A room, a threshold, a material that breathes: the launch of Cristallina Design
- Natascia Finocchiaro Maurino
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
There is an exact moment when silence changes shape. It happens when a door slowly opens, and what was invisible until a moment before begins to exist. On June 10, at Villa Principe Leopoldo, that moment had the subtle scent of stone and the ancient sound of a harp. And it marked the launch of Cristallina Design.
The brand – Swiss, radically contemporary – has chosen not to present itself, but to manifest itself. In a space guarded like a secret, an exhibition has taken shape that was not just an exhibition, but a declaration. An inaugural gesture that affirms an identity, traces an aesthetic, suggests a vision.
Objects as presences
Behind each piece on display, there is a different way of understanding the material. And the material, in this case, is Cristallina marble: one of a kind, excavated in the heights of Vallemaggia, crossed by natural light, alive with micro-stratifications that speak of fossil seas, of geological time, of ancient intelligence.
Six young international designers – selected in collaboration with ECAL – engaged in a dialogue with this material and did not limit themselves to designing forms. They built languages.
Cristavino , by Alix Malamaire, blends the ritual of wine with the transparency of stone: a slow eulogy to tasting, to light, to the alchemy of details.
Corals , signed by Min Jun Choi, stratifies eras and imaginaries, transforming the mountain into the seabed, in a visual paradox that seems to float.
Blooming , by Esther Alcalde, collects everyday gestures and ennobles them: marble as an intimate companion, not as a distant monument.
Nature , created by Nuttiya Ratchtrachenchai, alternates smoothness and roughness, like an interior landscape engraved in stone.
Lavizzara , by John Stagaman, translates the grammar of Alpine construction into an object: the quarry, the Church of Mogno, the compositional rigour.
Void Collection , by Helena Choi, plays with absence: it is an invitation to contemplation, a space for interpretation.
A story that opens slowly
The evening began with a three-voiced story: Alice Pedrazzini in dialogue with the curator Eleonora Grigoletto and the founder, Natascia Finocchiaro Maurino . Then, the silent opening of the second room, where the collections were discovered one by one, each with its own breath.
The guests – architects, designers, showrooms, journalists – were not there to “see” but to listen. To let themselves be crossed by objects that do not impose themselves, but insinuate themselves. That do not shout, but remain.
The engraved time
Cristallina Design is not a brand that adds objects to the world. It is a vision that removes the superfluous to leave room for meaning. Each piece is a threshold between nature and thought, between sculpture and function. It is design that works on time, on memory, on the consistency of things.
Born from a legacy spanning more than 130 years – that of the Maurino family and Graniti Maurino SA , which reactivated the marble quarry in 2010 – the project moves with a precise step between innovation and craftsmanship, sustainability and experimentation, storytelling and territory.
The debut on June 10 is only the first act. The second is already being written: new collections, new collaborations, a residency in a quarry. But the voice – that stone voice that made itself heard that evening – has already taken shape. And it can no longer be ignored.
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