exclusive 18
118
INTERIOR DESIGN BUZZ
FIBRE-CEMENT FURNITURE ELEGANCE. RESISTANCE. INDIVIDUALITY Concrete is the dominant material of the built environment and our engagement with it in the city and our everyday life is constant. While traditionally associated with industrial buildings, parking lots and roadways, concrete is gradually finding its way into our homes. The idea of converting hard, raw and cold materials into fluid and elegant shapes has always captivated artists, architects and designers. As in the Carrara marble sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Michelangelo human forms were meticulously carved from heavy blocks of stone, there is no difference in the practice of architecture and design at the present. Contemporary cutting-edge designers use concrete to create a variety of objects that range from indoor to outdoor furnishing and even lighting. To achieve this, designers often replace the gravel and sand used in conventional concrete mixes with high-tech materials, such as fibreglass or steel-reinforcing micro fibres. “In a lot of design, concrete is still used in a blocky way. But it is a fluid material from which we can now make any sort of three-dimensional shape,” says Isaac Friedman-Heiman, New York-based product designer and creative director of Souda design studio.
1.
Scallop dining table The scallop dining table has an industrial yet chic design with an ivory finish, ribbed column base, a round top and scalloped edges, handmade of a stone composite and natural cement fibres. It seats up to four or stands solo in a large entry.
