A.Aricò with Bitossi Home and Abitare Magazine
Selected from numerous applicants by a jury consisting of Marco Sammicheli, Stine Gam, Enrico Fratesi (GamFratesi), and Ginevra Bocini (Bitossi Home), Antonio Aricò was announced as the winner of the ‘Resident Designer’ Project in early 2016. It was the rst time that Antonio participated at such an exercise and being chosen amongst other talented designers was a real honour for him and his studio. The prize included a 3 month residency to be hosted in the Italian Embassador’s Residence in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this period the winner was to design a tableware collection that would be produced by Bitossi Home. During his stay
Aricò found inspiration in the residence of the Italian Ambassador, being surrounded by Gio Ponti designs that had been produced by Richard Ginori and Venini among others prestigious Italian brands.
The brief set by Bitossi for this international competition asked applicants to design a collection for an important ceremony. Antonio wanted to emphasize this request in a graceful and delicate way by using a particular kind of nish that can be applied to ceramic: pearlescent lustre. He had explored this technique previously through the development of a project conducted in collaboration with Jude Glover and the students of RMIT in Australia. The resulting collection was called Australian Shells and consisted of a selection of tableware inspired by the form of seashells endemic to Australia. For this new brief, Antonio wanted to re ne his ideas bringing the design to a pure concept and simple beauty: The Pearl.
'Le Perle’ is a tea set in which the iconic symbol of a pearl becomes a module. And through repetition at different scales, all the pieces of the set are transformed into one poetic and elegant object. The Tea Pot without a handle is a pure, organic and slightly imperfect sphere able to serve the tea. The milk jug, the sugar bowl, the tray, plates and spoons all come from the simple perfection of the solid volume of a sphere. By melting the noble shape of a pearl together with a pearlescent nish applied to the ceramic forms A.Aricò plays in a fantastic way and creates a simple, fun and elegant object, as he loves doing with all his designs. During his exploratory research, Antonio designed an entire tableware collection that was much more utopist (early sketches and renderings p1,p2). The sketches were giving life to objects composed of hundreds of round pearls; each of them composing one tableware product. This vision of practical elegance and re nement seduced the jury. But, due to logistic and nancial reasons, the nal collection is less complex than the winning project presented initially by Antonio. This has pushed Antonio to simplify the lines reaching the design of a pure object.
Antonio explains : For me ‘Le Perle’ is a perfect synthesis between Artcrafts and Design. The nishing ‘luster’ brings freshness and ethereal beauty to the nal product. The collaboration with Bitossi Home and Ginevra Bocini art director was unique in its kind. To work with a historic Italian design company where craftsmanship is at the service of artistic production and their ideas is a total “dream” for creators and designers around the world. ‘Le Perle’ is an elegant and simple concept that wants to communicate in a contemporary and easy way the idea of Absolute Beauty
A.ARICÒ
Antonio Aricò (1983) was born in Reggio Calabria. After graduating from the Politecnico di Milano and a postgraduate course at the Alta Scuola Politecnica, he completed his training abroad, studying Metal & Jewellery Design at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Scotland, Product Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and Traditional Furniture Design in Spain. Since 2011, Aricò has lived between Milano and Reggio, Calabria, his homeland and constant source of inspiration. The attention paid to traditional techniques and local operating practices combined with attention to detail and the quality of the materials used in the execution of a work mark the main characteristics of his practice, which often deals with the creation of everyday objects. Featuring a signature style that combines the spontaneity of the gesture with the simplicity of the execution, Aricò’s work has been presented at DMY in Berlin, the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Maison & Objets in Paris, Stockolm Design Week, the Design Centrum Kielce in Poland, Triennale Design Museum of Milan, Holon Design Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria among others. Today Antonio works on personal limited collections and collaborations with big Italians brands such as Barilla Group, Seletti, Alessi and recently Bialetti and Noberasco.
www.antonioarico.com
BITOSSI HOME
Bitossi Home is a Bitossi Diffusione brand, created in 2007 in Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany. The education and attitude to design have converged into the current collections featuring aesthetic sense of shapes, harmony of colours and an inclination to simplicity, as well as elegance and good taste.
Today Bitossi Home con rms its trend to create a complete and coordinated style as far as table setting up is concerned, capable of telling the beauty of its land where nature, tradition and cosmopolitan spirit coexist. A constant quest for ideas that can combine ceramic material, glass, wood and new materials is the brand’s strong point.