VIRAL NATURE _The Echoes series
The Echoes series are living furniture for outdoor life made of the Viral Nature biosynthetic mix.
We are used to the idea that a ruin is either something it has to be taken care of or something it has to be demolished. Decadence has always been considered a negative condition. What if we could actually design things to purposely become dust? Turn decadence from problematic into auspicable. The aesthetic of the pieces I propose echoes past civilizations: as ruins they perish and crumble, but differently from usual ruins, these are meant to decay and peacefully return to the land. Seasonal objects, they can be destined to parks, natural reserves, or gardens.
The objects of the Echoes Series behave and interact like living creatures.
Because of their ability to produce life, the audience instantly creates an emotional connection with them, the objects are treated and cared for by the user as animated beings.
To generate conscious consumers, relationships before products and emotional attachment before sustainability have to be created. The Echoes Series foster behavioural change through the generation of sympathetic feelings. Life and afterlife of these products depend on the user’s consciousness and empathy.
Every piece of the collection is inspired by artefacts and architectural elements of past civilization that have dominated Sicily throughout history. They are not exact replicas of the actual styles, their shapes are suggestions and fascinations from a blurred cultural past.
Fusto
Fusto is a stool that echoes a doric column. ‘Fusto’ is the technical name used to indicate the blocks that compose the column. The shape reminds of ellenistic fluting but in reality the surface is softer and more ondulate like in artefacts of the arabic style.Raste
A collection of vases of different shapes is inspired by the greek ceramics found in the Sicilian archeological sites of Segesta and Mothia. The word ‘Rasta’ is used in the Sicilian dialect to indicate a vase with a local typical shape.Dorica
A bench that instantly reminds of the architectonic structure of a doric greek temple, nonetheless, the two small columns that support the seat, with their star-like section actually quote geometries typical of the arabic culture.
• The Echoes series in Hyde Park.
• RAW exhibition, Mint Gallery, during London Design Festival 2019.