Annachiara Zani. IED Istituto Europeo di Design. New Talent Award Nominee 2021
Article
/
Artists
NewTalentsByKlimt02
Published: 07.09.2021
It is remarkable the innovation brought to the use of a traditional material such as the alabaster. A totally new definition and function is given to the material taking advantage of its intrinsic values. The use of light and written words are a subtle message that reveals the presence of the piece, from a physical and emotional point of view.
/ Giulia Savino
Name of graduation student: Annachiara Zani
Name of guiding teachers: Giulia Savino
Nominated By IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy.
Annachiara Zani’s project stands out thanks to its precious, delicate and meaningful aesthetic. The body of work, highly coherent in all its aspects, is the result of deep research into the concept of void and its connections. The materialization of a complex and intangible idea and the design choices show an extraordinary awareness and ability in handling the project from the student. It is remarkable the innovation brought to the use of a traditional material such as the alabaster. A totally new definition and function are given to the material taking advantage of its intrinsic values. The use of light and written words are a subtle message that reveals the presence of the piece, from a physical and emotional point of view.
/ Giulia Savino
Summary of the thesis:
NOW.HERE.VOID
Can the void be materialized? How can the invisible be made visible?
As modern men, we are used to seeing the void as an absence. This conception has been handed down to us over the centuries by various currents of thought, including that of nihilism, which today seems to be very deeply rooted. However, in many Eastern traditions, the idea of the void is conceived in a positive way, as a possibility of creation. So that it is not reduced to a mere question of opposition between full and empty, between being and non-being, between presence and absence. If it is true that the transcendent, has no other place to manifest itself than the contingent, then objects that come to signify this beyond thus become infinitely attractive, fearful, overbearing, or more simply sublime.
The light becomes a necessary means to reveal, in a subtle way, that beyond the tangible reality there is something else waiting to be revealed. Alabaster, a precious, delicate, fragile, and semi-transparent material, becomes the right tool to show, in a subtle but surprising way, that there is something that exists and that we cannot see. When placed against the light, the jewels reveal, behind their elliptical shape, an inscription that reads “VISIBILE”. Remembering that the visible world is always frequented by the invisible. The void is at the same time nowhere and now and here.
My research was focused, firstly on finding the right kind of alabaster and secondly on the different thickness and hardness of the material. Finally, I chose a white and orange alabaster that is extracted in Volterra, in Tuscany. Volterra’s alabaster has the right hardness to be sculpted and engraved by hand. The choice of this fragile material let me investigate structures to protect it, that is why I decided to frame all the pieces with silver frames. The process of making the jewels starts with hand-sanding the alabaster slabs, which come from Volterra, Italy. Then the inscriptions were engraved on the back of the alabaster slab with a three-axis CNC milling machine. In a second step, the slabs were cut into an elliptical shape and then polished by hand. The ellipses were then set inside the silver frames, which were also made by hand. The manufacturing process is purely artisanal because alabaster is very fragile and requires great care to be worked. A study of elementary geometric shapes led me to identify one of them that is conceptually consistent with the project: the ellipse. The word ellipse comes from Greek and means lack because the ellipse lacks the perfection of the circle. The ellipse is not only a geometric form but also a rhetorical figure. The rhetorical figure of the ellipse consists of an omission. That is a lack that exists but is not made explicit. This aspect has to do with the idea of the void that the project represents, that is, as a presence here and now but which is not physically tangible.
More work and contacts:
Email: annachiaraz@gmail.com
Instagram: annachiara.zani
Website: www.annachiarazani.it
Phone: +39 3403564555
Find out more about the courses at IED Istituto Europeo di Design.
Name of guiding teachers: Giulia Savino
Nominated By IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy.
Annachiara Zani’s project stands out thanks to its precious, delicate and meaningful aesthetic. The body of work, highly coherent in all its aspects, is the result of deep research into the concept of void and its connections. The materialization of a complex and intangible idea and the design choices show an extraordinary awareness and ability in handling the project from the student. It is remarkable the innovation brought to the use of a traditional material such as the alabaster. A totally new definition and function are given to the material taking advantage of its intrinsic values. The use of light and written words are a subtle message that reveals the presence of the piece, from a physical and emotional point of view.
/ Giulia Savino
Summary of the thesis:
NOW.HERE.VOID
Can the void be materialized? How can the invisible be made visible?
As modern men, we are used to seeing the void as an absence. This conception has been handed down to us over the centuries by various currents of thought, including that of nihilism, which today seems to be very deeply rooted. However, in many Eastern traditions, the idea of the void is conceived in a positive way, as a possibility of creation. So that it is not reduced to a mere question of opposition between full and empty, between being and non-being, between presence and absence. If it is true that the transcendent, has no other place to manifest itself than the contingent, then objects that come to signify this beyond thus become infinitely attractive, fearful, overbearing, or more simply sublime.
The light becomes a necessary means to reveal, in a subtle way, that beyond the tangible reality there is something else waiting to be revealed. Alabaster, a precious, delicate, fragile, and semi-transparent material, becomes the right tool to show, in a subtle but surprising way, that there is something that exists and that we cannot see. When placed against the light, the jewels reveal, behind their elliptical shape, an inscription that reads “VISIBILE”. Remembering that the visible world is always frequented by the invisible. The void is at the same time nowhere and now and here.
My research was focused, firstly on finding the right kind of alabaster and secondly on the different thickness and hardness of the material. Finally, I chose a white and orange alabaster that is extracted in Volterra, in Tuscany. Volterra’s alabaster has the right hardness to be sculpted and engraved by hand. The choice of this fragile material let me investigate structures to protect it, that is why I decided to frame all the pieces with silver frames. The process of making the jewels starts with hand-sanding the alabaster slabs, which come from Volterra, Italy. Then the inscriptions were engraved on the back of the alabaster slab with a three-axis CNC milling machine. In a second step, the slabs were cut into an elliptical shape and then polished by hand. The ellipses were then set inside the silver frames, which were also made by hand. The manufacturing process is purely artisanal because alabaster is very fragile and requires great care to be worked. A study of elementary geometric shapes led me to identify one of them that is conceptually consistent with the project: the ellipse. The word ellipse comes from Greek and means lack because the ellipse lacks the perfection of the circle. The ellipse is not only a geometric form but also a rhetorical figure. The rhetorical figure of the ellipse consists of an omission. That is a lack that exists but is not made explicit. This aspect has to do with the idea of the void that the project represents, that is, as a presence here and now but which is not physically tangible.
More work and contacts:
Email: annachiaraz@gmail.com
Instagram: annachiara.zani
Website: www.annachiarazani.it
Phone: +39 3403564555
Find out more about the courses at IED Istituto Europeo di Design.
Necklace: Now, 2021
White and onyx Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver, shape memory titanium wire.
16.7 x 13 x 0.6 cm
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
Photo by: Ivano Fusetti
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Now, 2021
White and onyx Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver, shape memory titanium wire.
16.7 x 13 x 0.6 cm
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
On body
Photo by: Alessandra Defeudis
Photo by: Alessandra Defeudis
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Presence, 2021
White and onyx Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver.
6.2 x 3.2 x 0.6 cm
Photo by: Alessandra Defeudis
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Earrings: Silence, 2021
White Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver.
5.9 x 1.9 x 0.6 cm
Photo by: Alessandra Defeudis
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Ring: Vertigo, 2021
White Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver.
6.2 x 3.2 x 0.6 cm
Photo by: Ivano Fusetti
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Pendant: Invisible, 2021
White Volterra’s alabaster, rhodium plated silver.
6.2 x 3.2 x 0.6 cm
Photo by: Lorenzo R.Gerli
From series: NOW.HERE.VOID
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
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