The designers themselves—Luca Pevere and Paolo
Lucidi—dubbed their table for Kristalia "an artisanindustrial
product". To start with, its name—
Boiacca—allies the fascination and limitations of an
"art gallery" type of poetic object with the design
and technical features of a complex manufactured
article. As Lucidi and Pevere point out, it may sound
"uncouth and not terribly chic". But the name can
also be misleading, because in reality this is a very
stylish product, with the images of its presentation
inspired by the best tradition of sophisticated and
experimental design (which holds the record in the
galleries). Boiacca comes from the Roman dialect
word bujacca (which roughly translates as "thin
broth") and is the technical term used in building
to indicate a fluid cement paste for filling and
finishing, similar to grout. An astute christening
therefore, but a philological one too. Technically,
in the Boiacca production process, the cement
is moulded precisely as if it were plastic, with a
clearly industrial approach that produces an almost
architectural result.
With this artisan-industrial connotation, the two
designers forestalled and countered those who
might turn their noses up at the hybrid nature
of this table, which piques and surprises both
fronts: the artisan front by not explaining that any
manufacturing defects and traces of manual work
are actually an advantage; and the industrial one,
subdued and subjugated by the processes, volumes
and times involved in a "living" and uncontrollable
material like cement.
Domesticated Brutalism—
A new table by Lucidi Pevere offers an insight into concrete-based furniture, highlighting challenges and opportunities of an imperfect and poetic material A design report from Milan by Chiara Alessi
Network
A sketch by Lucidi Pevere
Lucidi and Pevere hail here from their experience
with the Aplomb cement lamp, developed in 2010
with the company Foscarini, after a few years
of exercises and experimentation.
Fascinated by that monolithic power and by their
acquired command of cement, they naturally began
from the foundations: the legs. In the early sketches
done in 2010, the leg prototype at first weighed a
rather awkward ten kilograms, with its somewhat
rigid and ponderous development. Today it has
been whittled down to a more sculpturally slender
3.5 kilograms.
The connection to the sidemember
that supports the
tabletop is integrated into the
leg. Concrete is combined
with a metal core in order
to reduce the weight of the
table. Each leg weighs about
3.5 kg. The monolithic top is
13 mm thick. Photo by Lucidi Pevere Design Studio
This was the semi-finished product they took to Kristalia, who confidently embraced their goal. Spurred by the same curiosity towards technology, materials and processing, Kristalia put their faith in these designers and in the happy ending which this complex (though relatively short) process promised to achieve: a long table resistant to bending stress but light enough for two people to lift. The price, too, seems reasonable, though that remains to be seen from market reactions at the Paris and Cologne furniture fairs.
"Spurred by the same curiosity towards technology, materials and processing, Kristalia put their faith in these designers and in the happy ending which this complex (though relatively short) process promised to achieve"
Lucidi Pevere Design Studio, Boiacca for Kristalia
The story of Boiacca reads like a positive episode to revive a disillusioned and discontented Italian design. It tells of a young company, run by young people with courage and professional farsightedness. But it also describes two firmly focused designers who espoused the whole process, devotedly tending it and departing from it only for the inevitable and due compromises with the other sides of the business and the market. Chiara Alessi (@chiaralessi)
Concrete takes a long
time to dry and is difficult
to control. Since each piece
is not quite the same as
the next, the table allies
imperfection with the rigour
of an industrial product
Paolo Lucidi (1974) and
Luca Pevere (1977) founded
Lucidi Pevere Design Studio
in Milan after studying at
the Industrial Design Faculty
of Milan Polytechnich.
As they were both born in
Friuli, in Northeast Italy,
when they decided to leave
Milan they set up their studio
in Udine, returning to their
native region
Lucidi Pevere Design Studio, Boiacca for Kristalia, detail
A sequence of prototypes
for the leg design.
The progressive lightening
resulted from the structural
development of grafting the
metal core into the cement
agglomerate
Design