The Culture of The Material

There is a very subtle link between the artist and the material, an affinity that binds them together and speaks through the creations that arise from it. It is the inspiration that comes to life, develops and transforms itself thanks to ideas, technology, manual skills, knowledge, love for the material and it is revealed through unique works. An architecture, a sculpture are fantastic things with which an architect, an artist, a designer manifest themselves to the world.

How? Through matter.

Architecture is the art of designing, conceiving, building, through the material, something that it’s the result of an idea which, intersected by a construction technique, creates an artifact of any kind, a creative act of the spirit, passed through the construction , the painting, the sculpture, but made of material. Environments of great elegance, magnificent works, incredible buildings are works through which the material speaks to the world of its art, its uniqueness.

The material occupies a fundamental role in the realization of everything that can surround us, it outlines the forms, it shapes the volumes, it contrasts the colours, it interpenetrates and makes different materials live together, united in a project, to form a great work.

The history of art represents the path over the centuries that multiple materials have made, remaining the same, but transforming itself according to the advent of new technologies with which sophisticated processes have brought richness and splendour to them, with shapes, ways of use, unthinkable in the previous years. This is why the material and / or materials, while remaining the basis, are constantly evolving, thanks to new technologies and processing techniques.

Nature: inexhaustible source of inspiration and materials.

In nature, the opportunities to meet age-old materials are endless. Wood, stones, marbles, for millennia have marked the time, they are present in architecture, sculpture and art. But this was not enough. The advent of extraction and refining technologies, research and experimentation have brought to light further materials, synthesis of the processing of primary soil material, stones, rocks, marbles, sediment, ferrous materials, etc.

All this has generated noble materials, which were added to the basics, such as glass, all the classification of metals, from iron, steel to the finest alloys, ceramic materials, composite materials, etc. One could write about them, poetically interpreting them:

PROCESSED WITH EXPERIENCE, SHAPED WITH TECHNOLOGIES, CARVED BY IDEAS, THEY GIVE LIFE TO WONDERFUL THINGS.

For this reason, for centuries they have lent themselves to the genius of architects, artists and sculptors who have interpreted the history and eras of humanity. Therefore, we must understand materials as the language to communicate the project. Michelangelo, talking about marble, one day said: Marble is like the man, before undertaking something, you must know him well and know everything inside him. I think there is nothing more to say after this statement, which is reflected and mirrored in all materials.

Aa Alessandro Antoniazzi