Alberto Meda and his son Francisco, both of them Italian industrial designers, designed these pendant lamps made out of volcanic stone.
Lava offcuts from stone processing company Ranieri were ground up and mixed with a binder, and the Medas were able to press the resultant composite into molds.
“Unlike marble, lava is not quarried,” Francesco Meda explans. “It is gathered directly from the mountain. After an eruption the magma settles, becoming part of the terrain and forming blocks of lavic stone that can be crafted. The cutting process generates a large quantity of surplus chips, which we wanted to salvage. The results are lamps in recycled lava, with a warm surface varied by porosity and craters”.
Once popped out of the molds, the pieces are further worked by hand, giving each a unique appearance.
“It is production carried out by craftsmen, in a series with variations. The only industrial element is the mould that determines the shape, but the work process is always different”, Alberto Meda explains. “The final texture changes every time, depending on the heat and the particle size of the recycled material: craters, bumps and porous portions may appear. While keeping the same form, each piece is unique in terms of surfaces and details.”
The lamps, called Alicudi, Filicudi, and Panarea, are in production by Foscarini.