Archive of September 2007

Within the Catalogue section of Designtalestudio.com we have recently opened a brand-new section called Prototypes d’Autore, in which we have grouped all the ceramic slab projects that we developed in collaboration with famous artists and designers. We have called them “prototypes”, as they haven’t been produced yet although they have been available to show only during special events, such as Design On Stage at the Triennale exhibition in Milan in April 2007 or the forthcoming Grand Design Tour taking place in Bologna from October 3 to 6 2007.

Amongst the Prototypes d’Autore you will eventually see the complete series of drawings by Karim Rashid and Peter Halley; Elio Fiorucci’s “lips”; Michele De Lucchi’s totem; the crushed paper by Sandra Bermudez; Lucio Dalla’s fish and Romina Power’s Tao.

Last Friday the traditional pre-Cersaie meeting, which saw the participation of the entire sales force, took place. It was the perfect occasion to go over the company’s current position, to recap the marketing and communication strategies and, above all, to give the agents a preview of all the new products that will be launched during the trade-fair.

There was great excitement about Refin’s and DesignTaleStudio’s new products. Introduced as the equivalent of Ferrari for Fiat, DesignTaleStudio is confirming its role of fore-runner and innovator, also according to our sales force on the field, and is acting as the ideal foil for some cutting-edge projects, specifically in the bar and restaurant sector. Thanks to its new product ranges always on the quest for large size formats and aesthetic innovation, DesignTaleStudio ceramics also address the residential architecture featuring, without compromise, a modern and refined design.

Another hot topic discussed during the meeting was that of the “Made in Italy” identity. Refin and DesignTaleStudio will continue to be “100% Made In Italy”, therefore a long-term guarantee of quality and reliability. And, again, according to our sales staff, in such cases, the market seems to appreciate our decision.

We will have the opportunity to go into greater depth on these topics in subsequent posts; as for our new products…come and visit us at our stand at Cersaie in Pavillon 36 (B32 C 37) and you will see!

Once again, on the occasion of the forthcoming Cersaie, DesignTaleStudio has programmed an event in which ceramic, art and design blend in a mutual creative language. A travelling “fuorisalone” during which some of the most important art galleries in Bologna will showcase the slabs designed by Elio Fiorucci, Karim Rashid, Michele De Lucchi, Peter Halley, Lucio Dalla and Sandra Bermudez for DesignTaleStudio: a great tour in the heart of the city on the quest for design. In essence, the “Grand Design Tour”.

Six galleries are involved in the event: Otto Gallery, Galleria d’Arte Maggiore G.A.M, Trimarchi Arte Moderna, Galleria Forni, L’Ariete Artecontemporanea, Galleria Stefano Forni. “Director” of the event, as last Spring for Design On Stage, is the architect Laura Villani; the initiative is supported by Ascom and the Associazione Gallerie, Bologna. The grand opening will take place at 3, Piazza Maggiore, on October 3, 2007 at 5,30 p.m. with a special surprise guest.

We on the blog will play our part in the event by letting you know in advance about the details of the initiatives, the art galleries and letting you in on some sneak previews; of course, we will be “in tour” too, ready with microphone and camera to capture the crucial moments of this three-day event, which already is promising to be really unique. Meanwhile, if you wish to receive an invitation and to have a front row seat, you can do so, as usual, in the Contribute section.

The Grand Design Tour is waiting to take you away… come on, climb aboard.

At the very beginning, the flooring of the Monslab Gallery Porto Venere, the art gallery hosting DesignTaleStudio’s “Meta Design” exhibition was made of porphyry, as is the rest of the Portobello area in Porto Venere. Then, during the setting up of the exhibition, we asked ourselves: why don’t we install large size porcelain stoneware slabs, as we usually do in our real life projects?

Making these decisions on Second Life is, of course, a very easy job, as there are no benches to be moved. The technical features of porcelain stoneware (strength, acid and frost resistance, low absorption levels, cleanability…) clearly lose their value in a virtual space and the only value criterion is that of aesthetic pleasure. So, how can the slabs “stand out” in a visually convincing way and faithfully reproduce the original? After having carried out some trials with some modern style collections of our parent company, Refin, the very tiles that we usually combine with DesignTaleStudio slabs, we have opted for the Velvet Ground Grafite. They are large size slabs, opaque and dark, which exalt the luminosity of the displayed works and create a kind of discontinuous effect with the outdoor space, in such a way to visually mark the entrance of the gallery, as it does not have a door.

From a technical point of view, the first solution we tried was that of repeating the image of a single slab imported as a texture, but then we realized that the Second Life rendering engine is not able to faithfully reproduce the colour-shading. After many attempts, we decided to create a single texture image on every backdrop, in which the installation pattern had been emulated using Photoshop and drawing very small grout-lines within a large image of a single “miniature” of the slab. By loading the image at the highest definition possible on the Second Life editor, we managed to obtain a flooring effect we were happy with. In this way, we also managed to save on the number of prims, which meant that we could afford to buy more cocktail glasses…

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This short video is just a preview of a documentary film on DesignTaleStudio we are currently working on, a trip through the techniques and creativity of our ceramic art masters. Watching, yet again, the creation of a Parete Gold in the video has been a very emotional experience we immediately felt the need to share with you: never mind if the images on this clip are still “raw and crude”.

The filming has been carried out in our laboratory in Salvaterra and it shows our team at work with gold, clay and other powders to transform a porcelain stoneware slab in a real work of art: unique, irreproducible and authentic, in the wake of the great Italian ceramic tradition.