Vicente Garcia Jimenez and Cinzia Cumini: “architecture duet”

What does architecture mean to you?

First and foremost, architecture means giving a function to space, which is transformed into a combination of interrelated elements, which not only organise and define the environment but also create an experience to be enjoyed by the people inside the architectural structure.

How do you view the place of ceramics within architecture?

Ceramics are an “anthropological” material. Mankind has interacted with ceramics since prehistoric times, because it is a material linked to everyday life and to building - clay was baked to make simple vases, or to form a material for extremely ancient buildings. Ceramics have developed with mankind over the centuries, and now, as then, they are still a basic material, part of our daily lives, and architects have to take this as a given.

Light plays a very important part in your work.  What is your concept of the relationship between ceramics and light?

What makes ceramics interesting as a material for us is the way in which light reflects on stoneware.  It is therefore important for development work in ceramic coverings to concentrate increasingly on the textures of materials, to accentuate the play of light on the surfaces.  Potentially, other ingredients could be added to body mixes to increase ceramic tiles’ “prismatic” effect.

What projects are you working on at present?

We don’t generally like to talk too much about our projects in advance...we are a bit superstitious... We have various projects under way, especially in lighting design and home furnishing. We are also concentrating a great deal on Brand Art Installations; we have coined this term to describe a whole series of activities we carry out together with companies to try to help them to convey their images, not just through a product or the design of an exhibition stand, but by seeking to conceive a form of “living art”, dominated by great freedom of expression, which offers people the chance of a real experience with the product and/or brand, which goes beyond simple exhibition display.

In the gallery some pics of the speech by Vicente Garcia Jimenez e Cinzia Cumini held in  Stuttgart for Marazzi