Greece was the source of inspiration at that time and Sicily was one of the centers
The ancient cultures around the Mediterranean are the sources of inspiration for the collections of Lithea, which is based in Sicily and draws its identity from them. This time the title is “Dal Classico,“ and the designers Astrid Luglio, Elena Salmistraro, Mario Scairato and Martinelli Venezia Studio have chosen as models those forms that, starting from Greece in the 8th century BC, spread throughout the cultural area. Martinelli Venezia Studio acts as art director of the company.
Sicily was then a center of the Mediterranean world, first under the rule of the Phoenicians, later as part of the Greek Empire. With trade and grain cultivation it became rich and a cultural center.
For “Dal Classico,“ the designers created sinks and consoles alongside wall coverings. As usual, the local limestone Pietra Pece was used, which is virtually the trademark for Lithea. Also as usual, the designers added the marble varieties Bianco Avorio, Bianco Fenice, Verde Alpi, Bardiglio Imperiale. For the 1st time in this collection was also used a travertine, after all, this stone is indispensable in the architecture and design of ancient Greece.
Lithea was founded in 2008 by Patrizia Furnari and Fabio Fazio.
“Born in collaboration with the historic family company, its intention is to transfer long-standing passion and the ancient knowledge of stone production techniques to an innovative design concept which thanks to sophisticated production processes and advanced technology launched a research and experimentation process that is in constant development. Lithea produces cladding, flooring, accessories, and indoor and outdoor furnishing. The material of choice is natural stone,“ as said in a self presentation.
We show the objects from the collection and give the descriptions of the company about them in our international edition.
Photos: Lithea
ERCOLE, design by Mario Scairato: Ercole is a modular system made in travertine marble and consists of a freestanding washbasinin various options. It is inspired by the Doric style, the oldest of the Greek architectural orders. The characteristic groove offers continuity and balance to the modules, which differ in size and density. The engravings on the marble, in three different densities, are characterised by clean lines that play with the light and create a sense of lightness and, at the same time, disorder. A precise and controlled disorder reminiscent of the irregular travertine boulders that make up the Doric columns of the temples. The three-dimensional elements can be combined so that an infinite number of different layouts can be created. The wall covering choices consist of: 10 elements 30×30 cm of travertine marble, 10 elements 30×15 cm of travertine marble, 13 decorative elements 15×15 cm in Pietra Pece.
FATNOMA, design Elena Salmistraro: The decorative Fatnoma marble panel, inspired by ancient Greece, is a work reminiscent of the elegance and refinement of the classical temples. ‘Fatnoma’ is the Greek name for the ‘coffered roof of the temple’ a detail that gave the temple an aura of grandeur and nobility. This element, elongated, repeated over again and enriched with grooves is reminiscent of the columns and trabeations and gives the entire panel an atmosphere of ancient magnificence, perfectly encapsualting the bond between art and history, and elegance and grandeur. Crafted in Bianco Avorio with inserts in Bianco Fenice, Pietra Pece, Verde Alpiand Bardiglio Imperiale, the Fatnoma panel is an elegantly understated and timeless work that fits perfectly into any environment. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, ‘Antiquity is the eternal present; everything we see today already had its form in the past.’
Koilon (and FATNOMA), design Elena Salmistraro: The marble console table called Koilon is inspired by the shapes of ancient Greece and owes its name to the steps of the Greek theatre. Its elegant step-like shape brings to mind infact theatre architecture, representing the tiers of seats, while the columns, the legs are reminiscent of classical architecture. Furthermore, the marble used, with its white and grey veins, gives it a refined and timeless appearance. The Koilon embodies this vision of Greek art, combining beauty with harmony and symmetry, with the added robustness of the material used.
Materials: Wall / Bianco Avorio, bianco Fenice, Pietra pece, Verde Alpi, Bardiglio Imperiale.
Console / Bianco Avorio, Bardiglio Imperiale.
Dimensions: Wall Fatnoma / 190Xh300 cm, Console Koilon / 120X30Xh96,5 cm.
RUĪNA, design Astrid Luglio: The term Ruīna/ Rovine historically refers to a collection of architectural artefacts sculpted over time, meldedand often the result of eras overlapping that has made them temporal witnesses, rich in history, style and texture. This was the starting point for Ruīna, a collection of marble surfaces and furnishing complements that can be inserted intoany living space in which the ‘unfinished finishes’ convey the care of craftsmanship and the warmth of manual skill mixed with the markings of machinary. Each surface has a different texture: machine-designed grooves, engravings and curvatures meet manualrefining, the curves of the modules are delicate and the colours are all warm tones. The idea behind the design is to be able to assemble the modules in different ways and the array of materials provides four different colour combinations. Thus, the companyes competing in a different scenario, showcasing its production capabilities linked not only to its great knowledge of industrial techniques, but also to the manual skills of those who work there.
Materials: Bianco Avorio, Pietra Pece, Verde Alpi, Bardiglio Imperiale.
GRECHE wall panel, Ferla vase, design Martinelli Venezia Studio: Greche is a Travertine marble panel with Pietra Pece applications, consisting in a modular design with overlapping bands, greatly inspired by the Geometric Style of ceramics developed in the 8th century BC in Attica and Magna Graecia. This Style was characterised by a dense pictorial decoration in black paint that covered each vase like a meticulous embroidery. This theme was then applied in all fields of ornamentation, from fabrics to architecture, expressing the taste for rational composition, perfect symmetry, rhythmic order and the search for harmony based on simple geometric forms to which the Classics aspired. The elements used in the decoration of the Greche panel are cylindrical in shape and are reminiscent of the gutte (guttae in Latin) or drops: the ornamental motif that hangs below the mutulae of the cornice and the regulae of the friezefound on the trabeations of the Doric order. The ornaments of classical Greek architecture correspond to elements that were functional in the wooden and terracotta architecture of the Archaic period. The mutulae and regulae symbolically represent the piece of wood through which the ‘cavicchi’ (i.e. wooden nails or pins) were threaded to fix the rafters, following the inclination of the roof. The drop is thus metaphorically a reproduction in stone of such ‘cavicchi’ used when the trabeation was made of wood. The design of the Greche panel is a reinterpretation that brings the decorative series of the same name back into the contemporary world. These, in fact, united by a modular matrix, become a collection of designs that can be extended infinitely, a frame of sorts with patterns that can change as required. The design consists in two layers of different stones emphasising the pattern through CNC machining.
PANTALICA, design Martinelli Venezia Studio: Rectangular stone table, characterized by a base in the shape of a parallelepiped with a hole in the centre. Slabs of Pietra Pece and Travertine two centimetres thick are placed side by side, glued together, as if they were geological stratifications. The name is inspired by the Sicilian archaeological site, in the province of Syracuse, which in Greek means “place full of stones” or in Arabic Buntarigah “place full of caves”, due to the presence of multiple natural and artificial caves. From the processing scraps of the Pantalica table, the two simple Ferla vases take shape, grooved with different heights and diameters.
Materials: Wall Greche / Travertino Marble with Pietra Pece applications, Coffee table Pantalica / Travertino marble and Pietra Pece.
Dimensions: Wall Greche / 190Xh300 cm, Coffee table Pantalica / 90X36Xh44 cm, Ferla vases: S d10xh14 cm – M d20xh28 cm
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(20.10.2023, USA: 10.20.2023)
