1. How did the chairs project originate? How did you get to know Vicentina Marmi and Santamargherita? <\/strong><\/p>\n One day, Pierangelo Marchesini, director of Vicentina Marmi, rang me up to ask me to take part in a competition for creating marble benches for the city of Chiampo. We share a passion for marble and the same vision, that is, the complementarity between creativity and tradition, and between technology and manual skills.<\/p>\n 2. What inspired you to create these chairs? Was it the material or a specific concept?<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2013, in Carrara, I created the first prototype of a chair inspired by women\u2019s curves, starting from a single block of white marble. The result was a chair and a bench, with one piece of marble on top and one on the bottom. Two years later, in 2015, with \u201cles Causeuses\u201d I decided to create three profiles inside one another. The idea was to save on material and labour time by creating single pieces, without assembling them.<\/p>\n 3. In your opinion, what do people perceive when they see these Chairs?<\/strong><\/p>\n At first glance, I think people perceive the sensuality of the curves, and then they notice the assembly effect, which can be clearly seen from the continuous lines.<\/p>\n 4. Are there any other projects lined up for Vicentina Marmi and Santamargherita? And what are you working on now? <\/strong><\/p>\n We are now making a bookcase with diamond wire, water-jet cut imbricate vases and giant white marble and brass panels. It is a very complex project, which will soon become a reality thanks to the expertise of the best craftsmen of Vicentina Marmi. The rest is still under wraps.<\/p>\n 5. Stone is the primary material in sculpture: how is this material used in the design industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n Stone is the material of the future and, thanks to the latest technologies, it offers an infinite number of new possibilities. Marble must be conceived as a block; from studying Michelangelo\u2019s sculptures I have learnt that materials are deeply spiritual when you think of them as a body under the light. During the Renaissance, an architect had to be a sculptor first in order to understand his craft. Brunelleschi was a sculptor before creating the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. I believe we have to get to grips with the volume of stone, with its weight, size, gravity, vibrations, etc.<\/p>\n 6. From stone to design, including art: what were the most defining moments in your artistic career?<\/strong><\/p>\n The moments that have left their mark in my professional life are my experiences, my discoveries, my encounters with people, and ancient masters. When I was a child, I used to go to the Louvre with my grandmother and bring art books home and copy the drawings every morning before going to school. I was making pottery when I was six years old. Then, at the age of eight, I met Maurizio Toffoletti, a sculptor from Apulia who introduced me to Carrara marble. I fell in love with marble dust. Around that time, I also met Hans Marks: we used to carve clay together with naked models; he soon taught me anatomy. Later on, I had the pleasure of meeting Serena Tallarigo, a great artist, cultured and reserved, and Gigi Guadagnucci, a Tuscan master known as \u201cthe Paganini of marble\u201d, pursuing light and lightness.<\/p>\n In 2016, the marble chairs were on display at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and, in 2017, at PAD Paris Art + Design at Jardin des Tuileries, in the centre of Paris, with the Dutko Gallery. Currently, some of my creations – furniture and paintings made entirely of marble – are on display at the Humanit\u2019Art gallery in Geneva.<\/p>\n 7. Today they are called \u201cinfluencers\u201d, but they were once called \u201cmodels\u201d. Are sources of inspiration – both classical and contemporary – important in your profession? Who are your models: characters\/artists\/architects?<\/strong><\/p>\n I am fascinated by the sensual curves of Oscar Niemeyer\u2019s buildings, but also by the rigorous detailing of Renzo Piano\u2019s or Carlo Scarpa\u2019s projects, by the fluidity of Zaha Hadid\u2019s drawings, and by classical masters. I love museums, bookstores, exhibitions, cinema and theatre. I don\u2019t have any preferences, what matters to me is learning to develop my vision. As Dante Alighieri wrote, \u2018You were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge\u2019.<\/p>\n 8. The birth of a work of art is often a reflection of \u201cspecial\u201d situations and moods: are there any works you are particularly fond of and, if so, can you tell us why?<\/strong><\/p>\n All that matters is waking up in the morning with the desire to do things, to outdo yourself. Sculpting is like making love. There is no point in creating if you are not inspired. You have to see and hear things before you do them. I recently saw the Crouching Venus again at Palazzo Massimo, in Rome, and I must say that I was very inspired by it. I think a work of art should be like an apparition. It must touch the heart, in French it is called \u201ccoup de foudre\u201d.<\/p>\n 9. Stone is to Archetype as Design is to Contemporary: elements merge in your works, is it a circle that closes or new perspectives unfolding? <\/strong><\/p>\n I always search for a common thread in my work, a starting point and an end point. I start from the human body, as a model for Western sculpture, in order to get to architectural design: I am interested in understanding the relationship between body and space. The body as a universal structure, as an element of desire. As Sottsass said, the industry needs to produce desires.<\/p>\n I would like to reintroduce stone into contemporary society. At a time when everything is moving fast, stone – with its weight and gravity – reminds us of its presence, to slow down so we can think better. We can find unique pavings in cities, thanks to the use of stone and local know-how. Our soil is essential it is where our roots are. You need to have your feet on the ground as much as your head in the clouds of marble.<\/p>\n The Editor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Victor Gingembre: when stone sculpture becomes design<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trends"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n