Some may say that one can thrive in what he is mostly familiar with. We usually link singers to music genre, painters to specific techniques and movements, actors to movie genres, sculptors to materials and forms, chefs to cuisines.

Moreno Ratti is a designer of the younger generation who indulges in one sole material and devotes his work to it, and the material he has chosen to highlight is not other than marble. His work with marble is so wonderfully composed that is an absolute proof of what he has to present in the future.

Born in Carrara in 1982, he had no other choice but to link his homeland’s most prestigious product with his work. He studied Architecture and begun to work with Paolo Ulian, creating products that prove not only their supreme talent as designers but also their high level of craftsmanship on marble.

Moreno Ratti’s new collection Collezione Sospesa, is a perfect example of the designer’s fascinating knowledge on marble. We actually find the source of his inspiration absolutely amazing! He uses the marble cores from the sampling process and forms them into spherical and cylindrical vessels. Then, he incorporates those vessels in resin cubes.

Resin is a very helpful material during marble processing procedures. The designer’s idea to surround the marble forms with resin, emanates from a very particular manufacturing routine. Before a block of marble is inserted in the multiblade gang saw machine, it is coated with a layer of resin in order to strengthen the surface and make it more durable to the stresses that develop during cutting.

What Moreno Ratti really accomplishes with Collezione Sospesa, despite of creating those beautiful forms, is to pass through the object the story behind marble. He “forces” the user to wonder about the forms and materials and in that way he narrates the story of how his object was conceived. Behind that ability, hides an artist that really loves his work!

(images linked to sources)