The Adorable Elephountain Installation for LEA Ceramiche.

elephountain ceramic installation

“Elephountain interprets the theme of water in a joyful and poetic manner.”
At Bologna Water Design, Lea Ceramiche presented “Elephountain”, a collaborative installation by Cibic workshop design and illuminated by Luceplan.

Ceramic Elephant Fountain Installation

The ceramic elephant fountain installation was designed to present LEA Ceramiche’s Slimtech 3 Plus, ultra-thin slabs of ceramic upon which digitally printed patterns can exist. The sculpture, a large fountain, consists of a tank and a central wall on which ten red elephant heads are fixed, through which water flows.

elephountain sketch IIHIH

The animal heads recall the ancient tradition where the water source was expressed through the depiction of wild animals.

elephountain 5 IIHIH

elephountain 2 IIHIH

elephountain Ceramic Elephant Fountain Installation

Ceramic Elephant Fountain Installation

Ceramic Elephant Fountain Installation

Hand-molding the elephant heads of clay:
elephountain 10 IIHIH

elephountain 11 IIHIH

The central structure that holds the ceramic shapes is entirely covered with Slimtech. The large slabs, only 3.5mm thick and characterized by oversized formats up to a maximum of 3m x 1m, cover the tank providing a cement effect.

elephountain Ceramic Elephant Fountain Installation

elephountain 3 IIHIH

Slimtech is visible on both sides of the vertical block: a lightweight design is imprinted using the innovative Lea digital printing technique on laminated porcelain, with the delicate patterns (shown below) lending movement to the surface to create a three-dimensional effect.

slimtech printed ceramic hero IIHIH

“Happy”, part of the pattern collection designed by Cibic workshop for LEA Ceramiche to experiment new applications of digitally printed ultra-thin ceramic surfaces.:
happy pattern IIHIH

“Kinescope”, part of the pattern collection designed by Cibic workshop for LEA Ceramiche to experiment new applications of digitally printed ultra-thin ceramic surfaces.:
kinescope pattern

“Volcano”, part of the pattern collection designed by Cibic workshop for LEA Ceramiche to experiment new applications of digitally printed ultra-thin ceramic surfaces.:
Volcano pattern IIHIH

“Noodles“, part of the pattern collection designed by Cibic workshop for LEA Ceramiche to experiment new applications of digitally printed ultra-thin ceramic surfaces.:
Noodles 1 pattern IIHIH

“Noodles -brown”, part of the pattern collection designed by Cibic workshop for LEA Ceramiche to experiment new applications of digitally printed ultra-thin ceramic surfaces.:
Noodles pattern IIHIH

The Elephountain installation shows the multiple applications of ultra-thin slab. Easily adaptable for covering any surface as a traditional floor and wall tiles, as well as for a non-conventional use of ceramic material, Slimtech can be used for fountains and swimming pools like in the installation for the Bologna Water Design, creating decorative effects with strong visual impact.

Now, if only they’d sell those Elephant head faucets!!!! 2019 UPDATE: Coincidentally they did mass produce the elephant heads but as decorative wall sculptures, not functioning fountains.

glazed elephant head
Eleph is a coloured glazed ceramic sculpture shaped like an elephant head, from the Bassano del Grappa ceramic district

Elephoutain design by Cibic workshop: Aldo Cibic and Tommaso Corà with Diego Lucchini.
Ceramic surfaces by LEA Ceramiche Slimtech 3 Plus
Lighting by Luceplan
Photos by Alberto Parise and are courtesy of Cibic workshop