Essential Oil Table

“As architects/designers and craftsmen, we believe there are no boundaries between a building, room or a piece of furniture where scale, purpose or form are concerned. Indeed, we regard furniture as architectural elements or even as pieces of micro-architecture. These pieces of furniture are constructed, structured and assembled in the same way one might design a building, revealing their structure, so the means used to build and craft them are revealed at first glance. For this project, we conceived and created an aromatic table in our workshop, as a tribute to scientific glassware blown with an oxy-gas torch. The table contains essential oils, which are gradually leached into the wood to scent, purify and activate the space it occupies. At a structural level, we attempted to assemble wood and glass to test their resilience and discover their properties. We examined the characteristics of borosilicate glass, seeking ways to combine two materials with very different properties, one moulded at very high temperatures and the other made from a heat-sensitive plant-based fabric. Our partnership has proven really enriching, as this is the first time we have worked with this material and wood, using this technique for a piece of furniture”. (Materra-Matang)

“I was proud to participate with my team in this project, to create a complex and composite work, very innovative and original. We had to understand and study well the combinations of materials and their characteristics, which encouraged us to be creative and test our knowledge. I think the result is very interesting, both technically and aesthetically. I would like to thank my collaborators, who supported me with enthusiasm and made this beautiful adventure possible”. (Stefano Villa)