Soft Baroque

Pietre edition

Gufram

This project began for us when we encountered an old stone seawall with an arch leading into the water on the coast of Naples. Later identified as Arco Borbonico, the structure has since collapsed and is undergoing restoration. The sea had eroded the spaces between the blocks, resulting in a cartoonish structure with exaggerated, fat, round blocks. The once monumental became comical—a unintentional piece of aesthetically progressive architecture. To recreate this effect, we employed various techniques in concrete and plaster, filling balloons and placing them in a mold. The process itself served as a method for creating seemingly complex interlocking shapes without the need for carving or shaping each element separately.

Gufram
Gufram
Gufram
Gufram

The Gufram piece was larger and required a different process. A short column is subject to a series of curved cuts at varying angles, dividing it into nesting blocks with generously rounded corners that are then glued back together. The outcome is a stylised and transmuted version of the arch in Naples, seemingly teleported to a domestic setting.

Gufram
Gufram
Gufram
Gufram

The limited edition (52) of Pietre was developed in collaboration with Gufram and first released at Salone del Mobile 2024 in Milan.