Cervo Chair
This weekend, Industry Gallery will open Nature/Data, the first solo U.S. exhibition for New York-based Italian designer and architect Antonio Pio Saracino. The works in the exhibition are executed in plywood, metal, carbon fiber and synthetics and abstract from natural forms such as molecules, leaves, blossoms, and crystals.
Nature/Data will feature eleven different chair designs, including two newly created for the exhibition: Riccio, a chair with a smooth interior and spiky exterior; and Molecular Bench, a baroque, steel-framed work covered with molecule-shaped recycled wool (both pictured below). The other nine designs, most created within the past year, will be exhibited along with two large-scale models for triumphal arches inspired by two centuries of Italian emigration to North and South America. A selection of pieces has been included for publication in this post.
Blossom Chairs
Modular Chair
Riccio Chair (new)
Molecular Bench (new)
Molecular Armchair
Ray Sofa and Chair
From the press release:
Saracino’s designs stem from his lifelong fascination with nature and natural systems. As a child in Puglia (in southern Italy), he collected plants, rocks, fossils and insects. “I have always been fascinated by the mystery of nature, and the beauty and complexity of the natural world,” said Saracino. “However, I do not seek to replicate nature. I look to replicate the feeling that nature creates within me.” Living in Rome from the age of 19, “affected my vision and made me realize the power of design in making and defining a civilization. Design is important in the evolution of a culture and its identification process, by which I mean its sense of pride and belonging.”
All photos courtesy of Industry Gallery, copyright Antonio Pio Saracino.
What: Nature/Data
When: September 11, 2010 – October 30, 2010
Where: Industry Gallery, 1358 Florida Avenue, NE, Suite 200, Washington DC 20002