5 Lire

5 Lire

'5 Lire' is a sculpture, an installation. It is a limited edition of stools realised in three different heights or custom-made. It is a collection of oversized piled up coins of old Italian 5 Lire, made out of solid oak.
It is a series of containers, which can act as laundry bins, or as storage boxes where to keep medium-sized objects. The upper coin is magnetically fixed and acts as a lid which hides a deep felt pocket underneath.
'5 Lire' is also a provocation. Their huge scale have redundancy have a symbolic meaning, i.e. they represent the importance given to money in our society, the longing for money and accumulation. In Italy as in many other countries, today as in the past, money stands for power and social status, success and abuse, but it actually keeps you away from the pursuit of genuine life quality and it leads to the consumption of the most precious resources of nature.