Marble is a material usually associated with qualities such as strong, noble and eternal. The new techniques of working the stone offer us a wider range of possibilities. This made us think of it in a nontraditional way.
Our previous experience in the investigation of vegetal fibers and ancient techniques such as in Spanish Pavilion project for Expo Shanghai 2010, gave us the clue to propose a challenging design that could show the excellent work of Decormarmi artisans. So we thought could we work solid stone as if it were flexible fiber bending along a wavy surface? If we had already made a building of wicker, could we make a delicate, fiber-like marble stand?. We also were seduced by the idea of showing this fabrication process, to let the visitors realize the transition from the rough origin of the marble to its delicate ending.
On the pavilion designed for Marmomacc 2014, our concept then is based in a system of wavy panels of braided, petrified wicker rising in front of the visitors, lightly hanging and adapting to a curvy surface like an animal-scale pattern that could move.
The natural colours of the marble resemble the genuine colours of wicker. In contrast with it, the rough blocks of marble in the floor show the first stage of the work. By the expert hands of people from Decormarmi, the unrefined stone has become an elegant piece of everlasting wicker work.
