VOLUME #1

VOLUME 01 POTENTIAL
ULTRA SOLID launches with Volume 01. For the Neoplatonists, one symbolizes the source of all existence, denoting unity and beginnings. One is also considered the basis for all numbers the starting point and the point of return. As the first of 10 volumes for ULTRA SOLID, 01 is christened Potential. Carefully crafted from solid slabs of basalt, the 10 pieces include a sofa, daybed, chair, meditation pod, dining and side tables, bed, stool, bench, and planter all complemented by a soft box light.

MATERIAL: BASALT
For ULTRA SOLID Volume 01 Potential, basalt is fittingly the chosen material as it connotes lava, fire, beginnings.... We believe that stone, like water, are carriers of information, witnesses of a primordial earth and galaxy. As archeology has proven, stone is also our most permanent material to preserve messages, images and culture over time. Basalt is found throughout our solar system, including on Venus, Mars and even the Moon. The basalt used for ULTRA SOLID is actually extracted from Mount Etna in Italy, where according to Greek mythology, Zeus trapped the deadly monster Typhon and thunderbolts for the King of the Gods were forged. Basalt is characterized by a high presence of magnesium and iron, which enables the stone to capture heat and release it slowly. Since ancient times, hot stones like basalt were considered therapeutic, their healing properties known to relieve pain and tension.

COLOR: BLACK
Basalt is usually dark in color, hence black was the obvious choice for ULTRA SOLID Volume 01. Born from the scorching volcanic lava, black also was the first color pigment created by primitive man initially by burning wood into charcoal then later relying on combustion for carbon. August Renoir claimed black was the 'the queen of all colours’, which corresponds to physics where black is recognized as the color that equally absorbs all light and collects as well as conducts thermal energy. In ancient Arabian cultures, black signified audacity and dignity, while for the Egyptians it symbolized the fertility of the River Nile and protection. Many religious traditions imagine the universe in primordial darkness before the creation of light. Carl Jung expounded on this by associating black with the first nigredo stage of alchemy, positing that it represents the human body's return to a primordial state in order to then experience transformation.

DESIGN: PROCESS/PURPOSE
For ULTRA SOLID, design is the language of material, color, use and purpose. The framework of 10 materials with 10 designs each is our mantra, our book; each material by itself a chapter, each piece a sentence. That is the mindset love, respect, brotherhood and amazement that drives this project. For the first Volume 01 Potential, we started with a feeling: mysterious beginnings, black space, fire cleansing. The brutalist essence of phi as it emerges as monolithic and mechanical by its pure number and related derivates. The black basalt from Etna is our first medium. The lines are straight, the intersections mechanic and precise as if cut with a laser. The surface is the object, its crystalline and lava-forged body our starting point. Numbers derived from the factors of the Golden Ratio shown above in Figure X have been integrated multiple times into the dimensions of each piece. Their essence is conserved within each object literally set in stone. In past times, numbers were not only used superficially to calculate distances or pay for objects and services, they were revered and respected by various world religions as well as in the arts and sciences. That same reverence and respect we give the number phi and its directly related “family” of numbers. For this first volume, we integrated this set of numbers wherever possible, not respecting the comma of course (as the , has no effect on the property of a number since it is only its factor ten no matter where placed). In addition, each piece has minimum one multiplied by the traditional geometric encoding of two lengths divided by each other = 1,618... phi.