AMO's Stone Groceries Move to Retail After Milan Stunt

May 26. AMO's stone groceries are for sale.

The pieces debuted in Milan as part of Il Sonno Supermarket, an installation staged by Dutch stone supplier SolidNature. Travertine milk cartons. Onyx bananas. Marble lemons. The kind of object that photographs well but reads as exhibition-only. Except visitors kept asking to buy them. So SolidNature put them into production.

The collection includes nine pieces. Each is carved from a single block of stone. The milk carton is travertine, weight undisclosed but heavy enough to require two hands. The banana is onyx, veined in a way that mimics bruising. The lemon is Carrara marble. There's also a stone avocado, a stone egg, and what the studio calls a "stone baguette," which is exactly what it sounds like.

Pricing is on request, which usually means expensive. SolidNature ships globally but lists lead times at eight to twelve weeks per piece. Custom stone means custom logistics.

AMO, the research arm of OMA, has a history of turning gallery concepts into retail objects. This one works because the joke is patient. A stone banana is funny once. A stone banana that someone actually ordered and waited three months to receive is funnier. The installation was the pitch. The product line is the punchline.

The pieces ship starting June. SolidNature's site lists them under "Special Edition," which is accurate. They're sculptural paperweights disguised as groceries, or groceries disguised as sculpture. Either way, someone will put one on a coffee table and wait for the question.