Oceanida is the story of a transition: from idea to prototype, from imagination to physical verification, from the generated image to the resistance of the material. The project does not use the ocean as a simple formal repertoire, but as a conceptual matrix. The transparencies, nuances, deformations, and verticality of the bodies create a presence reminiscent of anemones, the motion of currents, and the silent vibration of the underwater world.
Oceanida
Elementaria | 2024
Oceanida was founded in 2023 to translate a specific idea into an exhibition: to draw attention to the beauty and fragility of the marine ecosystem through a language that combines visual research, material experimentation, and artisanal construction.
The project began with sketches and studies, developed with the help of artificial intelligence, and then moved on to real material: transparent PMMA tubes deformed to suggest a liquid, almost organic motion, as if the shape had been modeled by water and time. Its presentation at Elementaria, within Viscom Italia, places the work within a context dedicated to experimentation with exhibition design, materials, and biomimicry.
In this sense the installation takes on an almost ritual character. The tubes emerge from small cylindrical bases that guide their connection and balance, while at the top appears a spiral inscription—“Poetry will save the world”—which introduces a further dimension: not only observing nature, but recognizing in its fragility a cultural responsibility even before a technical one.
In this sense the installation takes on an almost ritual character. The tubes emerge from small cylindrical bases that guide their connection and balance, while at the top appears a spiral inscription—“Poetry will save the world”—which introduces a further dimension: not only observing nature, but recognizing in its fragility a cultural responsibility even before a technical one.
Strategy
The project strategy is based on three axes.
The first concerns biomimicry not as a literal imitation, but as an interpretive principle: understanding nature in order to transfer its logic, tensions, and behaviors into an exhibition artefact.
The second axis connects artificial intelligence and design practice. The studies generated in the preliminary phase do not replace the project, but rather broaden the range of possibilities, offering formal directions to be verified through the construction of the prototype.
The third axis concerns matter. The use of CleanSky tubes by Gevacril integrated into a manual transformation process aims to connect sustainability, transparency and perceptual value. Participation in Elementaria, an exhibition dedicated to prototypes and materials for display and retail design, makes this research approach consistent.
Design
From a design point of view, Oceanida was above all a test bed on the plastic deformations that can be induced in a heated PMMA tube. The challenge was not only technical, but expressive: to push the material beyond its industrial neutrality to give it a dynamic, almost biological character.
The tubes were manually shaped to obtain an irregular and vibrant silhouette, as if the sea had engraved their profile. The support base is made of small support cylinders into which the elements are fitted, creating a simple yet effective system that highlights the apparent lightness of the whole.
At the top, the spiral-shaped text introduces a semantic counterpoint, while the water-based painting with a shaded effect generates a play of light, depth, and transparency that reinforces the reference to the underwater landscape.
Results
Oceanida gives the display a more cultured and sensitive dimension. No longer a simple exhibition support, but a narrative structure capable of activating imagination, memory and environmental reflection.
The project's most significant result lies in the convergence of different languages: the initial design, the AI-assisted exploration, the physical testing of the material, the manual processing, and the final poetic device. In this convergence, the project demonstrates how technical material can become a story, and how exhibition research can take on an almost installation-like value.
The exhibition at Elementaria confirmed the relevance of the work within a platform dedicated to biomimetic prototypes and material experimentation.
