arble has been used for centuries to create ageless sculptures and build lasting monuments. But in the hands of designer Mitchell Mauk, the stone took on an ethereal feel in the form of an exhibit for The Italian Trade Commission (Marble Center).

When the commission — in partnership with the Italian regions of Liguria, Toscana, Lazio, Puglia, Sicilia, and the Provincia Autonoma di Trento — first came to Mauk Design, the group wanted a booth to display 80 types of marble from the aforementioned regions of Italy. Given the weighty mass of marble, as well as the sheer number of samples, one might expect a dense, cluttered mess.

But Mauk delivered an exhibit that defied that notion. When developing the design, fossilized nautilus-shaped seashells on some of the marble tiles offered inspiration. “We were trying to find a structure that would take all the different kinds of marble and put them in a coherent shape,” Mauk said. “The spiral idea came very early on. It’s a natural shape.”

The tiles were mounted on hinged infinite brackets along the steel frame of the spiral. According to Mauk, the hinges allowed the pieces to be angled in the best possible viewing position. The spiral began with the first tiles lying almost horizontal at knee level. Following the line of the spiral to the center, the steel framework holding the tiles rose higher, with the tiles angled ever more vertical.

“The way to make something stand out at a trade show is to make it as simple and clean as it can be,” Mauk said. And that simplicity was not lost on judges, one of whom said, “The design seems easy and effortless, but that’s the beauty of it. Simplicity doesn’t always come easy. It takes sophistication and intelligence to pull it off.”e