“Pelle, Skin, Texture” coordinated by Evelina Bazzo

Marmomacc Meets Design was a hugely successful event at the previous edition of the show. Nine leading companies in the stone industry worked closely with nine internationally-renowned designers to develop furnishing projects emphasising the scope of marble in repetitive applications. Marble was thus transformed from a made-to-measure material for unique applications into the main element of projects that can be replicated on a small scale and through an industrial approach.

Marmomacc Meets Design revolves around themes that will be developed each year. The 2007 edition focused on “The Lightness of Marble”: a challenge to gravity and the very nature of stone. The designers tackled the topic with great freedom to interpret "lightness" not only in terms of weight, colour, luminosity, coolness and paleness but also in terms of sustainability – for example, by ensuring the least possible use of material. In fact, these designers played with stone and dimensional scales to reveal unexpected visual aspects and astonishing tactile qualities.

This year's edition focuses on the topic of “Pelle, Skin, Texture”. This is a stimulating and unusual topic within the scope of design, since it is often merely associated with the cladding of walls and pavements, or stone slabs used as furnishing tops. Yet this theme has not been fully investigated in terms of its creative potential. For example, stone by its very nature adds a salient feature: the distinctive colour and veins found in quarry workpieces - the unique origin of the material - can nevertheless be incorporated into products that can be replicated.

The effects linked with the variegated and multi-colour textures of marble, and with the relative traditional processing techniques, can become the starting point for the design of furnishings in line with contemporary aesthetics. Similarly, the interpretation of the skin theme can overcome the two-dimensional approach through the expression of plastic or three-dimensional features of forms. Like the projects involved in the last edition, skin can well become a synonym of sustainability and lightness, in contrast with the weight of the material, to blur the boundaries between natural and artificial.

The theme this year, therefore, emphasises continuity with the topic of the previous edition and with the primary purpose Marmomacc: to develop applied research into stone materials within the scope of design in order to stimulate new applications and inter-sectoral collaborations. This initiative, therefore, is not merely an ephemeral occasion but an effective and continuative proposal embracing the worlds of creativity and business.

Designers and companies

Mario Bellini with Mineranorge
Riccardo Blumer with Scalvini Marmi
Roberto Canovaro with Marmo Arredo
Aldo Cibic with Quarella
Michele De Lucchi with Pibamarmi
Stefano Giovannoni with Grassi Pietre
Massimo Iosa Ghini with Budri
James Irvine with Marsotto
Simone Micheli with Odorizzi Porfidi
Paola Navone with Citco
Perbellini Pongratz Architects with Testigroup
Marco Piva with Lasa Marmo
Luca Scacchetti with Santa Margherita
Claudio Silvestrin with Il Casone