Davide Fabio Colaci, Yuri Ancarani, Joseph Grima, Grazia Signori, and Tommaso Simonetta will take the stage at The Plus Theatre, exploring the three thematic veins of the event: Material, Technologies, and Design & Visions. Alongside the talks, the event will host a series of meetings with the authors of the cultural projects on display at The Plus Theatre, offering direct insight into the creative and design processes shaping new visions of contemporary marble.
Verona, July, 2025 – On the occasion of the 59th edition of Marmomac, scheduled from 23 to September 26 2025, The Plus Theatre, the event’s prime venue for cultural and design dialogue, enriches its programme with a new format where designers, artists, architects, and international researchers will engage in conversations on new visions of contemporary approach to natural stone.
Davide Fabio Colaci, Yuri Ancarani, Joseph Grima, Grazia Signori, and Tommaso Simonetta will lead an investigative journey through the event’s three thematic veins: Material, Technologies, and Design & Visions.
Highlights
Davide Fabio Colaci – „Marble and the values of surface”
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 | 10:45 AM
This session offers a critical reflection on one of the most debated themes in architectural culture: the relationship between ornament, surface, and material. With the lecture „Marble and the Values of Surface”, architect and Politecnico di Milano lecturer Davide Fabio Colaci revisits the thinking of Adolf Loos—father of the renowned anti-ornament theory—through the lens of today’s aesthetic and design transformations.
Founder of DFC Studio, Colaci explores changes in the contemporary habitat through an interdisciplinary approach that weaves together architecture, exhibition design, and cultural research. A lecturer at Politecnico di Milano and Course Leader at IED Milan, Colaci combines design practice with an intense curatorial and critical activity, placing ephemeral space—from home to celebration—at the centre of the design debate.
Yuri Ancarani and Laura Lamonea – „Art, stone, and visual experimentation”
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 | 3:30 PM
Visual artist and filmmaker Yuri Ancarani, one of the most significant figures on the international art scene, will engage in a dialogue with Laura Lamonea, curator and artistic director of ArtVerona, exploring the role of stone in contemporary creative expression, which spans art, applied arts, and audiovisual experimentation.
Marking the 15th anniversary of its presentation at the Venice Film Biennale, Marmomac pays tribute to Ancarani’s Il Capo. This work brought the artist’s poetic, hyperreal gaze into the Carrara marble quarries. Ancarani’s work has been exhibited at leading museums and festivals worldwide, from the Guggenheim in New York to the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and from the PAC in Milan to Fondazione Prada.
Known for his hybrid language between documentary and video art, Ancarani narrates invisible realities and fragments of everyday life through dense, symbolic visual storytelling that reveals the profound connection between humans, materials, and landscapes.
Il Capo will be screened daily during the event, from September 23 to 26, at 1:00 PM in The Plus Theatre Auditorium.
Joseph Grima – „The Technoartisan”
Thursday, September 25, 2025 | 3:30 PM
A session dedicated to technology and craftsmanship with Joseph Grima, architect, curator, and internationally recognised intellectual, co-founder of Alcova, known for his multidisciplinary approach and his investigations into the role of design in contemporary society. Grima’s reflection in Verona will focus on the role of the „techno-craftsman”: a hybrid practitioner that combines the sensibility of manual work with digital tools, from CNC machining to parametric design, from generative algorithms to artificial intelligence.
Joseph Grima is an architect and curator. He is the co-founder of Space Caviar, a design and research studio that explores design, technology, and critical theory, and of Alcova, a platform for experimental design that is active annually during Milan Design Week. His work has been presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Vitra Design Museum, and the V&A Museum.
Grazia Signori and Tommaso Simonetta – „The Sound and Soundness of Stone: When Matter Speaks the Language of the Senses”
Friday, September 26, 2025 | 11:15 AM
A session dedicated to the senses, this multisensory journey combines scientific study of stone, perception, and sound design. Geologist Grazia Signori, accompanied by sound designer Tommaso Simonetta, will guide the audience in discovering the hidden language of stone.
The presentation „The Sound and Solid Soul of Stone: When Matter Speaks the Language of the Senses” invites attendees to rediscover natural stone as a living material capable of evoking emotion through sight, touch, and, above all, hearing. From the sharp sound of a step to the deep resonance of quarries, each stone tells its own identity and story.
Within this context, „Sounds of Marble – Matter Comes Alive”, the first immersive playlist created by Marmomac and curated by Tommaso Simonetta, transforms the authentic sounds of the Carrara quarries into a three-act sound work: Origo Lapidis, Sectio, and Homo Faber, an emotional journey through origin, transformation, and creation. The playlist will be available on Spotify starting Monday, July 14 2025.
Grazia Signori, one of Italy’s Euro-geologists (geologists with professional recognition abroad), has worked with natural stones since 1999, collaborating on research projects with the CNR, the University of Milan Bicocca, and the Catholic Universities of Brescia and Piacenza, and serves as an expert on numerous national (UNI) and European (CEN) standardisation working groups.
Simonetta, active in the fields of art, design, and music, has collaborated with brands such as Armani, Louis Vuitton, and Prada, and has created projects for Milan Design Week and auteur cinema, bringing sound experimentation to the heart of material storytelling.
The Marmomac schedule offers a rich programme of talks, meetings, and courses organised by the Marmomac Academy, accredited by professional bodies for architects in Italy, the United Kingdom (RIBA), and the United States (AIA). Content ranges from the classification and selection of stones according to their intended use, to enhancing colour in stone projects, and to the most advanced processing and maintenance techniques. Case studies and in-depth thematic explorations will also cover new technological frontiers, with a particular focus on the aesthetic, artistic, and functional aspects of natural stone.
Alongside these sessions, Marmomac will also host a series of meetings with the authors of the cultural projects exhibited in the pavilion, offering further educational insights drawn from the concrete experiences of those who have conceived and realised the works on display. This is an opportunity to engage directly with the creative and design processes shaping the new visions of contemporary marble.
Marmomac 2025 thus confirms itself not only as the leading trade fair in the natural stone sector but also as a cultural laboratory open to innovation, where art, design, and research come together to rewrite the future of marble.
The 59th edition of Marmomac will take place in Verona from September 23 to 26.
About MARMOMAC
Marmomac is the leading international trade fair for the entire natural stone supply chain, encompassing quarrying, processing, technologies, machinery, and tools. Founded in Verona, one of Italy’s main marble districts, today Marmomac is the primary international hub for the sector, a privileged venue for innovation, culture, and training. With over 1,400 exhibitors from more than 50 countries and a global community of more than 50,000 professionals from 150 nations (2024 data), the event consolidates, edition after edition, its role as a strategic platform for the sector, a meeting point for companies, designers, institutions, and operators from around the world. Visiting Marmomac offers the opportunity to discover product innovations and technological advancements, updates on machinery evolution, exhibitions, insights, and accredited professional training, with a focus on the connection between business, design, and product culture, a value recognised internationally.
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