ABOUT US
Founded in 2008 by Patrizia Furnari and Fabio Fazio, Lithea has its roots firmly buried in the Sicilian land. Born in collaboration with the historic family company, its intention is to transfer long standing passion and the ancient knowledge of stone production techniques to an innovative design concept which thanks to sophisticated production processes and advanced technology launched a research and experimentation process that is in constant development.
LITHEA produces cladding, flooring, accessories and indoor and outdoor furnishing. The material of choice is natural stone. From lava stone to pitchstone, from the Portoro black marble to the white Carrara stone, from the Comiso stone to the grey Tunisi stone: a collection of exquisite refined samples from the thousand year old history moulded into textures of rare beauty that cover every surface, the preamble of decoration of each ambient.
OUR MATERIALS
STONE, a natural material which comes from the ground, irregular, imperfect, unique, fascinating and never two pieces alike.
STONE is known for its longevity and its history. Just consider the stone monuments that stand the test of time, those most important and sacred stone sites, those most trodden stone roads and squares, and also those stone baths, mortars, grinders and millstones that convey a fusion of long-lasting faith in the eternal and every-day life. In contrast with the elasticity of metals, stone has a strong resistance, a weighty solidity, the strength to carry the weight of the world.
Stones are multicoloured fragments of the world.
The countless varieties and the unfolding variation of colours, from red, to green, to blue and to yellow, striped, streaked, flamboyant and veined. Such stones enjoyed an uninterrupted good fortune dating back to antiquity, having renewed and perfected the techniques imported to the island by the Arabs, inherited from the Normans and elevated during the magnificent reign of Frederick II.
Sicily is a chest brimming with treasures originating from marble and stone, extracted and worked for thousands of years. Their use has very ancient origins. Pliny claimed that agate was found for the first time in the river Achates, from which it received its name. According to Athenaeus, the lavish ship gifted to Ptolomy III of Egypt from Hiero II was adorned with hard stone encrusted flooring, a source of pride for the island conveying its craftsmanship and resources.
PHILOSOPHY
Lithea promotes the culture of design. On one hand by promoting the collaboration of industrial design with industrial perspective and techniques and controlled numerical manufacturing of blocks of material. On the other hand, Lithea takes into account the patient work carried out by its artisans who uphold the ancient techniques of production and contribute to making each product a unique piece. The desire to introduce experimentation in the use of industrial products combined with the search for creativity gives life to designer objects of the highest aesthetic quality.
Today’s wise hands firmly tightened to those of the fathers from whom they learned the movements, the control, the rhythm of the gesture, shape the material.
LITHEA reinvents the face of the lithic material which has infinite and inadvertent varieties fully classing it as one of the contemporary materials. From its headquarters in Sicily, the company opens itself up to a worldwide distribution of its products promoting a modern vision of the use of stone and marble with a typically Italian flavour.