POLICROMA

Policroma: note sulla collezione | Policroma: notes on the collection

just as it was for Scarpa), and evoking the centuries-old marble-imitating

scagliola plasterwork with a contemporary formula.

The types of marble chosen are central to the project’s character.

Verde Alpi, a favourite with Gio Ponti and often found in Milan entrance

halls, features tightly packed patterning. Breccia Capraia, still found in a

very few places in Tuscany, has a white background with just a few veins.

Cipollino, in the special Ondulato variety in green and red, is patterned

with spirals. Rosa Valtoce, on the other hand, was used by the “Veneranda

Fabbrica” guild to build Milan Cathedral. It is an iconic stone with dramatic

stripes, popular in the past; it is now sourced from one very small quarry

in Piedmont which has been virtually abandoned.

The many different elements that make up the Policroma collection

all reflect the importance of craftsmanship to Cristina Celestino’s design

style: the modules can be freely mixed and combined, for example to

create a concave or convex semicircle, or for the large-scale replication of

small features initially conceived as trims, functional details transformed

into a dominant motif.

There is a return to the theme of the interior, a large or small

protected space, conceived as suspended in space and time yet also

reassuring and protective. It is designed through its coverings in a stark

yet not minimalist way, with intelligence and with no overreaching artistic

ambitions. An understated space and an extremely stylish declaration.

In Milan style, of course.

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