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Playing with water is a favourite activity for Giulio Iacchetti. His previous work includes bottle-shaped taps and a blue silicone teardrop showerhead, and for the Milan design fair in April he created a voluptuous blue fountain – composed entirely of urinals, toilets, bidets and basins, all pieces from his collection of sanitaryware for Italian manufacturer GLOBO. “The starting point was to use sanitaryware fixed together in order to create a spectacular hydraulic machine,” he explains. “Designing objects that relate to water means considering not only the shape of things, but especially the movement of liquids that draw themselves to contain the volumes. I find my amusement in this challenge, considering both the functionality and the plumbing rules governing water flow.” Standing in front of the Fountain of Atlantis, or La Fontina di Atlantide in Iacchetti’s native Italian, is a disconcerting experience – it’s at once graceful and ridiculous. But this is exactly the reaction he says he intended to provoke, as the observer is torn between lingering on the individual pieces and admiring the complexity of the ensemble. Iacchetti has referred to his designs as “disobedient objects”, a phrase that became the title of his solo show at the Milan Triennale two years ago, describing items that defy their conventional roles to expose cultural contradictions. His fountain was inspired by the great classical sculptures of the fountains in Rome’s Piazza Navona, but it’s also an irreverent and idealistic take on modern-day politics. When asked why he chose Atlantis, Iacchetti says: “A lost or perhaps only imaginary continent is the ideal land for all: no boundaries and every man has the right of citizenship. So I imagined a land of dreams where a precious commodity like water springs out from a large fountain providing for everybody. I like the metaphorical meaning of the fountain as a natural or artificial place where springing water is destined/designed for all.” |
Image Iacchetti
Words Katie Puckett |
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