lampada 9 - aurisina e acciaio

 

lastra in aurisina fiorito con un bel fossile in evidenza

struttura in tondino inox, inedito (per me) assemblaggio ad incastro 

base in pietra carsica scura, un recupero da un antico scalino, e lastra di vetro

altezza 82 cm, larghezza 30 cm

lampada n 8 - breccia di luce

 

paralume a schermo in breccia carsica "Napoleon"

assottigliato al millimetro, trattandosi di una pietra dai toni molto scuri

curvato a caldo in diagonale, per creare l'ombra geometrica speculare sui due lati

base in una inusuale pietra bruna carsica

h 75 cm x l max 35 cm

luce d'ambiente, calda, tra l'ambra e l'oro

 

le lampade soprammobile 5

 

finora la preferita 

le tecnologie dei led e della resina epossidica si innestano 

brutalmente su una base in pietra Repen che accenna a forme classiche ma 

ne decreta la loro rovina con grossi pezzi spaccati 

lastra traslucida in pietra stalattite di Aurisina

dimensioni h 74 x 32 cm

le lampade soprammobile 1

una grossa vela luminosa in stalattite carsica sopra un alta prua in repen
la vela in pietra e vetroresina sottile 3mm è fissata all'albero in acciaio solo con spago
dimensioni importanti h 80 x 30 cm

abat-jour

applique - aurisina fiorito traslucido

 riprende la produzione di lampade deeparte !
Pietra di aurisina curvata e assottigliata a due millimetri , supporto a parete in alluminio, lampadine led
misure circa 30 x 35 cm, spessore 8 cm

un dettaglio della pietra con i fossili

le gocce taglienti

    Tagliacarte in sandwich pietra-vetroresina-pietra, da sinistra il calcare nero di Kreplje, una stalattite carsica di non meglio specificata origine, granito sale-pepe, e Lipizza fiorito. Molto più leggeri di quelli con anima in acciaio inox, ma la lama non sarà altrettanto durevole, comunque più che adatta come tagliacarte. Spessore max tra 6 e 9 mm, lunghezza attorno ai venti centimetri.
    Nella foto seguente un dettaglio spinto della punta di quello in pietra di Lipizza, notare che l'anima tagliente in vetroresina ha due millimetri di spessore.

Sissa representation gifts

Glueing the sails onto their bases, which is one of the final phases.

    These stone sails are a project I developed specifically for SISSA. When director Stefano Ruffo asked me to think of a possible gift that would have pointed out the connection between the institution and its territory, I knew that my former experiments with very thin slices of stone, meant to render translucent also non-crystalline stones like grey limestones from our surroundings, would be the perfect starting point.  
    Previously I had used sheet glass as a reinforcement for the stone slices, but this time the lightness requirements led me to another material. Epoxy bond fibreglass came as a revelation, as it cross-referenced the maritime tradition of Trieste and the ship logo of Sissa. The view from the seventh floor of the Sissa building of the Gulf of Trieste, in the evening with the sun setting, did the rest. 
    There was a wide choice of local stones from which to make the sails, but the director has chosen stalagmite stone. This stone is typical of Karst type geology, since it is a sedimentary rock that forms in caves through the dissolution of limestone. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as alabaster or onyx, because of the similarities in colour. Stalagmite stone on the Karst plateau (both in Italy and in Slovenia) has been banned from excavating several decades ago, due of its scarcity, so we can only use the small leftover supplies from local workshops.
    Stalagmite stone comes in many variations, from deep red and finely structured to almost white with large crystals. Not all of them are available anymore, but after searching the historic laboratories maintained by the local quarries, i found old pieces of a particularly suitable kind from the abandoned pits above the train station in Aurisina-Nabrežina (on google maps ). The station itself (link copyright © Provincia di Trieste) is a remarkable historic remnant of the times when Trieste was a vital commercial crossroad for the goods of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including the various stones from Aurisina. As a side note, the main stone from Aurisina, unsurprisingly named "Aurisina", has been used in the interiors of New York's Grand Central Station, which has been featured in many movies.
    Some photos from the actual quarry of the stalagmite stone i used:

The abandoned quarry overlooking the village of Aurisina-Nabrežina.

A quarry pit taken over by vegetation.

The stalagmite stone grown over broken limestone, from when this place was deep inside a cave.

The view to the north and east with the village of Prepotto-Praprot, famous for its wine-making.

Warning signs in Italian and Slovenian.

Autumn colours of the Karst.

Steel cable was used to drag the stone slabs down the hillside.

What remains of the road to the quarry.

    I preferred this particular stone mainly for its colour, but also because it has a large grained structure. This is both a challenge and an advantage: the large crystals make the stone very fragile, but also provide much nicer light effects, both in translucency as in reflected light.

Crystals in stalagmite have varying orientations, so they shimmer unexpectedly.

    The fragility problem has been addressed with fibreglass, but only up to a point. I wanted these objects to be as light as possible, so I must warn that they are not meant for extensive handling, as they are easy to break by hand. If someone tires to bend the stone and it develops cracks, they can be easily repaired. Simply write me an e-mail and I will give you detailed instructions, or I can repair it for you if you send it to me by mail. Ultimately, I believe that the possibility to see inside the crystal structure of the stone has made the effort, and the resultant fragility, worth it. Keep them on a windowsill and they will change with the light.

Some are made from opposing faces of the same stone (bookmatched)

    As for the base, it is made of local black limestone. The pieces with visible fossils are from Avber in Slovenia, and the pure black pieces are from Kreplje (the closest among them to Sissa's building: 8.7 km in a straight line). The black colour is due to the presence of tar, and is a characteristic of the limestones of the central part of the Karst plateau, where older strata of rock have become exposed. Until some one hundred years ago every village had its own stone quarry, which range from large and historical like the Aurisina quarry, which started production in Roman times, to the many small ones. There are somewhere between 250 and 300 inactive quarries on the Karst territory, and around 10 which remain active. 
    Of course, I needed some help with this project, and so I thank Franko Orel for the stone-cutting,
Bogdan Kosič for the laser engravings, Simon Metlikovec for the wooden boxes, and the boat-builder Erik Brcar for the invaluable advice on how to work with fibreglass and epoxy.