“It is warm to the touch and feels like a skin of a woman” says Renzo Buttazzo, Italian sculptor of a particular stone found only in Lecce, in the deep region of Puglia, South-East of Italy. I had the opportunity to interview him and a world of beauty opened up to me.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).
(Above: Renzo Buttazzo – Italian sculptor)
Renzo Buttazzo calls the stone an “unstable precariousness”. Inspired by the simplicity of walls in the Puglia countryside, which were built only with stones stacked one on top of the other without mortar, Renzo designed a piece of stone furniture the same way. Each piece of stone he carved, hovers over the other, he stacked them like the walls in the country securely standing for centuries under all-weather conditions. The design style he chose refers to the square shapes of ‘70s.
(Above: “Yang” Stone Furniture)
Renzo Buttazzo started carving Lecce Stone at age 19 when the path he wanted to follow was clear to him. He wanted to create something “spectacular” with his hands. Experiment after experiment, he changed the way of carving a stone. Renzo empties out the block of Lecce Stone and creates from the inside out. He doesn’t use the traditional method of carving and shaping a block of stone into a figure or an object, as it has been done with marble and granite for so long. Lecce Stone, Renzo explained, is a soft limestone, as ancient as 4 million years, yellowish in color, warm to the touch and contains fossils, water and sand, basically the memory of past lives that have touched it.
(Above: “Aurea” Table)
He went on to say that the stone produces natural and magical games of light. He was the first to create stone lamps that, in his imagination, were not necessary to turn on. The texture and fenestration he creates in the stone lamps receive the sunlight at various times of the day, making beautiful fluid shapes on walls and surfaces, enough to free the viewer’s imagination. In the morning, the lamps are sculptures and in the evening they become lamps.
(Above: “Dormienti – Vulca” Light Installation)
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(Above: “Meltemi” Lamp)
His way of carving the stone inside out was so innovative to get the media interested in his work and at only age 38, the President of the Italian Republic nominated Renzo Buttazzo:
“Cavalier of the Republic” for artistic merits, a rare award to receive in Italy.
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(Above: “Maui” Floor Lamp)
The nature of Puglia, his native region, where he lives and creates, the shapes of the olive trees, the Karstic rocks of Puglia, coral reefs and the basin of the Adriatic Sea, are all the elements contributing to his inspiration. Touching his sculptures, which is something Renzo encourages to do, will give the visitors the right sensation of the stone’s fluidity, warmth and sensual shapes he attributes to the stone.
(Above and below: “Merlera” Sculpted Wall)
The sculptor loves to empty out the stone with ancient chisels to make it as light as possible, thus no one piece he crafted is equal to the other. In fact, when he receives an order of a large number of wall sconces, or lamps for the same interior, each piece looks different. The attention to detail he puts in his work makes every piece original and highly appreciated.
(Above: “Ovo” Bath Tub)
Due to its versatility, Lecce stone is used for interior applications, usually left in its row state, as it keeps the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The formation of a slight layer of mould protects the stone under any weather condition when used for exterior applications. From the steppe to the desert, Renzo produced exterior decorations for a church in Russia, buildings in Canada and in Dubai. He produces sculptures, lamps, wall sconces, and even stone furniture for famous resorts and hotels around the world.
He loves to talk about his stone lounge chairs for swimming pools, the “Mareposa chaise longue”. At the end of the summer, when people and noises are no longer there, the undulated chairs remain on the swimming pool as soft, silent sculptures of flying ribbons.
(Above: “Mareposa” Chaise Longue)
Renzo collaborates with various glass, wood and metal artists. The “Zeus” table created with metal legs, Lecce stone top and a crack made on purpose to be filled with liquid copper was a great hit at Milan Furniture Exhibition and sold immediately.
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(Above: “Zeus” Table)
Molten glass at the highest temperature mixed in with Lecce stone, burns the stone and creates unpredictable shapes. Once the glass cools, it separates from the stone and voila’ two objects tamed to the will of the artist are born with distinctive characters.
(Above: “Velata” Bowls)
Vulcanization is Renzo’s way of shaping volcanic black stone and incorporating it in the Lecce stone to create dark-light effects and original rhythms.
(Above: “Niura” Sculpture – Vulcanization)
I asked him about his future projects. He wants to fight globalization by returning to its origins. With the help of the European Community Renzo has plans to teach his art to youngsters, teach how to work all materials nature produces, teach them to appreciate the history of Italian craftsmanship and the value of creating objects by hand, making sure the posterity will keep the art alive. Creating a piece art also means knowing how to sell or place it in the right interior, with the right client that will appreciate it.
To his teaching he wants to add market studies, the philosophy of understanding world customers and their needs. The duty of an artist is to hand the past to the new generation to build their future.
(Above: “Vulca Casa” Lamp)
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(Above: “Reef” Vase)
(All works by Renzo Buttazzo – permission granted to use all the photos).
Renzo Buttazzo concluded our conversation by saying he creates for himself first to satisfy his needs. Customers take home his passion, his love and his emotions. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2017 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
Valentina Cirasola is a designer in business since 1990. She is interested in helping people designing their interior and exterior spaces with an overall feeling of peace, relaxation and harmony that will draw them home eagerly. She is always looking to add that special touch with original findings to the spaces she designs. Colour is the focus of her business today, changing people’s energy and life force just by introducing them to colours they would have never imagined. Vogue Italia magazine, Gentry and many prominent magazines in California featured her work. She appeared on RAI, National Italian T.V. and her story continues. Find copies of her book on colours ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors and the rest of her books on
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