brooklyn-based designer robert sukrachand has created a set of furniture featuring giant terrazzo surfaces, presented during NYCxDESIGN 2019. called mirazzo, the collection includes three nesting benches and a coffee table, and adds a unique graphic quality to a centuries-old technique.
images courtesy of robert sukrachand
sukrachand was inspired to design the collection whilst in bangkok, visiting his father’s native thailand. during his trip he noticed the resemblances between italian terrazzo and the city’s street benches, public park chess tables, and three-legged stools.
‘this was thai terrazzo‘, sukrachand explains. ‘a technique invented by the italians was newly recognizable in this everyday, un-precious thai street furniture. here, it was colorful and haphazard, occasionally crumbling under the weight and weather of a tropical climate.’
the mirazzo collection also aims to address the problem of industrial stone and marble waste. using shards of discarded antique mirror and glass, leftover from previous collections, sukrachand adds a colorful and reflective wrinkle to an otherwise traditional method of production.
‘the mirazzo collection begs the question of what other salvaged ingredients can be brought into the fold as the design and manufacturing industries evolve to waste as little raw material as possible.’
the haroon bench is a near replica of the pair of rustic benches that robert first spotted on a street corner across from the haroon mosque, located in one of bangkok’s earliest muslim neighborhoods. the traimit bench and coffee table are named after wat traimit, the famous bangkok temple that overlooks the alleyway where robert spotted the street furnishings that inspired the collection.
the nesting bench and coffee table are cast in white marble aggregate with antique venetian mirror. the central cluster of mirror on the coffee table is suggestive of the graphic pattern seen on chess tables found throughout the streets of bangkok.
the reflective quality of glass has been transmuted into a soft satin through the stone polishing process. viewed from different angles, it catches the light and displays a 3-dimensional quality that produces a novel interplay with the opaque stone and resin binder.
currently on view at ‘inside/out’ as part of NYCxDESIGN 2019, the mirazzo collection is being exhibited at the william vale hotel until 28 may. inside/out is the first and only bespoke installation focused on outdoor furniture during the annual design week.
