Monumental Wonders

Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of OMA and SolidNature

• Architects

What does natural stone have to offer to contemporary design? What is its place among today’s abundance of synthetic materials? Monumental Wonders explores the potential of marble in furniture and interior design both as a raw and a recycled material. The exhibition features a furniture set designed by OMA for SolidNature as well as a series of experiments in recycling leftovers from the manufacturing process.

photo_credit Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of OMA and SolidNature — Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of OMA and SolidNature

The pieces – a cabinet and a bed – capture the monolithic nature of marble through simple and clear shapes, giving people the freedom to use them in various ways. Closed on one side and open on the other, the cabinet can be rotated 360 degrees like a movable wall, lending a distinctive atmosphere to the space it faces. The bed too is conceived as a versatile object – a platform equipped to accommodate a full day’s activities. A slab that serves as a headboard can be moved aside and used as a table, simultaneously revealing a storage space underneath for anything from a laptop to a fridge.

The exhibition includes a laboratory room that displays samples of new materials combining resin with different types of stone grindings, together with an installation that uses marble dust to create the feeling of a solid piece.