#lapis specularis

Adentrarse en el interior de Almería fue acercarse a la minería romana, a conocer como se utilizaban los materiales locales para la construcción de villas, termas, casas y otras edificaciones del extensísimo Imperio romano. En el municipio de Arboleas, provincia de Almería, se ubica la “Mina Romana de Los Espejuelos”,  cerrada a visitas, pero con referencias en el exterior a este yeso cristalino…

Bicolor-Selenit

— Spaziali is the third project dedicated to the lapis specularis. Spaziali is a series of decorative plates which contain this precious material in a futuristic object, with the aesthetic value close to a contemporary piece of jewelery.

The thin and rough slabs of lapis specularis diffuse light through regular and rhythmic openings in the iron, as in ancient Rome when they were fixed in window frames and greenhouses.

— Algidi vases, design by Davide G. Aquini, are hand made on a lathe without mold in Nove (Italy) by Mario Bertolin. The rough appearance is simply obtained with a single baking of the ceramic traditionally called “biscotto”.

Thin slabs of lapis specularis are inserted in the vases, strengthening their primitive finishing. The geometric and classicist design cleverly contradicts the archaic look, generating a perfectly balanced and timeless result. Algidi are like modern canopic jars, a vaguely alien urns.