shiro studio: marble lunar crater trays

'mare tranquillitatis' by shiro studio

lunar craters are almost two billion years old, and today, we can observe them unchanged since their formation. 
these craters show the physical impact over an undisturbed terrain by revealing the presence of concave depressions, 
left by the collision of an object against the silent lunar surface. london-based shiro studio has developed a series of marble trays, 
'mare tranquilitatis', conceived by applying the lunar craters analogy, where every intersecting concavity is metaphorically carved 
by the mass and weight of the resting objects. the diversity of depths for each concavity generates different diameters, 
allowing a variety of different objects to comfortably rest on the tray. the fine ribbed texture reveals the industrial milling process 
and it has been deliberately left visible to declare its contemporary machined genesis. each individual tray measures 350 x 350 x 55 mm 
and is made of white carrara c marble, manufactured in italy.



up close
 
possible usage

 
front view of the tray


 
detail of the tray

 
detail revealing the milled texture