Art And Collectible Design

Pure Plants

Year - 2020
Furniture

Pure Plants project is a materialization of External Reference research on the science of materials and biomimicry, which began years ago with academic and professional activities of Carmelo Zappulla.
Created in different sizes and shades, printed with 3D technology by LaMáquina, they follow continuous geometries that eliminate the generation of supports and therefore residues. Pure Plants evoke real species that have been recreated using computationally design tools, allowing for the transformation of the natural morphologies and laws of phyllotaxis, typical of leaves, to increase the surface area for air exchange and turn them into “living sculptures” that purify the air around them thanks to the use of Pure.Tech technology. “Pure Plants represent a manifesto to promote an ecocentric approach that puts technology, design, and the science of materials at the service of nature, rather than the other way around. In this way, the project represents a denunciation of anthropocentrism and an appeal to promote
ecological values and respect for the natural environment” Zappulla remarks. Pure.Tech is an advanced polymer composed of 100% natural minerals that have the property of absorbing and neutralizing CO2,
nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for
catalysis. In its production, it is mixed with PLA, a bioplastic polymer made from corn dextrose (sugar), to achieve a 100% natural mineral compound capable of capturing and mineralizing the main greenhouse gases and pollutants found in the atmosphere. Pure Plants is an
innovative initiative aimed at promoting sustainability and improving the quality of the air we breathe through the use of advanced technology and a creative approach. The project began in 2020 with the presentation of the first Christmas tree made with the intelligent biomaterial Pure. Tech by External Reference, capable of absorbing more than 15 kg of CO2 per year through photolysis.

Garden Of Tomorrow
Year - 2023
Exhibition
Milan Design Week Fuori Salone
Location - Milan, Italy

The Garden of Tomorrow hosts the winning projects of the «ITmakES design» competition and was conceived to arouse wonder and astonishment, two feelings that according to ancient Greek philosophers are fundamental to push man to investigate reality, to ask questions.

It is composed of giant plants that through the use technology to transform into artificial organisms that mimic the structure and function of natural plants, capable of absorbing CO2 and Volatile organic compounds.

The concept of the installation, in harmony with the displayed projects, nomadic, multifunctional, and symbolic, represents a manifesto in itself, where man - in this case the designers - and his artifacts, are placed at the center of nature, in opposition to the dominant anthropocentric and mechanistic vision.

Today it has become urgent for humanity and the planet to adopt a more ecosystemic and holistic perspective that takes into account the importance of preserving and protecting the environment and the living beings that inhabit it. This requires a reevaluation of our priorities and a change in the way we think and relate to the natural world and, in the case of us designers, with the projects we carry out and the materials we use.

Aura Chair

Year - 2017
Furniture

Aura was born in the sea along with other natural forms of life. She comes from the Mediterranean reefs, although she easily adapts to different environments. However, she seeks to be human, as her skeleton was purposefully designed to suit human bodily features. This allows her to foster a new form of comfort.

Moreover, the chair ergonomically adheres to and supports the lower part of the human back like a sports car seat. Each chair is unique: the aluminum cast used to make it is poured into a sand mold which is destroyed immediately afterward. This is why each Aura is a unique individual, exhibiting minimal, but perceptible variations. The chair’s aluminum pieces are welded together and polished by hand and once assembled, the chairs are upholstered in natural leather.

Manglar Chair

Year - 2018
Forniture

Following the same line of the Manglar Table we designed the Manglar Chair. It comes form the intersection between design, ergonomics and digital fabrication after an extensive period of research and prototyping.

This 3D printed collection is made of PLA in conjuction with an advanced mineral compound PURE.TECH with the property to mineralize CO2 and NOx and reduces volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Stemming from the material research and innovation these chairs are passively purifying the air of the space they are situated in. The Manglar Chairs are part of our research into experimental sustainable design and the use of new materials a commitment that is strongly embedded into our company›s DNA.

Manglar Table

Year - 2018
Furniture

We designed the Manglar table for Sayrach´s house collection. The marine world is the main source of inspiration and Mangroves are trees that grow in environments where the water contains high concentrations of salts and water levels are regularly changing. Growing where the substrate is unstable, Mangroves have developed an architecture of complex roots that rise from the main branch producing flying structures. This fractal structure has been studied and simulated computationally for the design of this 3D-printed table.

As the trees it is inspired by, this table is passively purifying the air of the room it is in. By incorporating PURE.TECH during the fabrication process our Manglar Table can absorb CO2 and neutralize VOCs and NOX present in the air.

Milky Table

Year - 2018
Furniture

Milky table was designed for the meeting room of a renowned milk products company. Milk is an excellent medium for the growth of microorganisms. Bacteria are employed to convert milk sugars into lactic acid; this being very important in the production of cheese or yogurt. By monitoring bacterial communities in RAW milk, we discovered interesting white formations. These topographical morphologies have been digitally simulated, modelled and translated into a Corian cast table.

Spine Table

Year - 2018
Furniture

Another piece for the Sayrach´s house collection, in Barcelona. If you enter the lobby of this historic monument, you immediately realise that it is an homage to the beauty and morphology of marine world: seashells, jellyfish, water and even a sculpture of a whale’s skeleton.

This last one inspired the design of the ``Spinal Table``, a piece based on the serial repetition of vertebrae. Designed through the use of parametric tools the table was built milling solid beech.

Meteorite

Year - 2017
Industrial

Scientists all around the world have set 2030 as the deadline for a human mission on Mars, and, among all technical challenges presented by this ambitious plan, oxygen production represents one of the biggest.

Since 2015, NASA is using bacteria and algae for the development of an oxygen production plant inside an experimental martian colony. This context inspired the design of a machine capable of producing oxygen and food through the photosynthesis of algae, an artificial meteor
(Meteorite is the name of the project) that brings life, a photo-bioreactor that blends together human, technological, social and aesthetic challenges.

Panning back to planet Earth, it’s possible to notice how the entire world benefits from the powerful impact of algae, that, together with cyanobacteria, can generate up to 70-80% of the oxygen we breathe.

For this reason, a responsible application of this technology on a global scale could enable us to contrast the growing levels of CO2 in the air and increase the amount of oxygen in our atmosphere.
In this framework, the meteorite is a thought-provoking device that aims at spreading awareness towards some of the global environmental issues that humanity must face.

Meteorite associates careful aesthetics with the functionality of a liquid techno-garden that communicates us in real-time the oxygen, biomass and nutrients levels produced. By scaling this up to an urban environment, Meteorite could contribute to the construction of a collaborative public space with the ability to bring urban communities closer to ecological problems.

Lightscape

Year - 2022
Light

“Light Scape” exemplifies a transformative design endeavor that translates Barcelona’s city sounds into visual radiance. The intricate piece operates at the intersection of frequency representation, converting sound into light and imbuing it with local craftsmanship. Every line in the artwork represents a frequency, meticulously extracted from field recordings of the city’s unique soundscape, converted via advanced parametric design systems into 12 distinct frequencies.

The work takes advantage of the inherent ambiguity in nature, where both sound and light travel in waves, to construct a lighting piece that encapsulates the city’s essence. Despite its futuristic allure, the luminary utilizes time-honored neon technology, employing energy-efficient Argon gas which allows for light visualization within space and propagates a living, dynamic element.

Part of the “Superficie Absoluta” exhibition at Casa Seat, and Hopera Aperta in Milan for the 2022 Design Week “Light Scape” integrates innovation and artistic experimentation to create an expressive, sensory light experience that subtly narrates the city’s soundscape.

Sayrach Faces Lamp

Year - 2018
Light

The lamps are shaped after the face profile of the members of Sayrach Office Club . Their individualities are reflected in the use of different types of glass that emit different reflections and light tonalities.

Sayrach Disc Lamp

Year - 2018
Light

The Sayrach Disc lamp is made up of circular elements, is conceived as an organic ceiling that integrates the lighting, expands and deforms the space by means of convex mirrors.

The design of the lamps of the meeting area emerge from the study of the aggregation of bubbles that cluster together to form foam. These were casted with different types of glass emitting varying reflections and light tonalities.

Christmas Tree

Year - 2020
Product

Embracing the power of advanced digital design tools, we’ve crafted an innovative 3D-printed tree inspired by the intrinsic patterns of nature - phyllotaxis. This term describes the repetitive arrangements seen in plant structures, resulting in spiral formations often observed in the plant kingdom. A striking blend of natural inspiration and advanced technology, our creation underscores the urgent environmental challenges that the world is currently facing.

Our tree encapsulates a potent message of conservation and sustainability, blurring the distinctions between nature and artificiality. Unlike traditional Christmas trees, ours doesn’t contribute to deforestation or employ petroleum-based materials. Instead, it’s 3D-printed using a bioplastic material, enriched with the mineral compound PURE.TECH. Remarkably, this compound is capable of mineralizing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOX), and absorbing CO2. Consequently, our tree can absorb 15 Kg of CO2 annually and purify the air, much like a living tree.

Aura Stool
Year - 2017
Furniture

Aura was born in the sea along with other natural forms of life. She comes from the Mediterranean reefs, although she easily adapts to different environments. However, she seeks to be human, as her skeleton was purposefully designed to suit human bodily features. This allows her to foster a new form of comfort.Moreover, the chair ergonomically adheres to and supports the lower part of the human back like a sports car seat. Each chair is unique: the aluminum cast used to make it is poured into a sand mold which is destroyed immediately afterward. This is why each Aura is a unique individual, exhibiting minimal, but perceptible variations. The chair’s aluminum pieces are welded together and polished by hand and once assembled, the chairs are upholstered in natural leather.

Vicio Chair #2
Year - 2023
Furniture

Vicio Chair #1
Year - 2023
Furniture

Mahou Chair

Year - 2023
Light

Sofa Eclipse for W Hotel

Year - 2022
Furniture

3d Table

Year - 2021
Furniture

T-AURUS

Year - 2018
Furniture

T-AURUS is also inspired by life. It starts by studying systems which result in organic morphology and growth and through computational strategies the natural evolutionary processes are simulated. the product begins to take on a forma and performance behavior. The design’s unique process gives T-AURUS the impression of a living organism. Not only does the form follow morphological patterns that exist in Nature, but the form finfing itself also follows natural evolutionary processes. The design process affects material distribution and optimization as well. As natura where material intelligently reinforcesstructure to respond to external forces, T-AURUS also distributes material such to both accommodate function, while simultaneously optimizing structure and performance. The result is a product that is both sturdy and esthetically delicate, with a form that responds to performance while evoking the Nature and life which was the original basis and inspiration of its conception.

Dt-360-Bcn-Ap

Data Trasformation360, Barcelona, Air Pollution
Year - 2023

The artwork DT-360-BCN-AP is based on the concept of fields surrounding us (Electromagnetic, Thermal, Atmospheric etc.). For each point in space has been assigned some value. It was then converted into a vector. And along these vectors, the lines of the pattern were generated.

Dt-360-Bcn-Ps
Data TrasfTormation360, Barcelona, Public Safety
Year - 2023

Waves surround us in our daily lives. Sound, electromagnetic, seismic, etc. But also, in the form of waves we can represent any data that have a certain frequency, such as the public safety in a particular area of the city. In this case, the frequency will be the recurrence, and the amplitude will be the the seriousness of security threats in Barcelona.

Dt-360-Bcn-Dc
Data Trasformation360, Barcelona, Daily Commuting
Year - 2023

Every day thousands of people move within the city. They commute to and from work, forming regular flows. We can visualize this data by taking particles and reaction diffusion as the basis.

Ginraw
Year - 2014
Product

In celebration of Ginraw’s limited edition launch, we’ve designed a transcendent fusion of art and packaging. The tectonic cast aluminium encasing unveils a crystallized unique element within – the Ginraw bottle. More than just packaging, this tectonic structure doubles as a sculpture, preserving the memory of the exclusive elixir it once enshrined. Even after the last drop is savored, the artful encasing stands as an enduring testament to the unparalleled content it once sheltered.

Art And Collectible Design

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Art And Collectible Design