Working with production scraps is a challenge that brings new creative juice, original textures, unexplored colour solutions that move our emotions.

This is the idea behind the collaboration between Alessandro Ciffo, well-known artist who has been creating with silicone for over 25 years, and Sargomma Srl SB, manufacturing company specializing in the production of rubber components, which has recently become a Benefit Company increasing its commitment to environmental and social sustainability.

The synergy between Sargomma and Alessandro Ciffo is a vivid example of how art and industry, manufacturing experience and creativity, design and sustainability can dialogue virtuously.

This led to the project SKIN in 2020, with the aim of creating repurposed silicone coverings for the interior & exterior design sector.

In 2021 SKIN went international and participated at Downtown Design in Dubai and at Ro Plastic Prize in Milan.

In 2022 the collaboration expanded further and the SKIN team met Daria Biryukova, an Austria-based designer fascinated by experimenting with waste and secondary raw materials.

This international partnership led to participation in "WORTH", a project funded by the European Commission for the creation of cross-border and cross-discipline collaborations between designers, crafters, SME manufacturers, tech-firms and start-ups to develop innovative and sustainable solutions in the design field.

This ambitious step involves joining the objectives of the New European Bauhaus, a program that encourages discussion and experimentation about the physical spaces of our lives, with a creative and interdisciplinary approach to rethink our cities, making them more livable, functional and accessible.

The Team is now implementing the use of natural pigments in a blend of regenerated silicone, obtained by mixing ground industrial waste with virgin material. The final goal is to use this material to develop the functional prototype of a modular cladding system suitable for different scenarios such as offices, retail, hospitality, children's environments.

The approach adopted in this project is deeply technical. Indeed, part of the collaboration is dedicated to the development of an optimized production process in order to reduce costs, allowing the possibility of making art and design more accessible and inclusive.

Art, innovation and technique at the service of the environment and the community.