Page 31 - AIT0124_E-Paper

Raggiosole, 2023
von • by Konstantin Grcic
www.konstantin-grcic.com, www.alpi.it

We can really do with energy and optimism in winter. Konstantin

Grcic, whose favourite colour is actually grey, is opting for strong

rainbow colours this season. After Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro

Mendini, Piero Lissoni and Ron Arad, Grcic has now been

commissioned to conceive three contemporary surface designs

for Alpi. The new real wood veneers devised by the Munich-

based industrial designer are called Arcobaleno (rainbow),

Raggiosole (sunshine) and Nebbia Mattutina (morning mist).

Grcic spent many months experimenting with the Italian veneer
manufacturer’s research and development department to make

the optical effect of a radial colour gradient technically possible.

Viewed from a distance, the chromatic shades now appear to

merge seamlessly into one another. Upon closer inspection,

the pattern appears to be the technically precise reproduction

of wood grain. Grcic’s completely new interpretation of the

aesthetics of wood surfaces was already the occasion for the

exhibition “Mostly Sunny with Spells of Rain,” which took place

in late autumn 2023 at Rimessa dei Fiori in Milan. As part of an

imaginative set design by Studio Fludd, the colourful graphics

were presented on large geometric bodies with different shapes

and dimensions. Photographer Mattia Balsamini captured this

staging in decorative images and later edited them with visual

effects. The result is almost non-representational scenes in

which the vibrant colours dispel mystical clouds of mist, dawn

and twilight – thus countering the dark season with vitality and
Bild: Mattia Balsamini dynamism. A selection of these atmospheric motifs is shown

on the left side of this page and on pages 030–031 and 046–047.