NoMATERIA 2020 | Balance

“In the project for the Showcase that houses Crystals from the CA&FE Collection, the
characteristics of the pieces were taken into account collectively and individually. In
addition, a meticulous study of possible locations was carried out and finally, the designer
and collectors agreed that the showcase would occupy the back of the kitchen.
This location provides a privileged and special position by finishing off the perspective
and providing a chromatic accent in harmony with the minimalist concept of the
apartment. The display case becomes a visual finish from the social area to the kitchen,
since Once the sliding gate is open, this is a social place, as well as the living room and
dining room. It is also an additional achievement that the works of art thus occupy the
entire house, without discriminating this area that, although nominally is for ‘service’,
spatially, functionally and aesthetically it is not.
The Vitrina houses pieces by the artists Philip Baldwin & Mónica Guggisber, works that
have the virtue of being simultaneously fragile and strong. The first of its characteristics
is a condition of the material with which they are built, while the second - difficult to
achieve in that, its intrinsic materiality - comes from the excellent design, the shape of
the carving, the layers that overlap and the combination of colors that they present, in
such diversity, that makes them unique works to be appreciated individually, but also,
as part of the harmonious set that they offer when put together.
The materials selected for the showcase are: extra-clear glass on the front and shelves,
blued finished steel on structural elements, oak wood on the upper and lower supports
of the showcase and on the shelf beams and, finally, the MDF board with a semi-gloss
white lacquered finish for the background. The light source is concealed by embedding
LED lines into the wooden support of the shelves. All of this constitutes a harmonious
and suitable set for the function for which it has been conceived as a display case for the
CA&FE crystal collection. For its construction, although it is not visible, a metal structure
was made that is the real support of the set and that allows the gravitated image that
deceives the eye making it seem that the showcase hovers suspended in the air ‘as if
by magic’ “ .