There is usually a bookcase in every home, where books, memories and photographs objects we do not want to forget are kept. It is the collector of our memory; it is usually made in wood, sometimes in metal or glass, but never in earthenware in spite of the need for natural elements, indispensable for our existence and living space. The Terreria is therefore not just the acronym for a modular bookcase in terracotta, but rather a possibility to create a bricked home that is new yet ancient, urban yet rural. It is something in-between modular furniture the single elements can be assembled in infinite configurations and dimensions and the window of a barn, from which to look out at the countryside. It is a project that stimulates our creativity, thanks to the possibility to combine three elements and thus to turn every Terreria into a unique, original object; it rejects standardization in favour of a design and image that is never the same. This is why this product is not so much definable as industrial design as mass produced handicraft design, an open system that originated in the Chianti Classico region, with the early prototypes studied for the interiors of the Antinori Winery for which Moroso has realized all the furniture, within the context of a research on poor materials which Archea Associati and Marco Casamonti have been conducting for years, combining design and architecture without any distinction in scale. The material, the chromatic effects and the tactile qualities exploit all the opportunities offered by ceramics over the centuries, ranging from the rough texture of earthenware to the glossy surfaces of glazes, available in a wide variety of shades.
Technical characteristics: modules in terracotta, available in different types of clay, including glazed porcelain stoneware, made with three different geometric configurations. The modules are 30 cm deep, from 25 to 35 cm deep and 40 cm tall. They are assembled simply by superimposing the modules, fastening them to one another with special silicon glue or separators with glue on both sides, included in the packaging. The maximum height of a self-supporting bookcase without any anchoring to the wall is 280 cm, while the width of the bookcase depends on requirements. The weight of the single elements varies from 5 to 7 kg. From 5 to 7 elements are required per square meter.