Alcarol Anchor Stool and Bent Console of Bricola Collection
ALCAROL ANCHOR STOOL
AND BENT CONSOLE
OF BRICOLA COLLECTION
ALCAROL ANCHOR STOOL
Collections inspired by a natural living
alcarol is conceived by Andrea Forti & Eleonora Dal Farra, an experimental design duo that researches and focuses on the story and intrinsic features of the environment and physical substances, combining handed-down experience of raw materials processing with avant-garde and innovative techniques.
All environmental traces on the materials are thoroughly studied to discover a specific Genius Loci. In classical mythology, the Latin term Genius Loci refers to a protective spirit attached to a place, a guardian who watches over its part of the world and imbues it with a special character.
In a modern context, alcarol seek to identify the spirit and the essence of a place to obtain an unordinary understanding.
ANCHOR STOOL
THE STORY BEHIND
alcarol main action is sectioning. The foundations of Venice consist of thousands of timber poles, driven into the lagoon’s carantolayer – a mixture of solid clay and sand situated at great depths. During their stay in the Laguna, these Oak logs are deeply sculpted by Teredo Navalis, shipworms that leaves traces of their passing on the wooden surface producing striking patterns of circular holes, whilst avoiding the inner core of the log, allowing it to maintain its health and strength.
This creates a beautiful contrast between outer decay and inner robustness. The assiduous labour of the elements necessitates the replacement and scrapping of the poles, providing an organic material that has traversed by life.
For the making of Anchor, alcarol dove into the waters of the canals of Venice and studied the characteristic environment in which these poles were forged. The project engages with the idea of submerged cross-section of this extraordinary setting.
Alcarol has patented an elaborate craftsmanship capable of filling only the empty spaces of the wood with a transparent resin and capturing the underwater air bubbles that bring the wood back to the original look and conditions.
The section planes – through touch, sight and olfaction of different materials – allow to transcend the ordinary perception of a place.
BENT RIVER CONSOLE
THE STORY BEHIND
The Bent Console is made from a single Briccola wood plank, cut into three parts with a very thin blade.
The edges of the plank are preserved in a transparent resin similar to the lagoon water that has soaked and sculpted this wood during years in the canals of Venice.
In the corners the woodgrain matches perfectly like a single bent piece, and also the resin – through a special process – is a single piece and not seen separations between horizontal and vertical resin edges.
The invisible corner joining by alcarol is also suitable for benches, tables and other similar types on request.
DESIGNER
ANDREA FORTI
was born in the Dolomite mountains in 1981. Then he moved to Venice, where in 2005 he graduated in Architecture at IUAV. Immediately undertakes collaborations with various architects and furniture craftsmen as designer and prototypist. The simplicity and rationality that guides its projects gives way to artistic and craft influences, giving a strong emotional charge.
During the Lagoon residency, he has cultivated his passion for the various forms of artistic expression, in a growing of very personal experimentation.
Peacefully eclectic, unfaithful to genres, techniques and styles, he has participated in various symposiums and artistic events with a series of solo and group exhibitions of painting, sculpture and installation. Among the materials mainly used in his work emerges the wood, always loved and revered, now carved with traditional techniques, now worked through experimental procedures.
ELEONORA DAL FARRA
CONSERVATOR
was born in the Dolomite mountains in 1986. In 2005 she moved to Venice in pursuit of his passion for art and graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 2007 she collaborated with the artist Odili Donald Odita at the 52th International Art Exhibition, deepening the perceptual phenomena related to shape and color.
In 2009 he graduated in Artistic Restoration and undertakes collaborations providing their services in various site and restoration workshops throughout Italy. Always attends courses, symposiums and artistic events, participating and organizing art exhibitions.
In her speeches and her creations always tries to marry the heritage and craftsmanship with the more free and uninhibited creativity, investigating and using the most ancient manufacturing techniques and inserting them in contemporary processes.
BRICOLA COLLECTION
BRICOLA COLLECTION
THE SURPRISING STORY OF THE UNDERWATER VENICE HIDDEN IN ITS WOOD POLES
Adopting the concept of re-utilisation, the Bricola Collection is created with a view to the aesthetic value of the historic Venetian wooden poles that have endured decades of weathering in the famous and unique Lagoon.
During their stay in the salt water, these Oak logs are deeply sculpted by Teredo Navalis, shipworms that leaves traces of their passing on the wooden surface producing striking patterns of circular holes, whilst avoiding the inner core of the log, allowing it to maintain its health and strength. This creates a beautiful contrast between outer decay and inner robustness.
The assiduous labour of the elements necessitates the replacement and scrapping of the poles, providing an organic material that has traversed by life. For the making of, alcarol dove into the waters of the Venetian canals and studied the characteristic environment in which these poles were forged.
The project engages with the idea of submerged cross-section of this extraordinary setting, with the aim to transcend its ordinary perception. alcarol has patented an elaborate process capable of filling only the empty spaces of the wood with an innovative transparent resin capturing the underwater air bubbles that bring the wood back to the original look and conditions.
By filling the gaps left by shipworms with resin, alcarolachieves a new functionality with the poetic choice to bring the material beneath the water’s surface, freezing time at the end of its cycle and giving it a new life before it goes to waste.
The foundations of Venice consist of thousands of timber poles driven into the Lagoon’s caranto layer – a mixture of solid clay and sand situated at great depths. These unique design pieces – which are sculpted by water, salt, shipworms and time – are a tribute to this epic submarine struggle that has transcended millennia.
The Bricole’s external surface is left intentionally intact, as reminder of the Venetian sojourn of this characteristic recovered timber. All parts sawn from Bricola poles undergo accurate and painstaking washing, cleaning, drying and disinfection procedures.
This collection is the result of a long experimentation period on the coupling of Bricola solid wood and transparent resin. The alcarol‘s patented process has allowed to propose these unique pieces preserving the natural wood surface not covered by resin on the section planes, according to the cross-section generative concept.
Solid Bricola wood and transparent polished resin differ from one another at touch and sight and together they give essential characteristics: warmth and matt porosity from natural wood, elegance and evocative transparency from the resin.