Steele on marble

Lawrence Steele was exactly the designer we had in mind to interpret Marsotto edizioni 2015 collection. He and they in fact share a vocation for perfect cuts, rigorous forms, simple lines and attention to production processes. With a touch of irony and contemporariness.

Our choice for 2015 has been to explore new angles of design to enrich Marsotto edizioni’s products with inspiration from the creative world of fashion.

Lawrence worked on black and white and concentrated on the development of forms to create unexpected three-dimensionalities. Geometrical and static projects are carried to the extreme by elongating, rounding and altering angles and thicknesses. Perception of each object changes according to the observer’s viewpoint.

Studio Irvine art direction

Curiosity and openness to new horizons continue to boost the intensity of a passion.
It was in this exciting perspective that we embraced our collaboration with Lawrence Steele on the new Marsotto edizioni collection. With an eagerness to experiment and to interact with a world seemingly so remote from ours as that of fashion.

Whilst we share the same dedication to strictness of method and mastery of manufacture, the very nature of our new projects demanded an exceptional empathy between fashion designer, art director and maker.

Thus a mutual exchange of means and disciplines was established. Marsotto set about transformingchamfers and flanges into delicate hems and seams, while Lawrence challenged the restraints of a natural fabric like marble, with its often rigid and fragile weft and warp.Working together in a logic of doing and undoing, we implemented an ever-changing template/pattern until the perfect silhouette was attained.

Marsotto edizioni is thus enriched with a collection distinguished, as in a silk and cotton patchwork, by an elegant blend of creative flair and rigorous geometry.
The intricately balanced expressions of Steele on marble lent fresh impetus to the interpretation of our products, in a sort of sinuous fashion show on awesomely high heels.

Costanza and Mario Marsotto

Marsotto edizioni collections of furnishings all have in common a remarkable level of restraint. It's as if
these objects, set in stone, have a certain power to transmit the essence of a reductive and pure way of life.

This philosophy, rooted in rigor and intelligence, was the starting point of my project and led to the creation of the tables, each one bold, minimal and meditative in nature. For me, marble instantaneously brings to mind sculpture. It was therefore important for me to approach designing
each piece as a collectible object. At the same time, I thought about the quality of marble and the limitations set by its manufacturing: the preciousness of the material, its weight and the permanent nature of stone.

The DNA stones of Marsotto edizioni - Bianco Carrara and Black Marquina - bring to mind the preciousness of a gem. Forms and shapes were developed in a sculptural way, using 'faceting' so that the quality of the stone was highlighted. A limited palette of black and white provided an opportunity to dive deeply into the stone’s inherent graphism.

These pieces were conceived to work together as a group. The smaller tables, offered in three shapes and four heights, can be configured to create a bouquet of geometric sculptures. Or, they can stand alone as striking single pieces.

The larger tables feature intarsia techniques that create a marble mosaic of geometric symbols. The shapes of these tables are equally sculptural, and yet the surfaces seem more like paintings with irregular shaped canvases.

Each piece is meant to inhabit space beyond their function. They are inherently useful, and yet they possess the intrigue of graphic, dynamic sculptures.

Lawrence Steele