Fluctus and Repère Collections

By Editorial Staff - 15 December 2021
Margraf has participated in the project

Tailoring, technology, design and nature form a web of cross-contamination and complementary exaltation to forge two new marble cladding collections from Margraf: Fluctus and Repère. Developed at the company’s new in-house Innovation Lab in Vicenza, Italy, in a deliberate move to give material shape to the latest natural stone processing techniques, adding original nuances, these collections were previewed at Marmomac in Verona.

The Fluctus Collection draws inspiration from the seas around Italy, filled with colors and the endless motion of waves, and is declined into four different textures - Mediterraneo, Ionio, Egeo, Tirreno - for four 3D cladding solutions. While each line in the collection is unique, they all share the common threads of the metamorphic hints of the materials, the shiny and matt 3D finishings and the play on light and visual changes caused by the dialogue between light and marble. Each weave or pattern is connected to a specific selection of materials - ranging from Fior di Pesco Carnico^® - a stone that is only mined at a quarry owned by Margraf, to Crema Nuova and Grigio Carnico. In practical terms, the cladding comes in standard 80x80 cm slabs that are 2 cm thick.

Mediterranean is an almost hypnotic 3D weave created by an intersection of lines and grooves that is reminiscent of the waves of the sea. Tyrrhenian has a similar pattern, while Aegean plays on nuances in a sort of chessboard intersected by diagonal lines. Finally, Ionian is like the sandy seabed of a crystal sea. It is a lively collection that creates a spirit of closeness to nature.

For interior and exterior cladding, these solutions blend architecture and design to exalt the natural color nuances of marble. And this is precisely the approach adopted by the company for its stand at Marmomac, representing a sort of microcosm designed by Cristina Celestino. The same designer created the other new entry, the Repère Collection, cladding for walls and floors punctuated by studs, also made of marble, placed in slight concavities on the slab. The resulting motif is clearly inspired by Canova’s technique of duplicating casts using a grid of small nails, almost re-invoking the sculptor’s Three Graces. Of course, using the great sculptor of “marble that comes to life” as a benchmark (hence the use of the French word repère for the name) implies a game of cross-references through opposition. Celestino is firmly, conceptually anchored to the qualities of the material to be shaped, but she has also given herself great creative freedom and drawn heavily on her unconstrained artistic genius, in a gesture of respect for the qualities of marble.