñoz, who has already designed the iconic Radical Game tables for us. With designer Saif Faisal, on the other hand, we are expanding Upsidedown, a collection that maintains the spontaneous form of stones by juxtaposing them in sculptural compositions.
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Radical Game, Josefina Muñoz, ph. Walter ZerlaIsola, Ghigos, ph. Ghigos
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Pietre Trovanti collaborates with many designers -your “stoneytellers”– including Zaven, the Venetian studio that recently made the list of this year’s top 100 designers, according to AD Italia. How do you choose designers to collaborate with? What have you produced with them?
We believe a lot in collaborations, and we like to discover how different professionalism, personalities and sensibilities confront discarded stones to reveal their unexpected aesthetic and design potential. Collaborations always come about in different ways. With the Zaven studio, we created In Primis, a collection of small tables and centerpieces in palissandro marble born from the recovery of an uneven slab, reviving the ancient technique of chiseling.
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Who produces Pietre Trovanti’s signature objects?
The craftsmen of Moro Serizzo, without whom none of the pieces in our collections would exist. This humanity of handcrafting represents a defining mark of our identity. The process of handmade transformation of objects involves as little processing as possible, to minimize energy consumption.
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What are the peculiarities of the Ossola Valley and its marble ?
The Ossola Valley, on the border with Switzerland, is among the most important geological basins nationwide. From Ossola, specifically Candoglia, comes the marble of the same name, which was used in the construction of the Milan Cathedral. It is a very rich territory from a geological point of view: here stone – very common is the Serizzo type – is also an identifying element of traditional architecture. The quarry of palissandro Marble – a material of varying textures and colors that we use a lot because of the characteristic sparkle of its crystals – represents a worldwide unicum.
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All of the brand’s objects are characterized by the raw aesthetic of stone, which, even where it is most worked, is never deprived of its natural irregularities and inherent “brutal” appearance. Can you explain this choice?
The naturalness of the material we recover – from the dissimilar block to the processing scrap – is our expressive signature, and a form of respect for the stone and its history. It is an inner path of enhancing the irregular, the imperfect, outwardly declared by the raw and undomesticated material. In our collections we alternate smooth and rough, glossy and matte, harsh and delicate, contemporary and primal finishes to express the poetic interpenetration of opposites. Pietre Trovanti objects are expedients for telling stories.
Lo scorso aprile ho conosciuto Tiziana Scaciga, fondatrice e direttrice di Pietre Trovanti. Durante il nostro ultimo scambio lei mi consigliava il libro “Estetica del Rottame”, in cui mi colpì il concetto romantico di “splendide rovine”. Io le consigliavo “La Vita è un Raccolto”, il documentario di Agnès Varda che racconta la vita di spigolatori e spigolatrici contemporanei che, per necessità o per dare una seconda vita agli scarti del quotidiano, ripetono il gesto antico di raccogliere ciò che rimane a terra. “La cosa bella degli oggetti di recupero” dice un artista a metà del film, “è che hanno un passato.”
È proprio sulla rivalutazione del “passato prezioso” dello scarto che si basa Pietre Trovanti, il brand che Tiziana Scaciga ha fondato in collaborazione con Andrea Scotton (direttore di produzione) per recuperare i resti della lavorazione della pietra naturale – incluse le polveri di marmo e i “ritagli” avanzati dalla produzione della casa madre Moro Serizzo – e trasformarli in oggetti di design in grado di trasmettere le storie del territorio d’origine, la Val D’Ossola, con la loro estetica selvaggia e primordiale. Di ritorno dall’ultima edizione di Maison & Objet, Tiziana Scaciga ci ha raccontato di più sul suo brand circolare.
Discendo da una famiglia di artigiani da generazioni. L’azienda di famiglia è specializzata nell’alto artigianato della pietra naturale, un mestiere maschile che, nel tempo, si è trasformato in un’esperienza imprenditoriale al femminile, con mia madre Mariateresa e mia sorella Raffaella che oggi amministrano l’azienda. Dopo la laurea, ho iniziato a maturare un interesse speciale per gli scarti di questa produzione, molto simbolici ed evocativi. Oggi con Pietre Trovanti ricontestualizziamo nella quotidianità il ruolo delle pietre di scarto della Val d’Ossola. Valorizziamo e trasformiamo la materia selvatica, imperfetta e irregolare in oggetti di design e arte applicata, una risorsa da esplorare in una dimensione etica, poetica, estetica.
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E il nome da dove nasce?
Quando nel 1940, mio nonno Giovanni Mario Moro, scalpellino di Montemerlo, Padova, giunse in Val d’Ossola, iniziò a lavorare la pietra utilizzando i Trovanti – quelle rocce difformi che si trovano comunemente nei boschi. Presenze materiche di un tempo geologico primordiale, più facilmente conosciute come massi erratici. Mio nonno “sbozzava” i Trovanti in situ e poi venivano trasportati e lavorati a valle. Allora non si parlava di economia circolare, eppure il pensiero alla base di questo approccio veniva già applicato, spontaneamente, nella quotidianità degli scalpellini. Trovanti è anche il participio di ‘trovare’, è un modo per invertire la prospettiva, tra chi trova e chi è trovato.
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Oggi le collezioni principali sono tre. Potresti raccontarmele? Ci sono novità in arrivo?
I Trovanti sono oggetti che hanno una più facile riproducibilità, Erranti i pezzi non replicabili, mentre la collezione Adam si basa sull’utilizzo di fango di segagione rigenerato dal taglio della pietra, una ricerca nata in collaborazione con l’artista Marta Palmieri e l’architetto Carlo Antonelli. Adam trasforma l’identità di un residuo – il fango, lo “scarto dello scarto” – in materia prima. Progettiamo oggetti insoliti di uso quotidiano, dalle linee sobrie, essenziali, seguendo una visione ispirata dal ciclo della natura: da ogni fine un nuovo inizio. Oggi stiamo ampliando la collezione Nebula – realizzata con l’artista Teresa Carnuccio – in cui il brillìo dei cristalli del marmo palissandro interagisce con i cromatismi e le tonalità evanescenti generate dalla tecnica della cianotipia. Portiamo avanti la collaborazione con la designer argentina Josefina Muñoz, che per noi ha già disegnato gli iconici tavoli Radical Game. Con il designer Saif Faisal, invece, stiamo ampliando Upsidedown, una collezione che mantiene la forma spontanea delle pietre accostandole in composizioni scultoree.
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Radical Game, Josefina Muñoz, ph. Walter ZerlaIsola, Ghigos, ph. Ghigos
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Pietre Trovanti collabora con molti designer – i vostri “narratori” – tra cui Zaven, lo studio veneziano da poco entrato nella lista dei migliori 100 designer di quest’anno, secondo AD Italia. Come scegliete i designer con cui collaborare? Cosa avete prodotto con loro?
Crediamo molto nelle collaborazioni e ci piace scoprire come differenti professionalità, personalità e sensibilità si confrontano con le pietre di scarto per svelarne potenzialità estetiche e progettuali inattese. Le collaborazioni nascono in modo sempre diverso. Con lo studio Zaven abbiamo realizzato In Primis, una collezione di tavolini e di centrotavola in marmo palissandro nata dal recupero di una lastra difforme, recuperando l’antica tecnica della scalpellinatura.
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Chi produce gli oggetti firmati Pietre Trovanti?
Gli artigiani di Moro Serizzo, senza i quali nessun pezzo delle nostre collezioni esisterebbe. Questa umanità del fare con le mani rappresenta un segno caratterizzante della nostra identità. Il processo di trasformazione artigianale degli oggetti prevede il minor numero possibile di lavorazioni, per ridurre al minimo il consumo energetico.
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Quali sono le particolarità della Val D’Ossola e del suo marmo ?
La Val d’Ossola, al confine con la Svizzera, è tra i bacini geologici più importanti a livello nazionale. Dall’Ossola, precisamente Candoglia, proviene l’omonimo marmo, che venne utilizzato per la costruzione del Duomo di Milano. È un territorio molto ricco dal punto di vista geologico: qui la pietra, è molto comune il Serizzo, rappresenta un elemento identitario anche dell’architettura tradizionale. La cava di Marmo Palissandro – materiale dalle texture e colori variabili che usiamo molto, per via del caratteristico scintillìo dei suoi cristalli – rappresenta un unicum a livello mondiale.
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La firma di tutti gli oggetti del brand è l’estetica grezza della pietra che, anche dove è più lavorata, non viene mai privata delle sue naturali irregolarità e del suo intrinseco aspetto “brutale”. Mi spieghi questa scelta?
La naturalità della materia che recuperiamo – dal blocco difforme allo sfrido di lavorazione – è la nostra cifra espressiva e una forma di rispetto verso la pietra e la sua storia. È un percorso interiore di valorizzazione dell’irregolare, dell’imperfetto, dichiarato esteriormente dalla materia cruda e non addomesticata. Nelle nostre collezioni alterniamo finiture lisce e ruvide, lucide e opache, aspre e delicate, contemporanee e primordiali, per esprimere la compenetrazione poetica degli opposti. Gli oggetti Pietre Trovanti sono espedienti per raccontare storie.
Social networks and the recent pandemic have changed and are changing the way we communicate Design. If we were used to events and live talks, now we have online talks and the presentation of new collections and exhibitions through in-depth videos, interviews on Zoom and Instagram. In this context, we can find Unno, the new first digital gallery dedicated to Latin American design, “a new way of presenting art and design, devoid of any physical exhibition space, capable of crossing geographic and individual boundaries”.
The project is the result of the partnership between Maria Dolores Uribe and Laura Abe Vettoretti, both with a background in the world of design and art. The name of the gallery —Unno Aesthetic— is inspired by the Spanish word one and refers to the idea that Latin American cultures, countries, and peoples share a common heritage that unites them as a whole.
This is visible in the 2020 collections, gathered under the name of “Life to the Myth”. The objects created show the know-how of finishes and materials by contemporary Latin American designers, Bandido Studio, Maria Dolores & Abe Vettoretti, C.S. Nunez, Abe Vettoretti, and Ian Felton. Characterized by materials such as glass, but above all metals and stones, the pieces have a rough aesthetic, they express an admirable knowledge and control of the techniques, they embrace the beauty of imperfection. Contemporary furniture, objects, and sculptures inspired by a common past. The collections were photographed in an early 20th-century villa, in Mexico City.
Visit Unno Gallery to learn more about the project and the pieces on show!
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Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Mariana Valdovi
Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Mariana Valdovi
Photo by Ana Hop
I social networks e la pandemia hanno cambiato e stanno cambiando il modo di comunicare il Design. Se prima eravamo abituati agli eventi e ai live talks, ora abbiamo le online talks e la presentazione di collezioni e mostre attraverso video di approfondimento, interviste su Zoom e dirette instagram. In questa cornice nasce Unno, la prima digital gallery dedicata al design latino-americano, “un nuovo modo di presentare arte e design, privi di qualsiasi mostra fisica, capace di attraversare confini geografici e personali”.
Il progetto è il risultato della partnership tra Maria Dolores Uribe e Laura Abe Vettoretti, entrambe con un background nel mondo del design e dell’arte. Il nome della galleria —Unno Aesthetic— è ispirato alla parola spagnola uno e si riferisce all’idea che le culture, i paesi e i popoli latinoamericani condividano un patrimonio comune che li unisce nel loro insieme.
Questo è visibile nelle collezioni del 2020, raggruppate sotto il nome di “Life to the Myth”. Gli oggetti creati mostrano la padronanza delle finiture e dei materiali da parte dei designer latinoamericani contemporanei, Bandido Studio, Maria Dolores & Abe Vettoretti, C.S. Nunez, Abe Vettorettie Ian Felton. Caratterizzati da materiali come vetro, ma soprattutto metalli e pietre, i pezzi hanno un’estetica ruvida, raccontano di una conoscenza e di un controllo della tecnica esemplari che abbracciano la bellezza dell’imperfezione. Arredi, oggetti e sculture contemporanei che si ispirano ad un passato comune. Le collezioni sono state fotografate in una villa dei primi del Novecento, a Città del Messico.
Visita Unno Gallery per conoscere meglio il progetto e vedere tutti i pezzi in esposizione!
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Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Mariana Valdovi
Photo by Ana Hop
Photo by Mariana Valdovi
Photo by Ana Hop
Located at an altitude of 1700m, the BASA tourism center in Khirsu, India, is a building designed by Compartment S4 to empower the local village community. The project was originally the winning entry of a design competition to build an earthquake resilient house. However, after further research and development with the local people and regional government, it was finally decided to become a place to promote tourism and stimulate the village economy.
The design responds to the cold temperate climate of the himalayan mountains and remoteness of the site, while providing structural resilience to earthquakes and landslides. The building is designed with heavy stone filled gabion retaining walls at the bottom and a light wooden structure on top covered with wattle and daub panels as an infill material. Undressed stone is used in the gabion walls.
BASA is crafted with a balance between local knowledge and modern construction techniques aiming to encourage community participation and ownership. The tourism center has a community kitchen and a space to display local products on the lower level.The upper floor houses an exhibition portraying the local heritage and culture of Khirsu along with essential information for tourists. This space can also function as a recreational space for the tourists who are staying at the BASA homestay.
The Uttarakhand government is promoting homestays among the locals in order to aid the village economy as well as social fabric of the region. The aim is to gradually increase the global presence of rural areas. BASA is therefore introduced as a model for locals to become inspired to open-up their spare rooms as homestays in Khirsu. As an initiative managed by locals, it intends to revitalize the local economy and instill a conscious approach to tourism, which can help preserve the natural and cultural landscape of Khirsu. BASA, in the garhwali language, is an expression that means to invite guests into your house for a night.
Women empowerment is an integral part of the initiative since they are considered the driving engine of the Garhwal region. The place is made to be run by the local self-help group, unnati. Along with handling the stay, the women will also be engaged in production and packaging all the local village products and crafts that will be sold to the tourists.
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via designboom
Studio Erik Olovsson is a Stockholm based design studio. It was founded 2013 and works within the fields of product, furniture and graphic design. Studio EO has a focus on “improvisation and joining materials in new ways. The studio aims at having an intuitive and experimental starting point in the projects and works in a mix of self initiated projects and commissions.” Below you can find three projects by Studio EO, Sine Collection hanging system, Drill vases and Indefinite vases:
Sine Collection is a hanging system for clothes inspired by the regular tempo of sine wave. Studio EO are re-launching this system that creates evenly spaced hanging points to give the clothes a more organized presentation. The new clothes racks are refined in both construction and form and produced by skilled craftsmen from Finland and Italy. Six new colors will be presented in three sizes – small, medium and large, with bases made in pigmented pastina-cement matching the colored solid aluminium racks. 2020 (via studioeo.com)
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Drill Vases are an exercise in improvisation. The origin of the project lies in Carrara where the studio found and started collecting the small fragments of marble discarded by quarries. Working in the workshop with only hand and hammer, the vases bases are energetically and roughly hewn out from the collected marble. These unpredictable and chaotic forms are precision drilled to form an opening in the base. Each piece is completed by a heavy, hand blown glass vase that rests in the drilled hole. The geometry of the glass provides a sense of order and control in comparison to the spontaneity of the marble. A contrast that elevates the brut nature of the marble further. 2019
Photography by Patrik Lindell
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Indefinite vases project is an exploration of the relationship between geometric and organic forms – transparent and opaque. Indefinite melting materia interacts with definite angular forms and gravity determines the relationship in between. Indefinite Vases are sculptures or containers. Functional or decorative. The contrast between the cut stone and the form of the hand blown glass emphasizes the relation between space and object, an interplay between a fragile material and its solid counterpart.
GRT Architects founders are “architects who studied history before design and find truth more interesting than fiction. They look for what makes each project unique and craft a response they hope to be as surprising as it is appropriate.” Rustam-Marc Mehta and Tal Schori were recently asked to renovate a four story townhouse in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historical District.
This twelve-block residential neighborhood was landmarked in 1979 and the interior of the buildings were often governed by contracts set in place by the Lefferts family that controlled heights, setbacks and façade materials. The townhouse in question was designed in 1898 by Architect William M. Miller who used an eclectic mix of Romanesque and Neo Renaissance motifs.
“The building meets the ground with a rusticated base in Indiana limestone which is also used on the parlor level to create three identical Romanesque arches. Above, limestone is used for lintels and keystones but is primarily composed of an elegant Roman-proportion brick. Windows are unique on every level, showing semicircular transoms at the parlor, a single large projecting bay supported by limestone colonettes on the second level, and asymmetrical single-hung openings with limestone spandrels at the top. The building is topped by a bracketed and festooned cornice. At some point a two-story addition was built in the rear, and in 1940, the ground floor was turned into a doctor’s office. Both modifications conspired against a way of living in the home that suited our clients’ needs. GRT was therefore hired to reconsider not just the aesthetics but the organization of the building in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historical District.
Team: Rustam Mehta, Tal Schori, Andrew Barkhouse, & Sharif Anous
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Moscow based office SKNYPL created a new proposal for an inflatable garden atop the Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture in South Korea. Designed as part of the Seoul Maru Competition, the project was made to form a contemporary gathering space for Seoul citizens and tourists alike. Called New Korean Garden, the project aims to complement and update the roof of the Seoul Hall and create a new unique rooftop experience and landmark for the city.
As SKNYPL explains, the project “personifies the Korean garden, explores it and gives it new meanings. Its color and shape evoke associations with plants, stones, and hills, which form the basis of the theory of harmony in the Korean garden. However, this garden is unusual, it is transformed under the influence of new qualities laid in it by context, time and new events – multi-functionality, flexibility, provocation and dialogue, and sustainability.” New Korean Garden is made of ETFE material, filled with air, to be light and mobile.
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Functionally, the garden’s “field of relax” occupies most of the space. It is made for creative and hedonistic rest. There visitors can gather in a group and talk in a relaxed atmosphere, retire and read a book, lie down and watch the city from the outside, and children also have a playground in the city center.
The project would also be an important part of the Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture and a venue for the Biennale. Small elements are extremely mobile and help shape and change the space for lectures and exhibitions. Due to the mobility of objects, there are a lot of unique iterations. Speakers can prepare the site according to their unique vision and give their own special character. The garden and space becomes a living organism that changes over time. All elements would be covered with a pattern of luminous paint. At night, the garden would be transformed through light and sculpture.
The Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati has designed a large-scale, colored concrete canopy titled Pearling Site Museum and Entrance. A project spanning 6700 square meters that acts as a gateway to the Pearling Path, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Muharraq, Bahrain.
The entire complex exists as a maze of concrete columns, functioning as the entrance to the cultural heritage site. It serves also as a foyer for the medina, as well as a building that acts as an indoor museum for the trail. The 2.2 mile Pearling Path is close to a cluster of historic market buildings on Muharraq Island, taking visitors past three oyster beds, a seashore site, and other architectural structures that are historically significant to the country’s pearling industry. The 10 meter high concrete canopy is supported by large columns made of concrete, with gaps between each that become pathways into the site. The canopy is punctured by geometric openings that cast shadows across the site, providing visitors with shade from the often oppressive heat. “It is an urban room for the people of Muharraq with the scale of a public park,” Olgiati has explained of the project. “As a totality, the building creates a universe in itself that is the entrance for the Pearling Path and the city beyond.”
Founded by Wendy Saunders and Vincent de Graaf in 2005, AIM is a Shanghai based design studio who design and manage a substantial number of projects throughout China and South East Asia. Their work is “inspired by its context and the fine line between vision and practicality. The journey from concept to final product is made with attention, devotion to quality and an ability to see small details within the bigger picture.”
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HARMAY, the online cosmetics retailer, entered the foray of the physical retail world with its first shop in Shanghai, designed by AIM in 2017. With this Hong Kong location, the studio explored this online/offline duality of the brand even further. Inspired by the old-school chemists, this Hong Kong apothecary meets modern day boutique and the callbacks and comforts of the digital age convenience.
Walking in, stainless steel drawers line most of the walls, giving the space an orderly and calming presence. The area is not even about shopping – but instead, it’s about discovery. This innovative and bold approach to retail conceives a space for exploring and discovering hidden treasures. Subtle signage guides guests to open drawers, revealing the products inside.
Walking up towards the second floor, space is left untouched, as found. It is rough and even raw to the senses, immersing you in the tactile experience of traditional shopping. Here stainless steel mirrored cabinets are suspended from the ceiling, reflective surfaces hide their existence.
HARMAY ’s new Hong Kong space is an elegant counterpoint – designed for the curious and engaged consumer, and the casual passerby who walks in expecting one thing and finds the unexpected.
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All Rights reserved to AIM Architecture
Photography: Dirk Weiblen
via domus
Champalimaud is a New York-based studio founded by Portuguese designer Alexandra Champalimaud and dedicated to expressing the individual character of each space through extraordinary design. One of their latest project is Su Casa, the renovation of a 1928 residence in Dorado, Puerto Rico, destroyed in 2017 by the Caribbean island’s deadly Hurricane Maria. The New York-based studio has transformed the residence into a luxury holiday home, which is part of theDorado Beach Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
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Champalimaud’s principal designer Anna Beeber and fellow principal Elisabeth Rogoff designed the renovation with the aim to restore the key characteristics of the residence. The design team also wanted to makes the most of its surroundings, which includes greenery, a colourful tiled patio at the entrance and an infinity swimming pool that extends towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Champalimaud pared back the material palette, transitioning from dark wooden window frames and terracotta flooring to lighter and brighter finishes such as limestone and pale wood. Livingstone’s original antique wooden furniture is peppered throughout, alongside pieces that Champalimaud custom made in New York, as well as designs by studios including Allied Maker and Minotti. A highlight of the property is a series of colourful murals created by Puerto Rican artists.
The two levels of Su Casa were originally connected by two exterior staircases. Champalimaud introduced a lift inside so that families could move around more easily. Five bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms are spread across the two-storey property. Each features large windows and are styled with neutral finishes, bright linens, and hand-woven headboards.
Su Casa is just one example of the luxurious holiday residences/hotels and spas that the studio has completed, visit Champalimaud’s to see more stunning projects!
Leopold Banchini Architects is a multidisciplinary research team exploring the frontiers of space shaping. Deliberately ignoring borders and embracing globality, it aims to expend the traditional definitions of project making using DIY culture and eclecticism as means of emancipation. Deeply rooted in architectural history, it is interested as well in contemporary popular cultures as in vernacular traditions and crafts. Addressing architecture as a form of social action, it places political and environmental considerations at the very heart of its practice.
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Casa do Monte is a minimalist residence located in Lisboa, Portugal, designed by the studio. The home is characterized by a monolith stone centerpiece that extends the entire height of the home, and serves as a partition from the rest of the space. The privacy created by the stone allowed the architects to reserve certain spaces like the bathroom within the enclosure. In addition, the material is both hygienic and easy to clean, furthering its function while also serving as an aesthetic statement.
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All rights reserved to Leopold Banchini Architects
Photography by Dylan Perrenoud
Mjölk architects is a Czech architecture practice founded by Jan Mach, Jan Vondrák and Lukáš Holub. One of their latest project is The Wallhouse:
The lot borders a busy road which serves as a starting point for tourists heading to the Jizera Mountains. For this reason the studio designed a new concrete wall in place of the former exterior wall of the old house. This will not only decrease the amount of noise from the nearby road but also define the outside entrance area to the house. Behind the wall is a small yard with a view of Ještěd, which serves as a guidepost between the entrance, the guest house and the stairs to the yard below. On the old stone foundation behind the concrete wall are actually two houses; a family house and a small guest house for a young sailor, the clients’ son, who spends most of the year at the helm of transatlantic ships.
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The parents’ house is more complicated as its building design had to encompass the needs of three different people – a friendly couple and their daughter. The wooden addition above the basement ceiling consists of bedrooms, an office, a bathroom with a toilet and an outdoor yard with a sauna. Sauna therapy is a pleasant variation during the harsh northern winters. The living space of the house is defined by large windows on both sides. A couple of steps lower is a living room stairhead with a fireplace and a wide staircase to the kitchen and dining room which are connected to the patio. The rest of the basement is used as a utility room and storage space.
For the interior there are many custom-made elements. In the bathrooms you can find water taps, some of which were replaced with copper pipes and garden taps. In the bedroom there are wardrobes hanging from the ceiling so that they don’t take up so much space and keep the bedroom, walk-in closet and bathroom interconnected. The kitchen counter was designed in a way that retained the former granite blocks from which the lower part of the house was built.
David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem have established their studio david/nicolas, in Beirut in 2011. Their projects are characterized by an innovative approach to contrasting materials and a timeless aesthetic.
Supernova is their latest project, a minimalist collection of new works realized for their inaugural exhibition at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, a solo show opened on the 24th of January.
david/nicolas bring two distinct bodies of work that explore different sides of the pair’s multi-faceted practice: Constellation and Monocle, each an interpretation of a post-explosion phenomenon. “The death of a star results in either a black hole or a supernova, here, death is only a transformation, it outshines everything else and evolves into a new life. It reminds us of Beirut, this city that was reborn over and over again, a place where time and space are different, where beauty is in the small things or even in the memories of it” – david/nicolas.
The collection is composed by a wide range of tables, two cabinets and a rug. Visit Supernova to know more about the exhibition!
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All Rights reserved to david/nicolas
Anas Kamal is an Egyptian photographer and photojournalist that wants to share with the world the beauty and secrets of his homeland. An example is his latest series, The White Mountain: he went to Al-Minya, in the center of the country, where the miners work to extract the white stone. Anas is able to tell us their story through his lens, sublimating the local crafts in a beautiful photo series.
Designed by Guedes Cruz Arquitectos, the Wall House is a luxury residence set on the edge of the premier Oitavos Dunes Golf Course amongst natural sand dunes and pine trees within the Sintra Cascais National Park.
The studio was inspired by the beauty of the surroundings landscape: one side presents an expansive glass wall that can be opened to create a direct connection to the outdoor living spaces, while wood slat coverings at the concrete exterior walls can be closed to provide privacy. The residence features two exterior pools located in the patio, one on the ground level overlapping with one floating above. The glass shelter gives the sensation of swimming in the air. A luxury house in harmony with the surrounding nature.
All Rights Reserved to Guedes Cruz Arquitectos
Bethlehem-based architects Elias & Yousef Anastas have been commissioned by the V&A to create While We Wait – a meditative installation made of over 500 modules of stone from Palestine – for London Design Festival 2017.
While We Wait is a meditative installation about the cultural claim over nature in Palestine. The towering structure consists of elements of stone from different regions of Palestine, fading upwards in colour from earthy red to pale limestone. The installation has been designed on a computer, cut by robots and hand-finished by local artisans, the aim is to present a modern stone construction technique as part of a local and global architectural language. This process of ‘stereotomy’ – the art of cutting stones so they can be assembled into a larger configuration, a lacelike structure able to support itself entirely – is central to the work of the Anastas brothers. While We Wait is inspired by the Cremisan Valley, near Bethlehem, where a separation wall is currently being built, threatening to sever the historic link between the valley and its monastery.
David Umemoto is a Canadian architect and sculptor, his work can be mainly described as studies about volume. At the juncture of sculpture and architecture, he realizes miniature pieces that evoke temporary monuments. All of his pieces are handmade, “in order to respect an economy of means…Umemoto’s art is rooted in Americanness: His varied creations take their impetus from a desire to start settlements and to colonize wild lands”. Umemoto explains his work as a highly codified and rigorous construction of an extensive modular system where each element can be added or subtracted to give place to a new unique work.
All Rights Reserved to David Umemoto
Milena Naef is an Amsterdam-based artist, more precisely, she is the fourth generation of a family sculpting in stone. She uses marble as an artistic material, with a contemporary approach: in “Fleeting Parts”, her own body becomes a tool to explore the physical and mental weight of the stone.
She carved the marble to frame parts of her body, with this action she wants to focus on the ephemeral nature of a body, contrasting it with the help of the marble strength. “…the plates can be seen as objects that captured a moment in time when the body actually merged with them (almost like an archive).” Considering the carved marble as a frame for the body, a viewer’s eye is focused to notice the contours, curves and tones of Naef’s figure as if she were a material herself, in a way that is simultaneously intimate and objective. It can be assumed that when the marble has been lifted, new marks have been made, imprinted on her shoulders, back and hips for their own fleeting moment.
Jacopo Cardillo, aka JAGO is an Italian contemporary artist; born in 1987 in Frosinone, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts without ending his studies. At the age of 24, in 2011, he was selected for the Padiglione Italia (Regione Lazio, Palazzo Venezia, Rome) of the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale of Art. He has been already exhibiting in solo and collective exhibition all over Italy.
His art belongs to Sculpture: he is able to manipulate and transform marble and stone, giving us a different perception of the materials. The hard marble may open up to show a tender and soft heart, linked by veins and arteries to the stone. He shapes the material to create surreal pieces and his pop subjects bring back this art discipline with a contemporary look.
All Rights Reserved to JAGO
Hands on design is a young Italian company that creates durable, timeless objects combining design and high quality craftsmanship.
The group was established in 2013 in order to preserve and develop the creation and promotion of a modern and efficient company, with high-quality craftsmanship, according to ecological products, traditional and new production technologies.
The most used materials are wood, metal, stone, wool, glass. “Sustainability is based on history, material purity and simplicity” according to Richard Nardi, Italian designer, and Kaori Shiina, Japanese designer of Shiina + Nardi Design and founder of Hands on design project. The idea is to create beauty by building a bridge between design and craftsmanship, between Italy and Japan, developing a series of objects of timless beauty. These creations are born from the happy meeting of more than thirty contemporary designers with a strong aptitude for experimenting and perpetuating old family traditions.
All Rights Reserved to Hands on Design
Lithos Design porta il design al servizio dell’architettura. Costruire edifici in modo massiccio con le pietre naturali richiede un nuovo e rivoluzionario approccio che potrebbe portare a risultati straordinari in termini di risparmio energetico e recupero/riutilizzo dei materiali da costruzione.
E’ la passione di due giovani fratelli, Claudio e Alberto Bevilacqua, che fa nascere nel 2007 il giovane marchio sull’onda dell’esperienza di un’azienda di famiglia che vanta 30 anni di storia. E’ l’incontro con il designer Raffaello Galiotto che imprime il marchio estetico all’azienda.
E’ una bella storia italiana.
Avevamo visto qualcosa di simile parlando di PETRA ANTIQUA, dove però il materiale viene visto più come decorazione di rivestimento con non protagonista stilistico dell’ambiente.
Lithos Design lavora solo con pietra naturale, pietre calcaree o arenarie e marmi portando il design al servizio dell’architettura. Rivestimenti in pietra, scenografie tridimensionali di marmo fanno spiccare quest’azienda italiana sul mercato mondiale.
Non utilizza pietre agglomerate, ricostituite o sintetiche e non lavora graniti. Le pietre naturali, soprattutto se utilizzate come rivestimento, richiedono poca manutenzione e conservano nel tempo la loro naturale bellezza.
Natural
Thinking
Le pietre naturali, soprattutto se utilizzate come rivestimento, richiedono poca manutenzione e conservano nel tempo la loro naturale bellezza. L’utilizzo dei rivestimenti in pietra contribuisce alla salubrità e alla sicurezza degli ambienti: le pietre naturali non sono infiammabili, non si caricano elettrostaticamente, non favoriscono lo sviluppo di micro-organismi batterici e muffe.
I rivestimenti in pietra di Lithos Design, inoltre, presentano interessanti proprietà di fono assorbenza dovute alle caratteristiche intrinseche di porosità dei materiali e alla particolare lavorazione, che offre una più estesa superficie di contatto con le onde incidenti favorendo la dissipazione di una maggiore quantità di energia sonora.
La qualità acustica, elemento necessario ormai in ogni ambito per una migliore qualità di vita, diventa fondamentale in ambienti come teatri, cinema, biblioteche, studi di registrazione e televisivi, sale riunioni.
Lithos Design
GreenThinking
Lithos Design adotta tecniche di lavorazione che rispettano le persone e l’ambiente.
La produzione, infatti, non prevede l’utilizzo di sostanze chimiche come coloranti o vernici. Inoltre, il sistema produttivo prevede il riciclaggio integrale delle acque utilizzate per ridurre al minimo l’impatto ambientale delle lavorazioni.
Lithos Design
Energy
Thinking
La pietra naturale ha buone proprietà termiche. Un rivestimento in pietra contribuisce all’efficienza energetica di un edificio perché ottimizza la quantità di energia dedicata a riscaldamento e rinfrescamento. Il parametro di efficienza energetica è uno dei più importanti per l’ottenimento della certificazione LEED (programma di certificazione degli edifici orientato alla sostenibilità che aumenta il valore degli edifici stessi).
Antolini Luigi and Co. è azienda leader nel settore di marmi, pietre, graniti, travertini, onici…
Trasforma ciò che appartiene alla natura in un capolavoro pregiato ed elegante. E’ sinonimo di superfici luminose, uniche, ricercate, soluzioni artistiche per la decorazione d’interni sorprendenti e che lasciano con il fiato sospeso.
Avevamo già trattato di pietre decorative parlando di PETRA ANTIQUA ma questo è un altro mondo: mentre PETRA ANTIQUA lavora le pietre e i marmi con serigrafie e incisioni grafiche molto decorative e particolari, Antolini fonda la propria sapienza e unicità nella lavorazione e applicazioni delle più belle lastre, mantenendole al loro contesto naturale.
La sapiente applicazione le rende composizioni artistiche.
Antolini Luigi & C. fonda le sue radici in oltre 50 anni di esperienza. L’azienda, in continua evoluzione, sostiene da sempre lo sviluppo della lavorazione delle pietre naturali e delle nuove tecnologie.
La qualità di Antolini nasce da tecnologie innovative e soluzioni efficaci che guardano al futuro della lavorazione della pietra naturale, in tutte le sue varietà: dai marmi ai graniti, dagli onici ai travertini.
L’azienda, forte dell’esperienza acquisita negli anni, si rivolge al mercato internazionale con sicurezza e professionalità: sono i più abili e i più famosi al mondo ed utilizzan0 le migliori lastre ed i più bei materiali dai molteplici colori e brillantezze. E’ possibile ricavare da questi materiali pezzi unici di arredo, su misura stravaganti oppure pareti decorative, scenografie retro illuminate… L’importante è stupire ed affascinare!
La produzione è davvero sorprendente, avendo un archivio di pietre immenso, la scelta dei materiali è infinita e sorprendente, trovando anche combinazioni originali per materiali che mai ci immagineremmo di utilizzare a scopo decorativo. Anche la madreperla ad esempio, sezionata in tessere e composta a mosaico può infatti divenire una parete o un arredo dalla preziosità fantastica.
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