The Lithoverde® and Adda collection by Salvatori
03.2022
The aesthetics and ethics of Salvatori are expressed through the force of two collections articulating stone through surfaces and volumes: Lithoverde® and Adda.
When design is quality, craftsmanship and sustainability - Even in the bathroom
How important is beauty today when speaking of the domestic dimension? A lot, you might say. Now more than ever. Especially when that beauty is the result of an aesthetic that’s more than an end in itself, not bound to trends, but interwoven with profound ethics — that from a design company forged on values like quality, craftsmanship and sustainability. We’re talking about Salvatori, the 100% Italian company that, with respect for the territory, uses natural resources to give form and substance to refined, elegant, measured and never banal collections that place stone at the center of projects ranging from the architectural scale to that of interiors or objects.
Take their marble, which is transformed into sophisticated, elegant, minimal and original design objects through a difficult balance of forms, proportions and expressivity. Every gesture and every act is aimed at preserving as much of the stone’s natural appearance as possible, avoiding flashy, opulent finishes. But that’s not all. Limiting waste and employing the material where it’s strictly necessary is another cornerstone of Salvatori’s philosophy — one that can also be expressed in the use of slabs assembled with extreme care and passion to simulate the aesthetic effect of worked wood, but with greater efficiency in terms of stone consumption. To fully understand this approach, which is essentially the company’s mission, we must first look at the products, whose eloquence exceeds that of words. Here we’ve chosen two that speak simultaneously of form and substance, looking to bathroom design as a paradigm, where Salvatori is a leading supplier around the world in the high end sector.
We start with Lithoverde®, the first texture in the world composed of 99% recycled stone waste held together by 1% natural resin, which acts as a binder: a product that’s not only unique and beautiful, but also has a positive impact on the environment as it’s realized with the scraps of precious natural stone that would otherwise be disposed of with detrimental consequences in terms of both cost and pollution. Developed by Salvatori in 2010, the material is surprisingly innovative, synthesizing the brand’s incessant dedication to research and experimentation, while promising an increasingly green future for the world of design. It’s a conscientious project that, beginning from the protection of our mountains — considered a rare and precious resource — has arrived at the realization of a vibrant texture overflowing with personality.
The first to exploit this expressive potential was English architect John Pawson, enchanting the public of Milan’s Salone del Mobile in 2010 with his acclaimed project The House of Stone: a manifesto-architecture that creatively interpreted the expressive potential of Lithoverde®, revealing the surprising aesthetic qualities of recycled stone through a refined and elegant operation. Since then, Lithoverde® has never ceased to shock, impress, and intrigue as an outsider in the field of stone coverings.
Its peculiarity lies in presenting a perfect mix of advanced technology and craftsmanship, where every slab is realized entirely by hand, combining stones from different quarries, regions and countries. From this comes the uniqueness of the single blocks — each the result of an unrepeatable aggregation where no two pieces are ever the same.
Lithoverde® represents a 360° tribute to creativity. Born fundamentally from ethical motives, it’s been transformed into a product with great aesthetic impact, carving out a prime role within the “Total Look Design” concept pursued by the brand, which includes an integrated project encompassing surfaces, bathroom collections, accessories and objects for the house. With its brilliant colors, contrasting effects and the graphic patterns of its veins, Lithoverde® coverings are a testament of excellence in the bathrooms of Salvatori. One example of this can be seen in Adda, a new collection dedicated to the bathroom that winks at the rich aesthetic of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Here, it’s in the confrontation of vaguely retro lines that the Lithoverde® slabs reveal all of their expressive potential, articulated in four chromatic variants: Bianco Carrara, Crema d’Orcia, Pietra d’Avola and Gris du Marais®.
Adda is an elegant collection that plays with the intrinsic properties of natural stone and wood to outline new domestic landscapes interpreting the bathroom in the name of a refined style composed of materialistic pairings curated down to the very last detail. From it comes a warm and elegant sensation sparking an impeccable dialogue with the color palette of Lithoverde® wall coverings, whose horizontal pattern is perfectly punctuated by the vertical ribbed pattern of the drawers — a graphic effect translated into wood through shades of walnut and worked with a distinct ribbed finish in the hands of expert Italian carpenters. Adda reinterprets bathroom design by searching for the perfect fusion with a marble cladding over walls — an aesthetic trick highlighting the space through an essential design that allows the material to do the talking. The collection showcases three categories of products: freestanding washbasins, wall-mounted washbasins and modular drawers, proposed in wood or stone, both in a smooth or ribbed version. Sculptural, iconic and decidedly important, the freestanding washbasin is articulated in either a square or cylindrical variant with an internal stone basin embedded in the structure. Its strong points? The possibility for personalization through a materialistic mix of wood and stone, or through the pairing of different marbles and of those with the same color gradation.
Simultaneously retro and contemporary, Adda changes face according to the materialistic and chromatic application, fully exploiting the gamut of nuances in collections that include the lightest tones of Bianco Carrara, Crema d’Orcia, Silk Georgette and Grigio Versilia in contrast with the darker shades of Pietra d’Avola and Gris du Marais®. The wonder of natural stone then becomes a symbol of new luxury, made of pure geometries and monochromatic environments where claddings spark a dialogue in complete continuity with the furnishings. A broader concept of design can also be taken from the bathroom elsewhere thanks to the linear compositions of modular Adda drawers, designed like spacious multitasking containers that allow for multiple configurations interpreting the domestic space in the name of flexibility.
With Adda, the home changes its look, suggesting unconventional alternatives to everyday objects like the classic desk, which can be substituted by a continuous, functional and beautiful surface.
Then there’s the meticulous attention to details, expressed through a virtuous use of the material. In the case of living areas, all the warmth of wood emerges in a polished or ribbed version, lending a slick facade to the systems of drawers available in multiple measurements to be freely assembled according to the dimensions of the space. Wood confirms its role as a supporting actor within the Adda collection, even when it comes to covering the essential volumes of freestanding washbasins, inspired by the pure geometries of the parallelepiped or the cylinder, whose solid volumes dominate the bathroom area, placing themselves center stage silhouetted against the background of stone walls and floors.
For a more functional option in respect to the sculptural character of freestanding models, the wall-mounted washbasin from the Adda collection unites the performance and aesthetic of the drawer to the preciousness of marble, transforming the washbasin system into a full-fledged piece of furniture. Also available with frontal wooden drawers, in the marble version it fully emphasizes the aesthetic qualities and natural veining of the stone material, translating a millenary tradition into a contemporary language.
Salvatori, the global benchmark in the natural stone-meets-design field, is known not only for its elegant high-end products but also for its commitment and innovative approach to sustainable design. In pushing the limits of both the material itself and the processes employed to work it, the company constantly searches out ways to reduce wastage, transforming offcuts into original and contemporary items that exude discreet luxury.
This entrenched green spirit and passion for design are brought to life through a beautifully-balanced combination of cutting-edge technology and the incomparable hands and eyes of skilled artisans.
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