Archive of September 2007

One of the key concepts which we have been working on since the beginning of our DesignTaleStudio experience is that of “large size”: it is no coincidence, in fact, that the Pareti d’Autore with their 120_60 cm are probably one of the largest products on the ceramic industry market. We have total confidence in this project because we think that large size claddings can offer architects surprising creative opportunities, as they can be used to plan surfaces that partially elude the traditional “visual grid” logic imposed by the intersection of grout lines between the tiles, and they allow for stunning personalization of spaces even using a single slab only.

Again on the subject of the large size concept, we have recently spoken about the Conference Centre in Merida designed by architects Nieto and Sobejano (as well as visiting the architects’ web-site, we further suggest you to look at these beautiful pictures of the building on Flickr). The external cladding is carried out using large cement slabs on which a relief map of the city’s streets is reproduced in negative. The slabs have been created using five different rubber casts, all deriving from a single slab from an original idea designed by the sculptor Esther Pizarro: the slabs follow four basic patterns and create a peculiar and distinctive effect, thus managing to turn the building, in a very short space of time, into one of the symbolic icons of contemporary Spanish architecture.

The aspect that has been the most interesting and inspiring for us as well, is this attempt to merge art and building “materials” which has enabled the architects to achieve an absolutely unique effect on the external cladding. This was unlikely to be achieved using small size formats. Today, DesignTaleStudio only produces slabs for interiors, but we know that the properties of porcelain stoneware would allow for a successful outdoor performance. It is often used as a “surrogate” for marble and natural stone, though offering greater aesthetic opportunities, and many more especially if compared to concrete… who knows, perhaps one day we will offer outdoor solutions too.

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Here is another preview of DesignTaleStudio documentary video we are currently working on. Our cameras have entered Ceramiche Refin laboratory to see our technicians at work during the creation of the Pareti d’Autore.

Donna Moderna, the most widely read women’s weekly magazine in Italy, has dedicated an entire page to DesignTaleStudio. In this week’s issue: a short interview with our Art Director Claudio Govi on page 173 can provide useful tips and information to all fledgling ceramic designers. Obviously, the article also mentions our web-site and in particular the chance to send your designs to the Contribute section.

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The bathroom as a setting – as the mainstay of today’s modern homes: a space where to unwind, relax and give way to personal creativity. How to personalise a bathroom in a truly unique way? And be set free from the rationale of the everyday ceramic wall claddings? And… what has DesignTaleStudio got to do with this?
In a Milan tinged with Design, DesignTaleStudio and Ceramiche Flaminia launch their own provoking creation, their proposal for bathroom ambience. This new space comes to life with the cooperation of Flamina: a space where the Pareti d’Autore RMD create a prismatic almost “cocooning” effect thanks to a clever use of the lights. Even the bathroom flooring and fitting coverings are carried out in large sized porcelain stoneware.

You can see this creation at the Flaminia Showroom in Milan, 18, Via Solferino. For more in-depth details and photographs, click on the link to the Flaminia Showroom sheet in the “Projects” section.

The main problem we came across while setting-up the “Meta Design” exhibition, was that of doing justice to the sheer beauty brought to the real world by DesignTaleSudio’s ceramics. The Pareti d’Autore where meant to be main cladding surface and works of art all at the same time, therefore, they had to, without compromise, “stand out” the best way possible.

The majority of the interior floors and wall-tiles we see on Second Life fall into two categories: the “ordinary” ones (flat surfaces, characterised by a feel of “comfortable” minimalism and with no basic aesthetic research) and the “grotesque” (textures which struggle to emulate real materials such as parquet, marble and stone with the use of photographic images). At the moment, perhaps the most interesting creations are those which use semi-transparent, opaque material, such as large, slightly reflective windows or plastic panels.

Ceramic has proven still difficult to use on Second Life, but with a bit of extra effort we believe we managed a better result than expected. In our opinion, the concept of the traditional ceramic tile as we know it, that is to say, a small glazed tile, is verging to grotesque, especially when the surface is reflective and the installation pattern conveys a very “grid-like” effect. The result is a kind of mural of identical repeated images where the real-life luminous qualities of the tile are reduced to whitish geometric shapes, mechanically repeated in an un-natural way. With larger sizes the same problem is slightly reduced though still visible: it is therefore better to use opaque products where graphics outshine the tactile and visual effects of the material.

Various slabs designed by famous personalities, such as those of Rashid, Fiorucci and Bermudez, actually did have these very characteristics and it was therefore relatively easy to display them effectively. But it was a different story for the totem designed by De Lucchi and, especially, the DesignTaleStudio’s Pareti d’Autore, whose light and material effects of the three-dimensional surface had to be reproduced. The solution we came up with was to use photographs of the products whose reflections had been partially reduced. In the case of De Lucchi’s work, the surface of the slabs was a single image, previously created with Photoshop by delaying the overall light of the original “amateurish” photo taken during the Design On Stage exhibition. But the Pareti d’Autore, especially the overly iridescent “unphotographable” ones like the Gold and Platinum, worked better if used as decoration rather than repeated backdrop. After being slightly retouched via computer and loaded on Second Life with the maximum resolution possible, the images from afar recaptured all the energy of the original designs while the close-up showed the fascination of their softness to the touch and light.