Pedrali: Caementum, reflections on lightness

Caementum plays a classic role: the outdoor coffee table that does not require great maintenance and is designed to withstand atmospheric agents. The elemental composition of the raw material, powders and water, is made more stable thanks to natural additives that eliminate the erosive effects of humidity and temperature changes. And the chromatic choice fell on equally simple colors: light gray, dark gray and terracotta.

The form is the real typological challenge of the new product. On the one hand, the reminiscence of brutalist architecture, the choice of a finishing that plays on the different textures of the concrete, porous for the base and smooth for the surface of the top. And on the other hand, the careful work on proportions and dimensions, which find balance in a linear project, which leaves little room for decoration. The only concessions: the velvety surface of the top (stain and liquid resistant) and the vertical hollowed out along the frame, a minimal decoration that interacts with the rounded corners of the base.

Merendi and Vencato's project is first of all an exploration of matter. Concrete, in this case technically designed for the outdoors, is the pretext for finding intelligent solutions to balance solidity and lightness. The hollow base allows you to handle the table with agility. The overall weight gives stability to a garden furniture imagined to become a certain presence of the scenographic composition. The outdoors is undoubtedly the most obvious destination, but Caementum also lends itself to the creation of interior projects for contract or public spaces, without taking any kind of functionality for granted. The base is protected by a nylon foot, which protects the floors and the central stem.