Spanish designers and contractors Estudio Arqué create decorative concrete floors, sinks, furniture, and mosaics. Owner Andrea Maggi specializes in combinations of concrete, wood, semi-precious stones, and glass. "We have designed a collection of furniture in diamond polished concrete, tropical wood, and glass mosaic," he says. "We incorporate semi-precious stones in large format slabs, mosaics of Venetian glass, and marble plaster."

To get the precise material he seeks, Maggi has worked with Italcementi to develop a mix composed of white marble powder, sand, pigment, white cement, and some additives. "We love the cement," says Maggi, "so we tested a lot to get our polished marble plaster just right."

Although Maggi thinks of himself primarily as a designer, Estudio Arqué often sells material with installation included. "We sub-contract the labor to a pair of builders who we know are able to use the trowel in the right way. We send other people to polish with a Flex machine, and the polish is half dry and half wet. The plaster is cast in place but the sinks and furniture are made in our shop. We are using a plastic material that we cut with a laser to create the perfect shapes, then we cover and polish. Our chaise lounge, the Herma (at 2.4 x 0.8 x 0.6 m-7.3 x 2.4 x 1.8 feet) weighs just 80 kg.

Estudio Arqué's floors continue their theme of combining tropical wood and polished concrete. "We are realizing our prototypes of bathtub and table," says Maggi, "always mixing cement , mosaic, and wood." That collection is debuting in Europe next winter, and they hope that with the help of Sicis (www.sicis.com), a mosaic design and construction studio in New York, to bring their designs to the U.S. soon.

Andrea Maggi
Estudio Arqué
www.estudioarque.com
estudioarque2@yahoo.es
00 34 618 273397

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