> SHOWROOM ONLINE < PROFILE PROJECTS MATERIALS QUARRIES SLABS STONE LAB ART AND DESIGN CONTACTS NEWS We take up the challenges of students, architects, designers, and planners to define a forward-looking vision Art and design Continuous evolution blends with new solutions that tell of an ancient and noble art: the processing of natural stone. And it goes as far as the application of robotics in advanced manufacturing techniques for marble sculpture. With the aim of promoting a collaboration with artists and specialists for the realization of extraordinary projects, the MGI Group focuses on continuous research and opens the doors to innovation. LIGHTWEIGHT MARBLE FOR REFINED RESIDENCES AND BATHROOMS. THE PARTNERSHIP WITH DEDALO 2019 Dedalo is a Carrara-based company that designs and manufactures monolithic luxury furniture objects in lightweight marble, with a contemporary design. It aims to reaffirm the use of marble in everyday life without giving up, due to weight, its three-dimensional vocation, offering sculptural and extremely engaging shapes. Today, the bathroom has become a place where much more time is spent than in the past and is no longer just a stopover used exclusively for necessity. Planners, architects and designers dedicate a lot of space to it, trying to make it attractive, modern and stylish. A component that is certainly one of the main architects of aesthetics is undoubtedly the washbasin, that captures many looks and determines the furnishings. Choosing a washbasin means taking into consideration several variables, starting with the structural ones concerning the positioning of the connections and drains. Beyond this evaluation, which must in any case be physiological and often binding, what must be considered in the careful choice of a washbasin are functionality, space and shape. In collaboration with the MGI Group, the company manufactures a marble washbasin with a modern and clean design, which was created with the dual intent of being functional, respecting the main international plumbing regulations, and beautiful, while helping to create contemporary and exclusive environments. The lightness allows installation on any support, be it a suspended piece of furniture or a cantilevered glass, or directly on the wall as a shelf. In this way, marble is the protagonist of contemporary spaces, interacting with every style and need. ANTIGONE. PUBLIC SUCCESS AT CAVA LAZZARESCHI 2018 29 July 2018 – Antigone is staged at the Lazzareschi quarry, a sculpted statue in marble supplied by the MGI Group. The students of the Rossi Grammar School in Massa bring the Greek tragedy by Sophocles to the so-called “Roman quarry”, to the square opened to theatre by the marble entrepreneur Alvise Lazzareschi. These guys, protagonists of the staging, have also received critical acclaim. There were about 600 people in the splendid backdrop of the quarries, who in a suggestive silence listened to the play, enraptured by the acting and the scenography, which also saw the presence of a large mechanical means useful for simulating the closure of the cave/tomb in which Creon buried the young heroine alive. The screenplay of the drama, suitably adapted by prof. Gennaro Di Leo, professor of literature, theatre director and writer, is set to music by the composer and sound designer from Massa Giuseppe Joh Capozzolo, already composer of the soundtracks of important international film productions. The costumes are hand-made and tailored by Claudia Paula Luccini and Micol Baldini, assisted by Sonia Soffredini, Caterina Bertilorenzi and Emma Bigarani. For the occasion, the artist from Carrara, Francesco Siani created an almost five-metre-high monumental sculpture with white Carrara marble – made and installed by the MGI Group – depicting the protagonist Antigone, buried alive in a quarry and therefore marbled. The story offers a modern reflection on the defence of human freedom, autonomy of judgment, the inalienability of rights. Antigone conquers the Entusiasmo quarries in Fossacava Students of the Rossi Grammar School in Massa bring Antigone to the quarry There were six hundred for Antigone on stage at the marble quarries Antigone, the tragedy staged in the heart of the Apuan basins Theatrical performance of “Antigone” in the Quarry SPONSORSHIP FORMULA 2000 ITALIAN TROPHY 2017-2018 MGI’s interest in sports competitions brings the Group closer to Formula 2000. Since the Italian GP of 2017/2018, the MGI logo has begun to stand out on the livery of the single-seaters, becoming its Title Sponsor. A partnership that combines sports, culture, events: MGI is the premium partner for anyone who inspires others with their personality, creativity and performance. STONE HELIX FOR ZAHA HADID 2017 Stone Helix is a tribute to Zaha Hadid, founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, who in 2004 received the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered the Nobel Prize for architecture) and is internationally known for her theoretical and academic activity. Each of her dynamic and innovative projects is based on thirty years of revolutionary exploration and research in the fields of urban planning, architecture and design. Enveloping curves, lines that are lost on the horizon, organic, fluid and bold shapes: these are the keywords that define her projects. In honour of the “Queen of the curve”, the MGI Group has created a statue in a high quality Italian marble, the Botticino Classico®, exhibited in London in the Zaha Hadid Architects studio, and created in collaboration with T&D Robotics, a top design group for the robotics sector, with a cutting-edge technological profile in the processing of natural stone. The result is an extremely elegant and refined project, featuring a powerful curved shape that unravels in an elongated structure. Botticino Classico® marble is a stone suitable for any type of ornament, including carved statues, and is highly sought after for classic projects, as demonstrated by the many historical monuments created with this material. MÖBIUS CHAIR & SOFA, ARCH. GIUSEPPE FALLACARA 2016 23 September 2016 – Möbius Chair & Sofa is a marble seat designed by Arch. Giuseppe Fallacara – PhD. Full Professor of Architectural Design DICAR, Polytechnic of Bari – and produced by the Swiss company Generelli, that is expert in the processing of natural stone, integrating the most traditional craftsmanship with the most modern processing using the latest generation of computerized machines. Möbius Chair and Sofa, exhibited at Marmomac 2016, is made from fibre-reinforced Perlato Sicilia Cofano® marble (supplied by the MGI Group). The idea was created out of the New Marble Generation project, which aims to create new design projects in the form of prototypes, which, thanks to the extraordinary design and processing technologies, can be replicated on a large scale. The uniqueness of the project lies in the extraordinary sensation it transmits: the soft shapes in fact give the idea that the marble is shaped naturally, in actual fact the object is obtained from a block of pure stone. The rather small thickness requires the application of a layer of carbon fibre that reinforces the structure making it solid. Möbius Sofa receives the Golden Design Award in 2016-2017 in the Furniture, Decorative Objects and Household Items category. The following year Möbius Chair & Sofa was also the protagonist in the city. With the Marmomac & the City format, the event went beyond borders to expand to Verona and involve citizens and numerous tourists who visit the Scaliger capital. The formula provided for the exhibition of 12 works already presented in past editions of Marmomac in The Italian Stone Theatre hall. In this way, further visibility was given to creations resulting from the collaboration between important designers and companies in the sector that present themselves to a non-sector audience as artifacts of art or design. In this context, Möbius Chair & Sofa was proudly displayed, and the MGI Group reconfirmed its attention to promoting the encounter between the world of technological research and the business world. Marmomac & the city LITHIC DRAGONFLY, ARCH. GIUSEPPE FALLACARA 2015 30 September 2015 – On the occasion of the 50th edition of Marmomac, the MGI Group presents the work Lithic Dragonfly, by the arch. Giuseppe Fallacara – PhD. Full Professor of Architectural Design DICAR, Polytechnic of Bari – as part of the Lithic Vertigo exhibition, focused on experimentation and creativity in the use of stone. The act of climbing, in architecture as in urban spaces, has always been an intriguing challenge for architects, sometimes a proficiency test to demonstrate the designer’s technical and creative skills. Both in the past as today, stone, more than other materials, has proved particularly suitable for experiments on this theme. In fact, the most ingenious stairs, rich in plastic expressiveness, from baroque to liberty, from classic to modern were created with lithic materials. “Thinking of a work that remains balanced in one point can make you dizzy,” says Giuseppe Fallacara. The Lithic Dragonfly work is inspired by a typical object of Vietnamese culture, the lucky self-balancing dragonfly in bamboo. This dragonfly looks like a challenge to the laws of gravity, skilfully balanced so as to remain balanced just resting on a corner. Vertigo (from the Latin Vertigo – ” whirling, dizziness”; more precisely, obfuscation of the “cerebrum” for which it seems that everything moves around and one is blinded for an instant) is the sensation that can occur when looking at tightrope walkers, which with their pole’s bamboo “wings”, controls the centre of gravity so that it is aligned with the rope and allows them to maintain balance. The experimental Lithic Dragonfly structure project, made with Carrara marble slabs supplied by the MGI Group, sees the enormous parts of the dragonfly transformed into pre-compressed reinforced stone beams and the roof is formed by sheets, which produce a tensile structure. This condition could open a new path based on the creation of architectural works resulting from the observation of nature and the balance of tightrope walkers. Lithic Vertigo is part of the “The Italian Stone Theatre” project, created by Marmomac with the support of the Ministry for Economic Development (MISE), the ICE-Italian Trade Agency and Confindustria Marmomacchine as part of the MadeinItaly Extraordinary Promotion Plan to promote the excellence of the national lithic and technological sector. Material Design | Lithic Vertigo Stone architecture | Lithic Vertigo CALDIA CURVE BY CRAIG COPELAND 2014 - 2015 24 September 2014 – Craig Copeland is an architect and sculptor, associate partner of the New York firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. The openings and figurative space as well as the implied natural energies are central to his sculpture and his drawings. Gesture and movement characterize all his projects. Living spirits are suggested in the profiles, in the twists, for a sculpture that wants to be alive, transcending the static object, involving the awareness of life and places. Caldia Curve I builds on a series of formal exams in stone panel modelling. From geometric games in relief and perforated, using Caldia® marble, the MGI Group integrates these undulating panels at its stand at Marmomac 2014 with the intention of transforming it into a design laboratory to examine and present increasingly sophisticated shapes and processes of Caldia Curve variants. The stand features include custom-designed tables and chairs, curved screen walls that house the Caldia Curve panels and the interpretation of the Caldia Cube called “Beeker” carved by Copeland. In 2015 Copeland continued to develop a series of virtual and physical prototypes of a second generation: Caldia Curve II. The goal is to build on the sinuous panels of the first-generation projects; transform flat graphic panels into triangular volumetric columns. With the specific intent of expanding the potential of the panelling through more robust lateral stability, increasing span capabilities in combination with greater sculptural expression. Caldia Curve marks the collaboration between the MGI Group and Craig Copeland and includes a series of experiments on stone modelling, combining contemporary design based on computer models with the latest stone processing technologies. The partnership leads to the robotic milling of Caldia Curve II, thanks to the technological partner T&D Robotics, a company that aims to bring automation to every factory or art studio. Download the publication in PDF PARABOLITHIC - VELA, ARCH. GIUSEPPE FALLACARA 2014 24 September 2014 – The theme of the interaction between steel and stone marks a winning combination that also allows the stone to become light, as if it were about to take flight. This is the case of the Parabolithic – Vela sculpture, a research and collaboration project between the DICAR Department of the Polytechnic of Bari, led by Arch. Giuseppe Fallacara, and two leading companies in the stone sector: the MGI Group and T&D Robotica. The sculpture is part of a series of completely innovative experiments that researchers and architects such as Brandon Clifford (MIT), Jelle Feringa (TU Delft) and Giuseppe Fallacara have developed simultaneously in different locations thanks to their affinities. In particular, the prototypes investigated the enormous opportunities offered by robotic machines for diamond wire cutting, capable of delivering complex geometries (double curved surfaces) to the stone block, carrying out the cut directly in a three-dimensional space. “Vela” starts from the collaboration between Feringa, a young and enthusiastic Dutch researcher, and T&D Robotics, an innovative company from Carrara, which has investigated this technology by cutting complex surfaces governed by double curvature on blocks of Carrara marble. The parabolic, as the name suggests, is essentially a hyperbolic lithic paraboloid and is designed in two variants: a more massive one (Raystone) consisting of perforated lithic blocks compressed by steel cables that are placed at the points of contact between one block and the other, and another variant (Vela), modelled from triangles of white Carrara marble and then hooked to a network of steel cables with the task of discretizing the surface of the paraboloid. MODIGLIANI FOUNTAIN COMPETITION 2014 24 September 2014 – On the occasion of Marmomac 2014, the award ceremony of the Modigliani Fountain Competition takes place at the Forum Santamargherita. This is a project created from scratch in 2013, in collaboration with the Amedeo Modigliani Livorno Committee and the Montecatini Terme Cultural Association, with the aim of celebrating the memory of the famous Italian artist and reviving a historic place in the city of Livorno, the Rotonda d’Ardenza. The competition involved the creation of a fountain inspired by the works and ideologies of Modigliani, following precise guidelines and participation was open to pupils of the Marmomac Stone Academy. The winner is New York architect Earl G. Jackson. The fountain will be made from white Carrara marble offered by the MGI Group; processing will be entrusted to the automation technologies used by T&D Robotics, a leading company in this sector. MARBLE QUARRIES AND WORKSHOP BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHIC SET 2013 Collections of high fashion clothes featured in a photo shoot set in the Carrara marble quarries and in the workshop of sculptor Nicolas Bertoux, in Pietrasanta, a stone art centre located between the slopes of the Apuan Alps and the Versilia plain. The shoot was made with the Livorno-based photographer Alberto Baracchini. His shots are seductive and elegant, able to highlight the fascination that is in every woman. It is no coincidence that he uses coloured dresses and lights enhanced with bright colours that contrast with the rough backgrounds to become a symbol of sensuality. The locations lend themselves to unusual shots, taking advantage of the scenario of quarry no. 79 “Carbonera” in Fantiscritti and the lived-in spaces of the art workshop. The marble quarries offer an incredible panorama unique in the world and are often chosen as a location for photo shoots. Photocredits: Alberto Baracchini CALDIA WHITE EVENT 2012 19 July 2012 Caldia White: a magical evening dedicated to making Caldia® marble known which took place in the evocative setting of Cava Caldia in Rocchetta di Massa. An evening organized by two Apuan marble entrepreneurs, Andrea Franzoni and Roberto Caruso, a real living room with white armchairs, marble tables and a large fan built ad hoc with Caldia blocks, welcomed over 200 protagonists of the Apua-Versilia marble sector. Caldia® marble is especially white, used above all in modern design and is in great demand in America, China and the Middle East: it is a select material, a crystalline white, with green, black and grey veins, truly unique in the world, which is only extracted from the Rocchetta quarry. Caldia, the magic of marble At the Rocchetta quarry an event for 200 big names Caldia White: the event in the quarry that brought together all the big names of the marble planet CALDIA CUBE PROJECT 2011 21 September 2011 – The collaboration with Wolf Günter Thiel, German manufacturer for exhibitions, has given rise to an original research and experimentation project: 3 artists, 3 designers and 3 architects were invited to create an object of their choice, from a Caldia® marble cube with 30 cm long sides each. The only constraint is the duration of the Caldia Cube project: 2 months available for conception, 1 month for production. The designers Karim Rashid (USA), Leonard Theosabrata (Indonesia) and Francesco Lucchese (Italy) take up the challenge of unveiling the ideal beauty carved in a marble cube. Michele Chiossi (Italy), Kurt Hofstetter (Austria) and Giuseppe Silvestri (Italy) collaborated as artists. As architects, Davide Macullo (Switzerland) and the couple Alessia Garibaldi and Giorgio Piliego, all Italians. Each of the objects conceived was produced in a limited edition of 5 pieces and were exhibited in different countries: during the Fuori Salone in Milan and at the DMY design festival in Berlin, on the occasion of Marmomac in Verona, at the Stone Theatre in London and Paris. A catalogue (German and English) was published by Thiel with the magazine for art and aesthetics “Fair. Zeitung für Kunst und Ästhetik”. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER Your e-mail address is only used to send you our newsletter and information about the activities of Mgi Group. 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