ART

Inside Tom Palmer’s New Alabaster Series at KALPA

The British artist and designer’s Vault Vessels pair rare alabaster with exacting geometry, revealing the stone’s soft translucency, varied inclusions, and quiet material presence

At KALPA, the arrival of spring is marked not through colour or ornament, but through alabaster. The gallery presents The Vault Vessels, a sculptural series by British artist and designer Tom Palmer, formed from Iberian alabaster, Volterra alabaster, and increasingly rare English alabaster. The works sit between sculpture, object, and architectural fragment, drawing attention to the mineral’s translucency, its tonal variation, and the quiet irregularities that make each block distinct

Alabaster has always carried a particular contradiction. It is stone, yet it can appear almost waxen. It has mass, yet when placed near light, it seems to hold and diffuse it from within. Palmer uses that ambiguity directly. Rather than concealing the mineral’s inclusions, veins, cloudy markings, and shifts from transparency to opacity, he gives them a disciplined structure. The vessels are not loose organic forms. They are rigorous, geometric objects, shaped through apertures, vertical shifts, perpendicular lines, and alternating convex and concave surfaces

The result is a body of work that feels both compact and architectural. Each piece has a stout physical presence, but its openings and internal passages introduce movement. The eye follows the changes in height, the compression of planes, the junctions between surfaces, and the way light gathers inside the material. Palmer’s interest in Minimalism is present here, not as emptiness, but as control. The form is pared back to geometry, allowing the stone itself to carry the complexity

There are clear architectural echoes throughout the series. The title, The Vault Vessels, points toward systems of enclosure, span, and support. The silhouettes recall elements of Romanesque and Gothic religious architecture, particularly the upward pull of arches, the meeting of structural lines, and the rhythm of vaulted space. At moments, the objects also suggest medieval plate armour, with their protective density and articulated surfaces. This is where the series gains tension: the alabaster remains delicate and translucent, while the form gives it weight, authority, and almost defensive strengt

Palmer’s process is shaped by the stone itself. The scale and final outline of each vessel are limited by the dimension of the raw block, meaning the work begins as a negotiation rather than a fixed imposition. As the alabaster is cut and worked, its internal character becomes visible. Hidden veins, tonal clouds, opaque passages, and luminous sections gradually appear, directing the final decisions. After establishing the primary silhouette with saws and grinders, Palmer moves to a more precise stage, refining the contours with Italian Milani rasps and Japanese Shinto rasps

This slower finishing process matters. It allows the vessels to retain the exactness of designed objects while still carrying the unpredictability of natural stone. The surfaces are not simply polished into neutrality. They hold evidence of mineral depth, of geological formation, and of the artist’s adjustment to what the material reveals. When light passes across the alabaster, the works shift. Veins become more visible, opaque areas gain density, and translucent sections soften the boundaries of the form

Palmer’s wider practice includes carved wood, pewter, wall pieces, furniture, objects, sculptures, and panels. His work draws from Medieval and Renaissance European culture, Japanese art and philosophy, and a broader interest in craft as a form of contemporary expression. Since beginning his practice in 2013, he has developed commissioned works across private and industry contexts, from intimate objects to larger-scale projects. His inclusion in the Homo Faber Guide of Craftsmanship, compiled by the Michelangelo Foundation in Venice, places his practice within a wider conversation around material knowledge and hand production

With The Vault Vessels, Palmer does not treat alabaster as decoration. He treats it as structure, atmosphere, and surface at once. The series gives the material enough discipline to feel architectural, while preserving the qualities that make it unstable, luminous, and singular. At KALPA, the works read less as vessels in the conventional sense than as small built spaces, objects that hold light, shadow, and mineral memory within a precise geometric frame

KALPA Art Living

Conceived as an immersive sanctuary, KALPA Galleries invites visitors into a timeless environment that feels simultaneously like a curated home and an otherworldly retreat. Set against the wild, ancient landscape of Volterra, Tuscany, its flagship resides within the 15th-century Palazzo Bonomini. A meticulous 2019 restoration by founder Olga Niescier and master restorer Cristiano Sabelli resurrected the palazzo’s historic walls using local stone and natural materials, effortlessly bridging centuries of history with contemporary elegance

Inside, KALPA champions a diverse global roster of artists and makers. They present tactile, organic works crafted from alabaster, bronze, raw earth, and wood—each piece intended to gracefully integrate into everyday life

Beyond its gallery walls, KALPA provides premier art consultancy for interior designers and architects. Their refined aesthetic vision has elevated prestigious global spaces, boasting high-profile collaborations with Aman New York, Molteni&C, and Milan Design Week