THE ECO-SUSTAINABLE CONTEMPORANEITY OF STONE

On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile, Salvatori, leader in the field of working and treating stone materials, will present a public preview of Lithoverde, the innovative new eco-compatible natural stone composite.

The constant attention to research that makes Salvatori one of the most cutting-edge companies in its field has been concentrated in recent years on eco-sustainability and environmental impact. Careful analysis of the production processes of marble has resulted in Lithoverde, a new composite made of 99% waste from stone production and 1% natural resin that serves as a binder.

“The uniqueness of the product and our long experience in the production and working of stone materials”, explains the company’s art director Gabriele Salvatori, “led John Pawson to choose Lithoverde for his House of Stone installation, which is part of the Interni Think Tank exhibition. A mock-up of the installation will be on display in the new space in Via Solferino.”

During the Salone, visitors will be able to admire the properties of this revolutionary product at the new showroom in Via Solferino 11 in the heart of Milan. Lithoverde will also be featured in the House of Stone installation by English architect John Pawson for the Interni Think Tank exhibition in the Cortile del 700 (‘18^th-century courtyard) of the Università Statale, Milan.  

Salvatori is moving from Via Boito to Via Solferino 11, entrusting the design of the new space to Studio Lissoni e Associati: an exclusive showcase, set in the middle of one of Milan’s most important design districts.  

The setting up, typical of Lissoni’s style, serves as a frame for the materials of the Tuscan company, displaying them in a space that emphasizes the architectural qualities of the building through the exposed original beams and the texture of the bricks that one can see beneath the anthracite gray of the walls. The space is characterized by a chic sobriety that is a perfect backdrop for the style and naturalness of the stone, and is designed so as to highlight the specific features that make Salvatori materials so unique.

The space is further enriched by two tables from the renowned brand Boffi, a concrete sign of the commercial collaboration with Salvatori: indeed, the partnership entails the presence of Salvatori in all Boffi sales points as its sole materials partner, first in Milan, then in Barcelona and eventually in the rest of the world. The Boffi showroom in Milan uses “silk georgette” with a “bamboo” finish for the background wall of its main display window, and there is also a bathroom countertop in lava stone on display. Inside, there is also an area in chiseled Lava and a lead wall with a finish from the Infinito collection.   

HOUSE OF STONE installation by John Pawson

“Viewed from the colonnade, the installation is a simple architectural structure in the shape of a house”, explains John Pawson. “The dark stone planes, cut with extreme precision, convey simplicity and accuracy.”

When the English architect discovered Lithoverde, he immediately fell in love and wanted to use it for the installation at the Interni Think Tank exhibition. Indeed, no one could have interpreted the material better than he.

“For a long time I've thought how wonderful it would be to be able to use all the off-cuts you see lying around in quarries and stone yards, but no one had come up with a way of doing it. I love the fact that Lithoverde is about making something beautiful and practical out of something which was previously simply waste. I also love the idea of a natural material which gives you scope to make your own patterns”. John Pawson

A construction at once linear and captivating that deploys a play of contrasts and juxtapositions to create discontinuous surfaces, lights and shadows. What is most striking about the project is how it instantly transports the viewer to the imagery of childhood, to the archetype of the house as drawn by children. The reassuring and protective aspect and the sense of intimacy are subverted, however, by the cuts along the edges of the structure, as if the components of the house were not touching one another. These fissures, along with the opening in the central section, enable sunlight to enter and create wonderful and intriguing chromatic interactions with the materials, betraying the ancestral notion of ‘dwelling’.  

At night, artificial light sources inside the House of Stone transform the fissures and openings into luminous strips that frame the structure, giving it an ethereal aspect.

This unusual effect is provided by the LED MoMo, a linear lighting system supplied by the multinational KKDC, a world leader in the lighting field.  

The emphasis on light and proportions, fundamental considerations in Pawson’s work, gives particular importance to the details.

Several benches set against the colonnade of the courtyard allow visitors to admire in comfort the composition of this new architecture, perfectly integrated into the historical fabric of the site.

With the attention to detail and the esthetic inquiry based on the simplicity of materials and form that are part of the company’s very DNA, Salvatori was able to respond fully to the needs and desires of a renowned architect.

House of Stone is realized entirely in  Lithoverde, the innovative new material that completes the already vast range offer of the Tuscan company.

Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Festa del Perdono 7 – Interni Think Tank exhibition

From Tuesday 13 to Sunday 18 April, 10 am to midnight

From Monday 19 to Sunday 25 April, 10 am to 10 pm

Press conference: Tuesday 13 April 2010, 2:30 pm, Università degli Studi di Milano, Aula Magna

Opening Party: Wednesday 14 April 2010, from 9 pm, Università degli Studi di Milano

LITHOVERDE

The production of marbles entails a great excess of material and generates enormous waste, the disposal processes for which are expensive and harmful to the environment. In its constant pursuit of eco-sustainable, low-impact products, Salvatori has created Lithoverde, which is manufactured with the waste from stonecutting, which makes up 99% of the material, with the remaining 1% is natural resin that acts as a binder. For this reason, there is no longer any need to exploit the quarries and risk changing or damaging the landscape.

To obtain Lithoverde, the waste slabs are sorted and collected according to the final result one wishes to obtain, then assembled and cut. This involves more time and labor, but the result is completely eco-compatibile and sustainable.

Because of these characteristics, Lithoverde helps buildings earn high point scores on the LEED® test (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, stipulated by the U.S. Green Building Council, international benchmark in the field of sustainable architecture). LEED® standards indicate the requirements for constructing environmentally sustainable buildings in terms of both energy and the consumption of all the environmental resources involved. Lithoverde contributes to the credits one can earn for using sustainable materials, because it is made of reconstituted marble waste that obviates the need for the further excavation of material.

Lithoverde is also in the process of being certified by the prestigious SCS (Scientific Certification Systems), world leader in testing green building materials.

SALVATORI

Salvatori s.r.l. has been working alongside architects, designers and builders for more than sixty years, pursuing innovative research that has made it internationally famous in the production of marble and stone materials.

The brand was founded just after World War II in an area of Tuscany between Pietrasanta and Forte dei Marmi that is famed for both its splendid quarries and the traditional stone working techniques that originated there and which have been refined and improved over the centuries. The company then introduced and perfected a method of working stone that is unique in the field.  

Gabriele Salvatori, art director of the brand, represents the third generation of the company and continues to uphold its proud heritage of local tradition constructed over time and known throughout the world. With the aim of optimizing stone materials with exclusive treatments that it has developed over the years, Salvatori has made research one of its pillars. Indeed, the company has responded to the challenge of the third millennium toward sustainability and low environmental impact with the creation of Lithoverde.

Decades of experience have resulted in the presence of Salvatori’s innovative and extremely high-quality materials in some of the most important buildings in the world, such as the exterior facing of the MoCA in Los Angeles and that of the E-Scienze Lab at the ETH in Zurich by Swiss architects Baumschlager & Eberle, as well as the interiors of the recent project by Jean Nouvel, Kilometrorosso. Several of the company’s products are on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles.

Moreover, in addition to supplying high-end products, Salvatori also provides consulting in the field of stone materials, their treatment and application. This is the true added value of the company: an ongoing dialogue with architects and builders that enables the company to meet the widest possible range of needs.

What is unique about Salvatori is that it transforms ancient materials like marble and natural stone into contemporary building solutions. The wide range of product lines makes Salvatori an ideal partner with whom to develop even the most complex architectural solutions, attentive and sensitive to specific individual needs thanks to a catalogue whose versatility and quality make it possible to find custom solutions to any project.

For this reason, the Salvatori collections have been used for important buildings all over the world: from the boutiques of Armani and Tom Ford to the Radisson Kempinsky and St. Regis hotels to large-scale housing projects like the Chelsea Bridge Wharf in London.

Distribution

Because of the importance of maintaining a direct line to and constant relationship with architects and designers, Salvatori has undertaken a mission to develop sales points all over the world.

In the past ten years, a process of internationalization has been underway which has seen the opening of Salvatori-owned showrooms in cities considered to be strategic. The first was in London in 2000 in partnership with Saint Gobain, followed by Zurich with a flagship that has become a reference point for architects in the German-speaking sphere in the field of marble and stone materials. Five years ago, Salvatori opened an outlet in Milan in Via Boito 8, which will move to Via Solferino 11 on the opening day of the Salone del Mobile.

China is of course a very interesting market, and in fact several architectural studios in Beijing and Shanghai have used Salvatori products in the new residential complexes that continue to transform the skylines of these important metropolises.

The cosmopolitan soul of the company is nourished by a global capillary network that includes 200 points of sale, 80 of which host a “shop in shop” dedicated to Salvatori.

Salvatori recently signed an important commercial partnership with Boffi, whereby Salvatori will be present in Boffi points of sale as sole materials partner. After Milan and Barcelona, this network too will expand throughout the world. The collaboration between Salvatori and Boffi was born of a reciprocal desire to create a synergy between two leading brands in their respective fields, and to offer their clients an even more exclusive and higher quality product.

Press Office Salvatori

Via Aurelia 395/E

Querceta (Lu)

E. press@salvatori

www.salvatori.it

Press Office R+W

Alessandra Montesi

Via Giusti 26

Milano

T. 02 33104675

E.alessandra.montesi@r-w.it