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Who wouldn’t like to play ping-pong in their lunchbreak or to break the ice between comparative strangers? This idea occurred to Il Magma, a multidisciplinary firm based in Reggio Emilia founded by Massimo Colonna and Chiara Ormelli, which specialises in communication design. Starting from their office’s meeting table, Il Magma came up with a surface, Partitina 0-1, on which people can both work and play. The collection comprises five non-professional tables in three variants with rounded corners, one in regulation ping-pong size and the others a little smaller, to fit into living-rooms of less than 50 square metres. “We wanted to create something technical yet elegant, with the same interior design potential as other furniture,” state Colonna and Ormelli, who market the collection under their own Lava brand, created for the purpose.
Partitina is intended to be very much an item for daily use and actually to play a central role in interior design. So the designers chose ornamental surfaces to cover its top, including Marble Look from The Top collection in Verde Cipollino, Giallo Siena, Verde Aver and Verde Borgogna colours. And, with more HoReCa locations in mind, Saint Laurent and Calacatta with more classical appearance or more neutral Travertino are also available. “We based our choice of colours and the Marazzi The Top large slab collections partly on the need to match the looks and shades of the tables’ bases and also on the requirement for the ball to bounce properly: we had to find a completely smooth surface”. What’s more, thanks to the antibacterial properties provided by the Puro Marazzi Antibacterial Premium Technology, which eliminates 99% of bacteria and germs from surfaces, the table tops are also safe for preparing and eating food.
Tables’ legs are available in 5 variants: Partitina 0-1 has solid cylindrical legs; Partitina 0-2 four legs with semicircular cross-section; Partitina 0-3 four legs in the corners, powder-coated to allow use outdoors as well; Partitina 0-4 has a more complex base with cedar or teak wood elements, also suitable for outdoor use; and Partitina 0-5 has a curtain, available in the fabric of the customer’s choice, that conceals its supporting structure and evokes the curtains once fitted under the sinks of traditional kitchens. In fact, the whole project is intended to be fun and ironic. Partitina 0-6, a creation for Lava characterized by balance and delicacy, designed by Gio Tirotto. The table stands out for the sculptural structure of its legs, which brush against each other at the center in a sinuous and solid intertwining before merging with the tabletop.
