Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen has unveiled a sequence of furnishings items and showcased them in a multi-sensory set up with Mexican stone firm Arca throughout Miami artwork week.
The Gravitas assortment consists of seating, shelving and tables made with stone from Arca, sourced from quarries in Spain, Mexico and Italy.
Gravitas contains 18 items constructed from Porfido, lava stone, Carrara marble and Cafesino. The types vary from small stools to monumental shelving and tables.
Every bit has tough surfaces, rendered by hand, and greater than 80 hours of labour went into a number of the giant items.
The stone was polished for specific parts of the items, such because the seats of the chairs.
Except a big round desk, every of the items consists of a single blocks of stone, which had been machine minimize from bigger blocks earlier than being formed by the artisans.
“It is unimaginable to see how a stone can remodel just by making use of totally different remedies,” Van Duysen advised Dezeen.
“This course of includes a juxtaposition of textures from the identical stone, partaking in a dialogue with the general form of the item.”
Van Duysen labored carefully with Arca and the artisans to hold out the undertaking. Artisans had been chosen from places close to the quarries.
“The items communicate for themselves and are the results of the expert craftsmen who’ve left their mark on this assortment,” mentioned the architect.
“I might like to specific my gratitude to them. Above all, this can be a very human assortment.”
Van Dusyen credited Arca, a stone distributor primarily based in Mexico, for sourcing of the stone and connecting him with the artisans on the undertaking.
Arca CEO Gerardo Cortina mentioned that the precision of Van Duysen’s imaginative and prescient labored nicely to showcase the “innate magnificence” of the supplies chosen for the undertaking.
“Vincent Van Duysen’s work embodies a philosophy that aligns completely with our personal – a deep appreciation for the intrinsic fantastic thing about pure supplies,” mentioned Cortina.
“His creations exemplify the class and timelessness that our marbles embody, consequently it was an natural option to enlist Van Duysen’s follow to reimagine our intensive materials curation, and create a set that transcends the unusual.”
To showcase the discharge of the gathering, the workforce put collectively an set up at Arca’s Wynwood showroom throughout Miami artwork week. The furnishings items had been positioned on prime of a large-grain gravel and the room was lined with curtains.
Van Duysen chosen a soundtrack to accompany the work that included the sounds of water to additional emphasise the pure shaping of the stone.
“The general public there isn’t just focused on artwork but in addition in design and creativity throughout,” mentioned Van Duysen.
“As these items exist on the crossroads between artwork, sculpture, and product design, we thought that the occasion would shine the best highlight on the gathering launch.”
Van Duysen is thought for his architectural method to furnishings design, and for being the artistic director of Italian furnishings outfit Molteni&C.
Together with Alex Vervoordt, Van Duysen helped design a home for American movie star Kim Kardashian in California.
The pictures is by Nick Hudson.
Gravitas is on view at Arca Wynwood from 7 to 10 December throughout Miami artwork week. See Dezeen Occasions Information for an up-to-date checklist of structure and design occasions happening world wide.
