Designer surfaces on display at the MIC in Faenza

In conjunction with the two major trade fairs devoted to ceramics, Cersaie in Bologna and Tecnargilla in Rimini, the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza (MIC) is hosting an exhibition entitled “Designer Surfaces” that will run from 22 September to 9 October 2016 and will showcase excellence in international design in the field of industrial ceramics. The exhibition, organised with the contribution of Sacmi and in collaboration with Confindustria Ceramica, Cersaie, Acimac and Tecnargilla, hosts the work of four leading Italian ceramic tile producers (CEDIT-Florim Group, Lea Ceramiche, Mutina and Ceramica Sant’Agostino) together with a number of internationally-renowned designers.

“When it comes to design in the ceramic industry, one automatically thinks of Italian production,” commented Eugenio Emiliani, Chairman of the MIC Faenza Foundation. “Italy has always sought to maintain or improve the quality of its products, and this has often led to collaboration with designers and artists. In Faenza we wanted to exhibit some of their projects to demonstrate the outstanding level of quality achieved in Italian production and the further potential that exists for the use of ceramics in modern architecture.”

After more than fifty years of experimentation with materials and stylistic research in the ceramic sector, CEDIT-Ceramiche d’Italia (Florim group) returns to the spotlight with a new range of products developed as a partnership between some of the leading names in Italian contemporary creativity. It offers a journey amongst fabrics, symbols, erosions, materials and memories explored through the gaze and creativity of artists and designers, giving examples of Italian excellence from different generations that reinterpret architecture and living spaces. Visitors to the exhibition in Faenza can admire works by Barbara Brondi & Marco Rainò, Marco Casamonti, Giorgio Griffa, Franco Guerzoni, Matteo Nunziati, Giorgia Zanellato & Daniele Bortotto, presented at the Fuorisalone in Milan.

Mutina, which has been involved in designer projects since 2005, is displaying the work of some of its leading designers in Faenza, including Barber & Osgerby, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Raw Edges, Patricia Urquiola and Tokujin Yoshioka. Their shared challenge is to explore the infinite range of whites, blacks and neutrals, which become colours that can be coordinated, juxtaposed, contrasted or chosen as a total look. Ceramic tile is no longer seen merely as a surface covering material but as an interior design project in its own right. The work of these designers is based on continuous research efforts aimed at finding the most suitable artisanal or hi-tech industrial processes for the production of ceramic floor and wall tiles capable of cladding works of architecture like a second skin.

Lea Ceramiche, which since the early 2000s has been collaborating with world-famous architects and designers, offers a new vision of ceramic products represented by the work of two designers who have been much in the spotlight recently: Patrick Norguet with the “Naive Slimtech” collection that combines design with advanced technology, artisanship with industry, porcelain with glaze; and Diego Grandi with Type 32 Slimtech, winner of the Honourable Mention in the Compasso d’Oro ADI 2016 competition last June. With Type 32, Diego Grandi creates a surprising play of graphic designs in 4 different colours that allow for unlimited combinations and a unique kind of decorated floor.

Last but not least, Ceramica Sant’Agostino is presenting Flexible Architecture by Philippe Starck, a striking and innovative collection that revolutionises the way in which ceramic tiles are used in architecture, abandoning their traditional function as a simple decorative cladding and establishing them as an integral part of the project. Rather than something that should be hidden or eliminated, the joint takes on new meaning and is transformed into a modular decorative element.