Jacopo Foggini’s Monolite is rooted in family ties

With his magnetic charisma and larger-than-life persona, Jacopo Foggini’s father unsurprisingly passed his relentless curiosity along to his son. Their escapades worthy of Indiana Jones, a discovery they made in a cave on a plateau on the border with Libya left a mark on the then thirty-six-year-old Jacopo. More than two decades later, the master artisan and industrial designer’s most recent creation, Monolite, is inspired by the thousands of rock engravings and silica glass samples he came across with his father–shoulder-to-shoulder, wide-eyed–on that fateful day.

The silica glass’s gripping transparency resembles that of polycarbonate, the sustainable material Monolite is entirely composed of and one Foggini has been getting to know the ins and outs of for some time. 

Introduced during Downtown Design, part of Dubai Design Week, earlier this year, Foggini’s Monolite is crafted in collaboration with Dott. Gallina and Nova Composites, Dubai. As the name implies, the concept is visually reminiscent of an otherworldly precious stone. Monolite is an innovative and sustainable architectural and design element, ideated, engineered, and handcrafted in Italy using polycarbonate.

Its texture, palette, thickness, and size can all be fully customized. The material’s translucency is amplified so that it can be architecturally applied in indoor and outdoor spaces, transforming when backlit. Characterized by its lightness and reaction to light, Monolite is highly adaptable and can be transformed into an installation, light fixture, cladding, and space divider.

As a highly versatile material, polycarbonate can be cut, drilled, milled, and screwed. Its outstanding flexibility allows for a wide range of design techniques to be applied, with thermoforming among them. Physically, polycarbonate guarantees mechanical strength and durability as well. Its lightness makes it suitable for various applications, including purely structural ones. Each Monolite piece is subject to a specific “vetrification” process aimed at the enhancement of its resistance to chemicals, UV rays, and abrasion so that it has a long life even when surrounded by extreme conditions.

If one were to strip down Monolite to its emotional skeleton, suspended storytelling can be identified as its core. The unmatched fluidity of the polymer is encased in glass walls, thus forming an element that reminds one of a crystal, a precious stone from another world. This fusion between past and present, between profoundly contrasting materials in substance and origins, enkindles a deconstruction and reshaping of our relationship with materials–a core narrative that pulsates through Jacopo Foggini’s plethora of creations.

Born in Turin and based in Milan, since his debut in 1997, Foggini has experimented with unconventional design with a deep focus on polycarbonate. The chemical and physical qualities of the material enable Foggini to challenge and elevate his design philosophy and means of expression continuously. He handcrafts each piece without molds, a Renaissance-inspired process. Foggini’s approach merges his technical mastery and nuanced, playful aesthetics with sustainable practices. His well-known eclectic large-scale luminous installations are especially evocative of the rebelliousness of his artistic spirit. Foggini has realized over a hundred exhibitions, installations, and inventive projects worldwide, with his pace illustrative of his inexhaustive, adventurous mindset.

While Foggini’s Monolite is a bold statement about the future of sustainable architecture, fundamentally, the composition is yet another example of how the Italian’s oeuvre is markedly infused with and inspired by his personal life–a treasure trove overflowing with invaluable souvenirs always within his grasp.