We profiled some works by Italian designer Antonio Aricó last week. We’re back today with another of his designs: a desk set that can be arranged for still life visual effects.
“Still Alive,” designed for Seletti, is a desk organizer that allows the user to “play with inanimate objects and natural shapes usually put together by famous and amateur painters.” The set debuted in wood in 2013, but a new one was produced for Seletti’s booth at Design Miami this year. The set borrows shapes from objects typically found in other places. The pitcher looks like it was snatched from a kitchen and the bottle may have once held wine. The designer states:
Antonio decided to use a “graceful detournement” and he wonderfully moved objects from one context to another by simply transforming common products and their uses to create new stories and feelings – always referring to pure and simple emotions.
The result?
An arrangement and combination of elements that you can use and play with. By juxtaposing their various shapes and shadows, the user receives a daily invitation to discover and explore them in a creative way.
Click to see a larger image.
The set is practical but also fills a need for bringing tactile, imaginative objects into an office setting. Desk work is often so cerebral; something that is fun to touch and casually arrange while taking a coffee break may be a way to refresh one’s brain before going back to the grind. TL Mag states:
As an eclectic arrangement of forms, quotidian users are able to break from their mutinous routine and interact with different programmes: a terracotta pitcher can hold rulers or other elongated utensils while a brass cup can hold regularly used pens and pencils. A “celadon” resin pyramid holds one’s most-prized treasures and a spherical magnifying glass helps them to read more closely.
Love contemporary ceramic art + design? Let us know in the comments.
“Still ALive” by Antonio Aricó. Click to see a larger image.
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