Art for interiors
in vegetable fibers and naturale materials

CALCE-CANAPA   TERRA CRUDA   TADELAKT


Each creation is a story, the narrative of a vision, an emotion, an insight.
If you want to take part in this journey, made of words and images,


BROWSE THE CATALOG online


Mobirise
ABOUT ME

Almarera is the part of me that feels the inseparable bond with mother earth and that leads me to use her creations to make my own.

Plants and minerals connect me to the primordial breath of creation and, at the same time, to the eternal where there is no boundary between a before and an after but only continuity and interconnection.
Nature, through its metaphors, reveals the patterns of development that create harmony, beauty, unity.

My works are meant to reflect the macrocosm in a microcosm, emphasizing that the universe is an organic whole.

I use archaic building materials.
I rework the alchemy of ancient building and bring them inside, in the interiors of our time, giving them and myself new expressive opportunities.

Through different combinations of hemp-lime, earth and lime plaster, I achieve a variety of surface effects.
I create contrasts, both visual and tactile, playing with opposites until I find balance.
The uniqueness of the surfaces is also due to the natural elements, such as leaves, barley ears, barks, berries, that I sometimes incorporate in my works.
By choice, both artistic and ethical, I use only natural substances: lime, hemp, oxides and earth pigments, ashes, oils and waxes, so that the end result is a pulsating whole of life.

I MAKE UNIQUE, HANDMADE PIECES.
There is a margin of coincidence in the final result, a sort of "unexpected foreseen" that makes each works unrepeatable, to which my gesture contributes because, as a human being, it is never identical.

Working with the materials of mother earth requires a collaborative approach: participating and never dominating.

This attitude, before giving life to an object, gives rise to a harmonious relationship between me and the elements.

The synthesis is more than the simple sum of the individuals of which it is composed because it summarizes them in a superior unity that includes them but at the same time transcends them.

Each ingredient, already the result of previous syntheses, contains a fragment of the history of mother earth to which is added the time of the "here and now" that is in my studio. 

Paola Zanella

Mobirise


 MATERIALS

  • HEMP-LIME
  • " Hemp-lime is the meeting of two kingdoms, the vegetable and the mineral one. In my studio they express that principle which is in their very essence: cooperation. "
  • This bio-compound, which was supposedly already known 1,500 years ago, has some unique characteristics, such as fire resistance (obtained by the process of mineralization of hemp by hydrated lime), breathability, resistance to mold, hygroscopicity.


  • HEMP
  • " Hemp is a generous plant, it has the color of the sun and it smells of the field. "
  • Native to Asia and the Middle East, it was present in the Mediterranean basin thousands of years ago.
  • Of hemp, nothing goes to waste, every part of it is usable with great benefits for human being and the environment:
  • This plant is able to absorb high quantities of carbon dioxide and to reclaim lands contaminated by heavy metals, chemical pesticides or other polluting substances.
  • It has a high productivity, it grows quickly and it allows to obtain many products in various fields such as, for example, textile, paper, food, construction, as well as biofuels and bioplastics and more.
  • In the hemp-lime mixture, the latter acts as an inert.


  • LIME
  • " There is magic in taking a stone from the earth, cooking it and demolishing it by fire, making it plastic with water, working it according to will and regaining it solid through the influence of air. " (Empedocles in Fragment 12).
  • The use of lime in building dates back thousands of years.
  • Its use as a binder continued until the invention of Portland cement, which gradually led to its decline.
  • TADELAKT
  • " Tadelakt is a movement, it is the action of the stone that crushes, compacts and then caresses and polishes a soft paste, persuading it, without haste, to become stone again. "
  • Tadelakt is a limeplaster from Morocco. The name identifies precisely the gesture, the movement of the stones on the surface, necessary to obtain this special plaster. 
  • Today, as in the past, it is used in humid environments such as hammams, fountains (in the past, also cisterns) and for the walls of sumptuous riads, which underlines its value.
  • The lime for this plaster comes from the area of Marrakech and its characteristics, incomparable with any other, contribute to the final result together with the application technique.
  • The procedure consists in the laying of two layers of plaster, that are flattened by a trowel. Then two passages with stones of different grain are used to compact it.
  • The final step is to seal the plaster and make it waterproof by applying a solution of Moroccan black soap made from olive oil and then polish the surface again by passing with the fine-grained stone.
  • The end result is an extremely smooth, compact, glossy and waterproof surface.
  • After about a month, you can make the Tadelakt even more shiny using natural wax.
  • The time between steps depends on many factors and cannot be determined with certainty. One move early or late can undo the entire job.

  • RAW EARTH
  • " The earth is beautiful, it is eternal, and it will never be a waste. "
  • Raw earth is earth containing part sand and part clay, mixed with a vegetable fiber, such as straw or hemp, which is what I use.
  • It is the first material that man has used to build dwellings,  to make tools and decorative objects. Its use dates back to prehistoric times.
  • Raw earth is hygroscopic and breathable
Mobirise
HEMP-LIME VASES

Have you ever considered the pot from the plant's point of view?

Hemp-lime is natural, breathable, refractory to mold and hygroscopic (it retains excess moisture, releasing it in situations of deficiency): ideal qualities for plant well-being.

In addition, hemp-lime vase do not require drainage holes, do not need a saucer, and can accommodate the plant directly, giving you total freedom in your choice of vase.


Please, CONTACT ME
for purchasing information and to commission you piece.

[email protected]
+39 335 1414220
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© Copyright 2021
Almarera arte e terra
Paola Zanella, Rivoli (TO)
All Rights Reserved.

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