San Michele Bar Installation / Trewhela Williams

Trewhela Williams and Etraterra were commissioned by the Vicenza-based company Marmi Faedo, who operate the only Grolla stone quarry in the world, to design a stand from their signature limestone for a stone trade fair in Verona. The overall installation was conceived as a minimalist Grolla landscape and serene setting insulated from the bustle of the trade fair. Grolla's excellent technical mechanical characteristics of low water absorption, resistance to abrasion, salt, pollution and frost have lent it to external application over the centuries and meant that this ancient material that can be found across several historic civic buildings, city squares, fountains and monuments around Northern Italy. One notable example in Vicenza is the distinctive balustrades of the San Michele Bridge, which were carved from solid Grolla back in 1621. It is the abstracted curvature of these that has informed the central gesture of the stand - a 6m long monolithic bar.