The Seychelles’ rocks inspire Bartoli Design for sculpture-like handles. The ‘Sesel’ set is made of three sculptural multipurpose objects – handles, coathangers, wall decors – handcrafted by brass casting. First designed as knobs for the ‘Collectionist’ cabinet, alone or in compositions they also fit on a wall as art elements or coathangers. The ‘Sesel’ organic shapes may be fixed with several orientations around their attachment axis.
To design these objects, we started from our passion for boulders and stones: we have a collection of them and we found an inspiring proof in the Seychelles’ granite rock formations: since, ‘Sesel’ is the local name of the Seychelles archipelago”, Bartoli Design says. “In ‘Sesel’ we thought we’d reinterpret the climbing grips and trasfer them in the home environment to serve another purpose. During the design stage, we created the original 1:1 models used for making the moulds for these little sculptures. The production process is all manual: brass is casted with the lost-wax technique then brushed and polished. Signs as brushings and small pits left by air bubbles are visible on the final objects, displaying the value of an entirely hand-made process.
The Collectionist cabinet is inspired by the secretaries of the last centuries and it expresses their same preciosity in a contemporary version. Presenting a neat volume marked by vertical panels and rounded sides, it is an invitation to move closer to touch its surface and appreciate the “Sesel” sculpture-like handles in cast brass, which make the furniture front an artistic element. The design of the metal base plays with the balance and tension of thin brass rods.
“Collectors or not, we all are surrounded by a multitude of small objects, including precious ones, which we are fond of and are difficult to store, that may become real collections. Thus, we thought to design a cabinet to contain, organize and protect the items of our passions. We loved the idea that the exterior of this piece would communicate the value of its contents; that’s why we designed details as the sculpture-like handles. Inside, it is organized by drawers and small compartments where can accommodate our favourite objects”. (Bartoli Design)
Collectionist is a cabinet with seven doors, five are flat, and two are curved, finished on all sides. It may be mounted on a wall or set on the floor over the base in brushed or dark-brown-lacquered brass rods. It is possible to mount five “Sesel” handles, handcrafted by brass casting with the sculptors’ lost-wax technique. The three available and interchangeable handle shapes may also be rotated to give the cabinet a personal touch. Collectionist may come without handles, too, as the opening of its doors is also possible gripping the shutters upper edge. The inside is divided into 26 compartments and eight drawers. Both outside and inside come in Siberian Ash wood, with an open-pore finish.
Dimensions: wall version cm 160 x 42 x 107 h.
floor version cm 160 x 40 x 147 h.
Images by: Vincenzo Caccia, Matteo Maggioni – ethnologies.it, Bartoli Design