area — Alchemie T

From light to shadow, like an eclipse

The lamp Alchemie T designed by Giulia Archimede for Catellani & Smith is made of a number of different materials that form a harmonious whole in warm hues: Alabaster, Brass and Medea stone.

We join Enzo Catellani, founder of Catellani & Smith, and designer Giulia Archimede to find out more about the idea behind the new Alchemie T, a lamp in which alabaster dialogues with stone and brass to create effects of light and shadow. area: Catellani & Smith’s story takes place in a world made of unusual and precious materials. And the same is true of Alchemie T. What are its material qualities? Enzo Catellani: The track/base is made of Medea stone, a marble that has been used to decorate homes and palaces throughout history and comes in a number of different colours and types of veining, attributable to the presence of different minerals.

alchemiet

 “Every item I build is a way of expressing emotions”

The delicate hues of the base, with its soft colour, create a pleasing aesthetic effect in combination with the precious alabaster of the disc sliding over it. The transparencies and rich veining of the alabaster are underlined by the lights integrated into the glossy brass profile framing the perfect circle.

The second disc in Alchemie is also made of brass, one of my favourite materials ever since I began my production, especially in the Turciù collection. The materials used to make the Alchemie lamp require special workmanship and skilled handcrafting. Alchemie T is a precious sculpture in which the interaction of light and shadow which the user creates by sliding the two discs along the track peaks in a sort of ’total eclipse’ when the two discs are overlapped and the brass completely covers the transparent alabaster.

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