La pietra nella "non-età-della-pietra". Riflessioni sull'evoluzione di un materiale per il design

Within the wide materials world, stone is probably the material that better has represented over the time attributes such as solidity, immutability, and continuity along the time passing. Nevertheless, stone, the same material that, among few others, has changed humans life is considered today as a noble resource, a non-renewable one and, in some cases, even almost exhausted. This point entails the necessity to develop new strategies for adopting stone, as a productive material. But how has the relation between stone and project changed until today? Nowadays, this immutability has outreach: this very traditional material has acquired new attributes, thanks to the evolution of the material itself, the generation of new stone derivatives materials, the introduction of innovative productive techniques and processes. Stone is characterized today by a high-tech appearance; it has turned from heavy to incredibly lightweight, from a monolithic to an impalpable one such a powder, from extremely tough to soft as a cloth, to fluid as liquids. From the luxury icon to a hygienic material, from sculpted to shaped, to moulded: this article offers to the reader an overview on the last stone-derived materials and technologies for the design project.