Designer Ron Gilad has transformed marble tile by shaping it to resemble upholstery, with the soft curves of cross stitched and capitonné.

(Click the images below for full sized images)

Cuscini tile

Cuscini, Italian for "pillows", is part of Gilad's Soft Marble Collection for Tuscan marble and stone company Salvatori. A collection that includes four objects; the Galleria and Girella benches, Paravento room divider and Cuscini tile.

Gilad was asked by Salvatori to revisit their mainstay material, marble. Says Salvatori, "he [Gilad] has succeeded in bringing out all the technical and expressive potential of marble which, in his hands, becomes a surprisingly versatile and malleable stone."

Paravento room divider

To create Soft Marble, Gilad studied the material in depth and used three guiding concepts: weight, hardness and fragility - which he then completely overhauled. "The material is worked to the limit of its physical characteristics, as if it was a stretch material!"

Girella bench

"The Soft Marble project presents itself in all its aesthetic value and speaks the language of abstract and pure shapes, in pure Salvatori style. Ron Gilad uses irony and lightness when creating solid and important objects: Paravento based on the principle of Lego building blocks, the Girella seat, which evokes butter that has just been cut with a knife and the Galleria seat, like a curved leaf."

Galleria bench

+ salvatori.it