ECHOES

This project is a homage to the rich cultural heritage of historic Italian public fountains that serve as hubs for communal gathering, nodes for social interaction. The fountain is a 3-meter-high, cone-shaped air structure that aims to challenge and deconstruct traditional notions of fountains as merely decorative elements of urban environments. Its minimalist geometric form and the transparent biodegradable PVC material allow visitors to observe hidden elements that are typically concealed in other fountains such as the water pump and the water recirculation system. The inflatable fountain floats atop a constructed reflective water pond creating a striking contrast between permanence and impermanence, rigidness and delicacy.

Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis are a duo behind the studio Objects of Common Interest, working within the realm of art, design, and architecture, blending projects in scale from objects and installations to interactive immersive environments and interior spaces. They are also founding partners of the sibling studio LOT office for architecture, and they are based between New York and Athens.

Their work has been exhibited at art and design institutions, galleries, and fairs–including solo shows at the Noguchi Museum, Etage Projects, Carwan Gallery, Architecture Biennale, and the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Their work allows various kinds of collaboration such as the partnership with Kvadrat to produce the object/installation Doric Column–Kinetic Object, and public installations such as the project Lights On, which was commissioned by Cultural Capital of Italy 2023. Objects of common interest were formed with the focus on creating still-life installations and experiential environments and objects, demonstrating a fixation with materiality, concept, and tangible spatial experiences. The work roots from an amalgamation of thinking and making between two diverse poles, Greece and New York. Objects of Common Interest were among the judges for Wallpaper* Design Awards for 2023. In the year 2022, they were named ‘Designers of the year’ and won the Wallpaper* Design award 2022. For the last two consecutive years, they have been honorees for the AD100 list 2022 of the top designers and architects and they also won the design prize 2021 for experimentation by Designboom Awards. Their work has been widely featured in the press including The Wall Street Journal, TMagazine, Wallpaper*, Elle Decor, Surface Magazine, Architectural Digest, FRAME, and PHAIDON publishers.