Pool of dreams

Dubai, the city of dreams, has always believed in being the best in everything it sets out to do; so it is of little surprise that the world's largest swimming pool is being planned to grace its shoreline.

The pool – envisaged to be part of a tourist resort – will connect with the open sea and feature hand-painted ceramic and terracotta tiles in antique motifs by Sicilian artist Sergio Furnari, who is flying into Dubai tomorrow from his New York studio to work on his masterpiece and garner support for his dream project.

While work on the pool is already under way, Furnari is looking for investors to get behind this project. On November 14, he will show the prototype of the pool to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at the Burj Al Arab. A highly appropriate site for such a preview, you have to admit.

But why does this Sicilian artist get so fired up about tiles and swimming pools?

Furnari's most celebrated art piece is the life-sized sculpture, Lunchtime on Top of the Skyscraper, which depicts 11 construction workers sitting on an I-beam during the construction of New York's Rockefeller Center. Based on the famous 1932 black-and-white photograph of the same name, it took two years to make.

The sculpture was displayed at Ground Zero in Manhattan for eight months in 2001-2002 as a dedication to the workers who built the city. Miniature versions of it are sold in galleries across the US.

"The iron workers' sculpture was an idea straight from the heart," says Furnari, 37. "This was because I was in love with what those guys represent: hard work, persistence, devotion and sacrifice – all that, in the name of their families and aiming to break a record: to build the tallest skyscraper of the time, much like the workers in Dubai today. To me, every worker who goes to work every day is a hero."

Among the Sicilian's other large projects are hotels, resorts, spas and private swimming pools in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami, Palm Beach, New Jersey, New York and, of course, Italy. So busy is he jetsetting between sites that he had to take time out for his Dubai dream project.

"I had offers from places like Las Vegas to build this mega-sized project, but that is a city made of fibreglass. I need a place where my artwork could identify with its traditions and history – and this is definitely the case in Dubai," he says.

Furnari is passionate – as Italians are prone to be – about his Dubai project, which he hopes will make it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest swimming pool at approximately 550,000 square feet. In an e-mail interview with Friday, he reflects on his life, his work and his burning ambition to achieve a world-first in Dubai.

Like many artists, Furnari is a fiery man by temperament, but he is also fiery by name. His surname, Furnari, literally means: ‘person who attends to the furnace, kiln or fire'. True to his name, part of his art includes firing ceramic tiles in ovens with near-solar temperatures.

He inherits this heated passion and zest for life from his parents and extended family, who seem to be the perennial font of his creative inspiration. "My parents – father, Giuseppe, and mother, Giacoma Mazzei – my brothers Giacomo, Giovanni, Angelo and Fabio, my cousins, aunts, uncles and nephews have always been my inspiration because they are just like me – in love with the gift of life," says Furnari.

"My parents were and are a great inspiration. They provided my brothers and me with everything. They have always supported me and this really helped me from a very early age. All my brothers are artistically inclined. Two restore antique artworks, one restores antique cars and the other is a famous hairdresser. Art was part of our life from an early age."

A young artist

"I was born in the antique town of Caltagirone, which is famous for its ancient art traditions. Italians have an ancient history of art. One of the first and greatest civilisations in Europe has its roots in that land and that ancient art influence is still in the air there – it is preserved in our traditions.

"I would say that I got my feel for aesthetics and balance from my mother and father, who put in a lot of effort instilling that in me. I will always be grateful to them for that.
"Even before I turned 5, I was already drawing and sculpting. When I was 6, I started my first job in Caltagirone Sculpting Foundry. I was only sweeping floors there, but I could learn from the art masters – and that was what was important.

Every day after school I would go there and spend hours and hours learning techniques and studying art: from 2 pm to 8 pm or even later. That is how I spent my leisure time for nearly six years before I was actually accepted to study in the best art school in Sicily.

"At an early age, my parents let me do whatever I wished, so long as I could pay for it myself. For example, when I was 10 I bought my first motorcycle with my own money. This, you could say, taught me responsibility, more than anything else.

"My father died in 1985, when I was about 15, so my brothers and I had to go out and find jobs. I would go to school in the morning, then work in the afternoon to help pay the bills at home. In the summer, to make extra money, I would work from 8 am to midnight. When school reopened in September, that was the time for my rest and vacation!"

Destiny is like a falling star: if you can catch the stardust, you can have all the fortune, but you need to be at the right place at the right time. Furnari feels he got his chance by being an alumnus of the famous Accademia D'Arte Per Ceramic Della Sicilia.

"Those were some of the best years in my life! We studied a lot of architecture there: built prototypes of buildings, facades and pools; we were taught sculpting, sketching, drawing and art history. Without that school, I may have been just another nobody in the art world. I consider myself lucky for having studied there."

His studies and his work moulded his character, which acquired a brilliant finish as it was fired by the trials and tribulations of time.

"After the death of my father, my mother gave my brothers and me the strength to keep going," Furnari says. "All of them live in Italy now. I am the only one who can keep up with the speed of life in New York."

New York, New York

Furnari says he fell in love with the energy and dynamism of New York when he first went to the US.

"I first visited New York when I was 18. I found a city that had something more to it – in fact, it had everything. I remember thinking that there, in that city, any dream could turn into a reality. It wasn't the skyscrapers that impressed me so much as the people from every corner of the world living peacefully together.

"That is what an artist needs – unlimited possibilities and boundless sources of inspiration. Since then, I have been living and working between Italy and the US, searching for inspiration. I started from nothing, but today, celebrities seek my art!" says Furnari, whose clients have included Jennifer Lopez, Al Pacino and Celine Dion.

This is not to say that Furnari caters exclusively to the rich. The son of a truck driver, he knows what it's like to work hard and his connection to the common man is evident in the iron workers' sculpture. Furnari migrated to the US in the early 1990s, but still has a strong connection with Sicily.

"I love Italy and the US, where I have already accomplished a lot … but now it is time to create a world landmark and I believe the best place for that is Dubai. This mega-sized infinity pool connected to the ocean is destined to attract millions of tourists."

Dazzled by Dubai

When Furnari visited Dubai for the first time in January, he was stunned by the city.

"I was invited (to Dubai) by a friend who is a developer to discuss work on small-scale projects – regular-sized pools, lobbies and spas. I came to Dubai also because I was looking for the ideal place for my project and from what I had heard and read, the city sounded as a good choice – fast-moving and fast-growing, with a lot of challenging projects becoming a reality. Only after I came there, though, was I able to truly grasp the feeling of the city – it is magnificent.

"I was absolutely amazed and inspired by the buildings in Dubai. After all, I know what it takes to build."

Once in Dubai, he knew he had found the right place to achieve his dream. "I have been searching around the world for the ideal place to manifest my concepts and inspirations. When I travelled to Dubai, I felt I had found that place at last. There is no other place moving forward so boldly with such ambitious projects – the world's tallest skyscraper; the largest themed mall in the Middle East; the biggest indoor ski-slope; the world's tallest atrium lobby and the largest man-made islands in the world ..." Furnari says he's always strived for excellence, adding, "now it is the same as ever – just the scale is a little bit larger.

"Life is all about breaking records. If there were no records to be broken, life would have been really boring and there would have been no stories to tell to my children and grandchildren.

"I am absolutely obsessed with this project and have been working on it day and night. In fact, when I sleep I dream about swimming in the pool and day by day I am turning this dream into a reality. By February, I should be ready to ship and install the central part of the pool, measuring 100 by 100 feet, which is currently being painted in New York."

Furnari says his work is partly influenced by Arabic motifs with Mediterranean influences. As an art student, he was always fascinated by Arabic art and architecture.

"My designs are just interpretations of Arabic designs. [This fusion] is a little bit like the history of Sicily. Sicily was – and still is, to an extent – more an example of [Arabic] influence than of northern Italy. We have many Arabic monuments all over the island. Over the centuries, Sicily has been greatly influenced by Arab culture."

Family man

There's no hiding Furnari's pride in his homeland. And like any red-blooded Sicilian, he is wholeheartedly devoted to his wife, Julia – who is an illustrator – and three daughters: Jade (green) Azzurra (azure blue) and Ivory. An indulgent father, he often allows his daughters to be with him at his studio dabbling in paints and ceramics.

"My daughters and my wife are truly four muses; they are my inspiration. I think of them all the time and they give me strength to keep working to give them a better and better life. I always try my best to make them happy as I hope to be their inspiration one day. I spend as much time with my family as I can; that is one of the things that makes me the happiest.

"The largest swimming pool in the world will be dedicated to them. In 50 years, when they look at that pool, I hope that they and their children in turn will be inspired by it.

"What I consider my greatest accomplishment so far is my wonderful family … I believe that no man can be truly happy or successful without a family. I have a wonderful wife and three beautiful daughters who are in charge of the decoration at home. Jade is 5, Azzurra is 3 and Ivory is 1. At home, they are painting night and day – mostly on ceramics. They have created tables, kitchen backsplashes and bathroom tiles, just as colourful as you would expect them to be.

"In my free time, I like taking [my] boat [out] with my wife and kids and sailing around New York. I love spending time with my children.

"At night, sometimes, I work on my antique race cars, restoring them and driving them around New York. However, this hobby has become quite rusty since I started work on this project. Most of the time I am painting and sculpting in my studio."
For the time being, Furnari is all set to drop anchor in Dubai because he needs to be here to supervise the construction of the project.

"You could say that I am a control freak – I need to make sure everything is just perfect, down to the last square inch. I like living in different places: Beverly Hills, Miami and Italy [while undertaking projects]. It is always nice to change the environment for a while. That is why I plan on getting myself a nice little oasis for the time I am going to be in Dubai – somewhere on the beach, probably."

Quest to build a landmark

To those who wonder why he indulges in such extremities of imagination, Furnari retorts: "Why not? This pool is being built because Dubai is a great inspiration for something as beautiful and magnificent as (the pool). The people of [the] UAE deserve to enjoy the largest and most beautiful swimming pool in the world."

Even as his passion runs high, he is deeply aware of another truth that is required to make dreams come true: money. " ... so far I do not have any financial support from investors – and clearly a lot of money will be needed for the project. I have already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars myself.

"However, every memorable project takes more than an individual to build, it takes a nation.
"I have already had an encouraging response from companies in the UAE. I hope that during my forthcoming trip to Dubai, I will find the financial partners to make it happen.

"I hope that my passion will become the nation's passion ... once the unveiling (takes place) for the first time ever of the prototype of the largest swimming pool in the world in the Burj Al Arab, Dubai, on November 14.

"So far, all the money that has gone into its creation is my own money. When I believe in something, I invest. It is not like I am baking cakes, which I will throw out the next day! What I do will last millennia. Even after 10,000 years, my art work will look just as shiny and bright as it does the day I finish it.

"The largest swimming pool in the world comes from my heart. It started as an inspiration, then it became a sketch. After that, it grew into a prototype and now it is a circle 100 feet in diameter."

In fact, Furnari has thought beyond getting the pool to grace Dubai's shoreline. If it so happens that another pool challenges his project's place in the annals of history, if anybody tries to break his record in any other part of the world, Sergio Furnari's swimming pool "could be extended further by connecting smaller pools with channels," he says.
"I want to leave a mark. Of course, I will leave my children after me, which is already a great thing, but it would be even greater if I also leave a mark as the creator of the largest art work in the world. Wouldn't that be inspiring for generations to come?"
(Sergio Furnari's other works can be seen on his website www.SergioFurnari.com)

Nuts and bolts of the dream

As logistics go, the figures of the swimming pool project are mind-boggling. "The pool will be larger than two football fields put together and will be surrounded by smaller swimming pools," says Furnari, who adds that the area around it will be "highly desirable real estate".

But building the pool is simpler than it sounds, he adds. "First, digging a hole in the ground will take a couple of weeks. The second step is to reinforce the whole structure with steel, then all pipe and electric systems will be installed. After that, cement is poured on the structure. It is that simple.

"To create a structure for the pool will take approximately six months.

"An Olympic-sized swimming pool has an area of approximately 13,500 square feet. This pool will be approximately 550,000 square feet and covered with about 2.2 million 6 by 6-inch tiles [most of these made in Italy].

"Painting these 2.2 million tiles will take a year of work and energy from a team of painters, trained and directed by me. There will be areas about 1 foot deep for kids with steps going down to about 4 feet, which will be the main area of the pool. However, there will be smaller pools connected to it as deep as 20 feet for diving competitions."

"In addition to the hand-painted tiles, there will also be platinum and 24-karat gold hand-carved tiles and hand-made and carved benches. The design would include Middle Eastern traditional art, horses and a touch of Mediterranean classical design.

"The Guinness Book of World Records is involved in this world record, and my idea is to connect the main pool, which will be about 600 feet by 300 feet, to smaller pools and channels that will be approximately 1,500 feet long."

Timeless art

Furnari says the properties of ceramic art enable it to withstand the vagaries of time. Therefore it is the best medium to immortalise art.

"I have always been fascinated with the process of painting on ceramic surfaces and even more with the transformation that those paintings undergo when they are fired in the kiln," he says. "There is some kind of magic that happens in there at this near-solar temperature.

"Everything comes from the earth and the sand. The combination of fire and water is what has always attracted me most in my art work. The fire can turn sand into glass that literally lasts for thousands of years. There are Egyptian glassworks from the time of the pyramids that have survived until the present time."

"What I do is very simple: I burn sand and earth at 2,000ÞF. My techniques have evolved from methods employed thousands of years ago that I am interpreting.

"Some Roman baths are 2,000 years old and they will last thousands of years. I am simply using the same technique when I install my art work – not much has changed since then.
"It is very simple: glazed porcelain tiles will last thousands of years, the same way that lava can last thousands of years.

They are both crystallised elements.

"[In the pool], the water is actually going to seal and protect the glazed tiles from the elements."