Marmo+Mac, the big annual European Stone Show in Verona, Italy, this year invited exhibitors and visitors to choose the stonework that will help promote the exhibition for the next five years. They chose Teddy Boy, produced by Qeebo Milano in collaboration with the designer Stefano Giovannoni and stone supplier the Testi Group.

Teddy Boy was the winner of the Icon Award, an image of the winner of which is used to help promote the show for the next five years. For the first time this year the organisers decided to ask exhibitors and visitors to Marmo+Mac, which was back at the fair ground in Verona after being online only last year due to Covid, to act as a popular jury. People could also vote using the Marmo+Mac Instagram profile.

As always, the works participating in the contest were those displayed in The Italian Stone Theatre at the exhibition, where designers are invited to work with stone companies to make innovative use of the latest stone processing machinery to demonstrate the capabilities of both Italian designers and the stone industry to deliver what they design. The idea is to encourage architects and designers all over the world to be imaginative in their use of stone.

There were nearly 40 exhibits at The Italian Stone Theatre this year in categories called In Our Time, Paths of Art, Brand&Stone 3.0, Designer Tables and Young Stone Project. The overall title of the Theatre's production this year was Time In Stone. The exhibits were selected by the curators Vincenzo Pavan and Raffaello Galiotto.

Teddy Boy was part of Brand&Stone 3.0, curated by Giorgio Canale on a concept developed by Danilo di Michele. They describe Teddy Boy as "a provocative work that represents the emotional object par excellence, turning into a majestic, one meter high, marble object. Teddy Boy winks to the traditional toy with an irreverent attitude, mixing teddy bear’s traits with 'almost human' features".

The exhibition organisers say the image of Teddy Boy will emphasise an even more avant-garde 2022 Marmo+Mac.