Search

Furniture Made from Mount Etna’s Cooled Lava

Formafantasma utilizes a material not often thought about for anything other than what it is – cooled lava. The studio used basalt, an igneous rock that forms when basaltic lava cools quickly, that came about from the debris left behind on November 20, 2013 when Mount Etna erupted in Sicily. The result of the event left the area covered in black earthen material which they carved out into geometric volumes. The volumes were then paired with brass elements to make stools and tables in a series they call De Natura Fossilium.

Big Pillar Materials: Basalt, Occhio di pernice basalt, basalt, brass, textile Dimensions: 35X35Xh90 cm

Big Pillar
Materials: Basalt, Occhio di pernice basalt, basalt, brass, textile
Dimensions: 35X35Xh90 cm

Rope is wrapped around the other materials to not only hold them together, but also to add another design detail.

Big Pillar detail

Big Pillar detail

Name of work : Small Pillar Materials: Basalt, Occhio di pernice basalt, brass, textile Dimensions: 35X35Xh50 cm

Small Pillar
Materials: Basalt, Occhio di pernice basalt, brass, textile
Dimensions: 35X35Xh50 cm

Small Pillar detail

Small Pillar detail

Small Pillar detail

Small Pillar detail

1991 Stool / 1614 Stool

1991 Stool / 1614 Stool

1892 Materials: Occhio di pernice basalt, textile, brass Dimensions: 30X30Xh60 cm

1892
Materials: Occhio di pernice basalt, textile, brass
Dimensions: 30X30Xh60 cm

1614 Materials: Basalt, textile, brass Dimensions: 30X30Xh60 cm

1614
Materials: Basalt, textile, brass
Dimensions: 30X30Xh60 cm

Photos by Luisa Zanzani.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.