Client / Lithea
Year / 2018
A collection of modular volcanic stone tiles characterised by three-dimensional design motifs that can be put together in various compositions. The idea for this design comes from the recollection of a small house-museum belonging to a majolica collector which was hidden in an eighteenth century building in the historical centre of Palermo. The ‘maioliche di pietra’ represent this idea: of what the Mediterranean symbolises, carved with skilled craftsmanship which sets apart Lithea’s production from other companies’. These are rectangular pieces, small low-relief designs whose three-dimensional, geometric surfaces reminiscent of the grooved trunks of the columns, of the dry, stone walls, of the blocks of the mines from which they are extracted, of the squared or diamond-shaped renaissance Bossage, of the chiaro-scuro and play of light which are typical of the baroque period. The collection includes an up-down mirror and a free-standing wash basin, made up of a circular volcanic stone sink held up by a thin iron structure and a series of small accessories which are easily grafted on to the pierced tiles.
Credits and technical information
Concept and Design / Martinelli Venezia
Materials / Volcanic stone which comes from the mines located at the foot of Mount Etna. Extremely resistant and very similar to granite in terms of hardness, it was used in the past for paving squares and roads, as decoration and building material for many aristocratic and religious buildings in the historical centre of Catania and its provinces. A volcanic rock basin with an iron structure, varnished with an opaque black powder.
Dimensions / single tiles 16x32 cm
Photo / Nino Bartuccio
Stylist / Paolo Gagliardi