Presented during Salone del Mobile 2018 in Milan, Altered States explores the changing states of water — solid, liquid and gas - as it relates to the experience of the kitchen island. Commissioned by Caesarstone, the project was installed inside the historic Palazzo dell’Ufficio Elettorale. Altered States invites visitors to reconsider the elements of ice, water and steam and their connection to the everyday rituals of the kitchen island, such as cooking, gathering, entertaining and working.

Composed from stacked layers of quartz, the kitchen island forms a landscape of functional surfaces. Large spheres of ice slowly melt as fountains of water cascade down to a heated surface that permeates a cloud of steam above the island.

A landscape of cylindrical pedestals constructed from metal mesh and a monochromatic gradient of quartz form an amphitheater surrounding the space. Varying in height, the pedestals rise and fall to conceal and reveal the island encapsulated at the center and people within the environment.