Italian designers Nucleo make objects that are at the crossroads between art and design. They often use fiberglass, pigment resin and carbon-fiber in their pieces, resulting in a very raw aesthetic, between minimalism and organic matter.

Using names such as the “Souvenir of the Last Century” bench and ladder (2013) and the “Wood Fossile” console (2012) and stool (2012) for their pieces created for Ammann Gallery in Cologne, Nucleo like to evoke memories and blur the line between manmade and earth-made.

They trap impurities and pieces of wood in smooth blocs of resin, whose texture and inclusions can be reminiscent of amber – itself a resin which has been fossilized by time and nature.

Found, up-cycled wood and neat resin create a tension between the polished material and the disappearing fossil, forming objects that are visible but not fully touchable, manmade but decidedly organic (as if reclaimed by the earth), “full of scars” yet seemingly eternal.

Mathilde Leblond

Mathilde Leblond is a UK-based trendwatcher with a passion for creativity, beauty and the future. For Trend Tablet she contributes posts about some of the most arresting artists and creators which she scours the internet to find out about.

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