Marmomac 2019: major furniture brands meet natural stone

Capsule collection.

A capsule collection of unique items starting off from furnishing objects already included in the catalogues of a number of high-end Italian design brands: this is the formula for Brand & Stone – the concept conceived by Danilo Di Michele and curated by Giorgio Canale, retuning this year after making its debut at the 2018 edition of The Italian Stone Theatre. The challenge to “remake” chairs, tables and lamps using marble and other natural stones has given rise to technical and stylistic virtuosities at the same time as being an important opportunity for comparison and dialogue between large furniture companies and smaller scale enterprises in the stone industry.

Dialogue between companies

During the round table presenting the initiative at Marmomac 2018, Emanuela Ravelli of Imperfettolab emphasised the opening out towards a new language that made it possible to rethink Ciottolo, and its “pebble-like” form “stolen” from nature, using a material in harmony with its organic nature. Santa Margherita created this metamorphosis, by make its sartorial skills available to designers capable of viewing its agglomerate products in a manner different from how they are normally used.

Similarly, Gervasoni allowed Marmobon to deploy its skills in the field of stone material processing, in this case using lava stone from Sicily for the Carve chair designed by Paola Navone. Horm, whose production focuses on the use of natural materials such as wood, is by no means new to experimentation with stone materials: in the past, the company has produced a number of items in Lecce stone, but the pairing with Pietralab and Mondo Marmo Design gave new light to the sculptural lamps designed by Steven Holl.

Tables, lamps, baths

For designer Toan Nguyen, using natural stone in an item originally conceived in wood made the relationship between the object itself and the material even stronger: the table produced by Luxury Living Group, until now manufactured using leather, glass or metal, achieves all that is essential in a spectacular manner in this version using natural stone.

Baxter catalogue, on the other hand, already includes marble for the tops of large and small tables, yet the brand’s preferred material is remains leather, which embodies the same unique features that we find in the natural stone version of Reef designed by Vincenzo Colecchia & Stefano Guidotti and produced by Marmi Renuzzi. Antoniolupi has also used marble and stone since 2002, when Carlo Colombo’s input saw the catalogue include tubs and sinks and thereby inaugurate a new approach to bathroom design. Research for Marmomac focuses on a new mood linked with quarry site excavation, thanks to the expertise of the Testi Group.

Stefano Giovannoni takes a somewhat different approach: thanks to Odone Angelo, he transformed his iconic Kong for Queebo (originally in plastic) into a monumental and sculptural version.