The ‘Colour as a Narrative’ is a project for Illuminum Fragrance in London. Conceived as a small grey grotto with rugged walls revealing the eroticism of ancient construction techniques, the design incorporates pozzolanic ash reflecting volcanic topography. A semi-circle of thirty-seven irregular glass forms, each suspended by a black thread, encloses invisible colours revealed only by the nose
Text
Antonino Cardillo
Has it been observed to what extent outward idleness, or semi-idleness, is necessary to a real religious life, […] And that consequently the modern, noisy, time-engrossing, conceited, foolishly proud laboriousness educates and prepares for ‘unbelief’ more than anything else?
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886)
Behind a portal on a Georgian street in London, lives a small grey grotto. Its rugged walls, imprinted with gestures of the mason’s trowel reveal the eroticism which was conveyed in the act of construction by the ancients. The pozzolanic ash echoes the volcanic topography from where it was quarried.
As ‘chambers of light’ the three tall openings facing the street orchestrate the light and shadow. Onto a rough wall: the backdrop for a sweeping semi-circle of thirty-seven irregular glass forms each suspended by a black thread. Enclosed are colours. Invisible colours revealed only by the nose.
Data
Time:Design (Feb 2014 – Mar 2015); Construction (Mar – Apr 2015); Photography (Apr 2015); Demolished (Apr 2017)
Place: Illuminum Fragrance, 41 Dover St, Mayfair, London, UK
Area: 27 m² (single storey)
Typology: Shop
Images
Antonino Cardillo
Testimonial
2015
The most amazing space in London
Suzanne Trocmé
The most amazing space in London in a while. It is not brutalist but beautiful and poetic.
There’s a nostalgic sense of the future about this structure, as if it had been envisioned for today’s world some time ago. It’s decidedly contemporary and abstract, but unlike the empty voids of other modern architecture, Colour as a Narrative is primitive and rich with the markings of human labour.
This architectural work, however unexpected, reflects a certain dualism where the ordered shapes of the container collide with the imperfections of the contents.
detailsdarchitecture.com, Paris, 28 November 2016. (fr)
I regard my work as an inquiry into forgotten significances of the past, akin to a codex primarily based on notions of protection and eroticism. […] Consequently, these archetypes continue to inhabit our subconscious, admonishing us that there is more than the commonplace visions imposed by society.
Ed. Carol Junqueira, bamboonet.com.br, São Paulo, August 2016. (en, it, pt)
Italian architect Antonino Cardillo has created a multi-sensory space for experiencing and buying fragrance by coating a room inside an old London building with volcanic ash.
dezeen.com, London, 6 May 2015. (en)
Publications
2021 – 2015 (selected)
Valeria Maria Iannilli, ‘New retail scenarios – part 2 [video]’, in Retail and Service Experience Design for CCIs, course, DigiMooD MOOCs, Politecnico di Milano, 9 Feb. 2021.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘A synchronicity of cultures and civilisations’, paper presented to the Dessauer Gespräche ed. Johannes Kister, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Institute of Architecture, 13 Nov. 2019. Transcript published on antoninocardillo.com, 15 April 2023.
Antonino Cardillo, ‘Vaults, grottoes, arches and polychromy’, conference part of the ArchitekTOUR Kongress, Heinze, Station Berlin, 22 Nov. 2017. Transcript published on antoninocardillo.com, 27 May 2020.
Mrinalini Ghadiok, ‘Elemental’, Mondo* Arc India, no. 15, New Delhi, July 2017, pp. 10, 50‑51, 56‑57.
