Marini Marmi's first Milanese showroom opens in Milan with a special project, entitled Blocco and curated by Sabino Maria Frassà. The company brings to the Lombard capital the stones - Ceppo di Gré® and Nuvolato di Gré - of the historic family quarry founded in 1897 on the slopes of Mount Clemo on the north-western shore of Lake Iseo in the province of Bergamo.

The exhibition opens on 14 April, at the same time as the Milan Design Week 2023. The aim of Marini Marmi is not only to exhibit materials, but also to investigate in a comprehensive and multi-sensorial way the relationship between exteriority and interiority, i.e. between container and content, between skin and life, between mountain and stone.

Curator Sabino Maria Frassà tells us about the origin of the installation: "the idea came from the analogy between the stones of Marini Marmi and the human epidermis used in Francesca Piovesan's work. The Ceppo di Gré® is a grey-blue natural stone, formed 600,000 years ago, which is located in the outer part of the mountain. Inside, in the heart of the earth, is the precious Nuvolato di Gré, an ancient compact 'mother' stone formed 200 million years ago. In the same way, Francesca Piovesan understands the skin as container and content, as what separates and unites us with the other from ourselves. The installation Blocco thus gives form to the tension in continuous becoming towards ever new balances between exteriority and interiority, the very fulcrum of our living."

Ceppo di Gré® is a material that has a profound relationship with the city of Milan: it has been used for many of the city's most prestigious historical buildings, but also for contemporary masterpieces, such as the new Bocconi University building, designed by the Irish firm Grafton Architects. Giulio Marini, Managing Director of Marini Marmi, elaborates on this relationship: "Milan tells and is told by Ceppo di Gré®. We open this space in Milan with the idea of creating culture with and through stone: from a collection of ad-hoc works of art, to food, to architecture. Today more than ever it is important to create quality content and we want to play our part in dialogue with the city."

The new Marini Marmi showroom, designed by architect Giorgio Rava, will open in Via Alberico Albricci 1, a stone's throw from Piazza Missori and the Duomo, in the beating heart of the city of design.