LA PIROGUE

by DAVIDE VALOPPI

La Pirogue is a table/sculpture with an anthropomorphic lamp shaped like boatman that is rowing the table up an imaginary river. The figure is in bronze, with a Piasentina stone top, and a burnished metal base.

Research for this piece was motivated by one simple emotion: the desire for tranquility. And for something that can transmit this unmistakable sense of tranquility, of yielding to the unending flux of existence. The relationships between each part of the piece, the calculation of the proportions that make up the work, are born of a mathematical pattern based on the repetition of the number 7. This number has a mythical and magical past, and is capable of silently reflecting the complexity of life behind apparently stable bodies and surfaces.

Construction: Julia Marmi

Technical sponsor: RMC Design

Davide Valoppi studied architecture at La Sapienza University in Rome without ever completing his degree. In 1991 he began to enthusiastically and passionately investigate various aspects of architectural production and design. The following years he would study artisanal wood, metal, and marble craftsmanship, familiarizing hinself with the materials and their production. In 2007 he founded Noarc Studio, which he still directs.

Julia Marmi is the Piasentina Stone: the fragrances and harshness of the stone has for decades been passed on from the hands of skilled stone-cutters to modern trials, mixing ancient knowledge and modern curiosities to offer unique pieces, carefully finished off, skillfully made from shapeless cube blocks to guarantee the highest quality. Julia Marmi are quarries that look like gardens, where the stone is extracted, but you can also do theater, go for walks, have parties and give back to nature what nature gives us: the personnel are skilled, diligent and enthusiastic. Thanks to its solid past, is assured the future of the Piasentina stone. It is a natural stone known for its hardness and noble majesty and its particular shades of grey that make it both warm and cold, soft and hard, light or dark. This is the result of a bizarre natural event that occurred millions of years ago. It is a unique and attractive actress, which can be the main or complementary character, of monumental and picturesque exteriors and refined and welcoming interiors.