Dezeen promotion: after investigating the history and properties of alabaster stone, Barcelona-based Amarist Studio has created a set of designs that treat the material like a "moldable plastic element".
The new series of works, titled Aqua Fossil, was sculpted using alabaster quarried close to the studio.
The Aqua Fossil collection is carved from alabaster and includes a sculptural coffee table
This pale stone was formed from layers of calcium sulphate compressed under the sea, which after millions of years is now a desert in the Ribera del Ebro area.
It is celebrated for its fine grain, which makes it easy to carve and shape, and its translucency ? lending it particularly well to lighting designs.
Amarist Studio designed the pieces to resemble aqueous forms When researching the stone's geological formation, Amarist Studio founders Arán Lozano and Clara Campo were inspired by the fact that the material is made up of just two molecules: calcium sulphate and water.
They therefore designed and shaped their collection to resemble what they describe as "fossilised water".
The Aqua Fossil mirror is surrounded by smooth, undulated bands of the pale stone
"Amarist's new work reinterprets alabaster stone as a moldable plastic element, returning it to its aqueous origin and showing each piece as a treasure emerged from an ancient sea," the duo said.
"Every design in the Aqua Fossil collection describes fluid organic compositions presenting alabast...