Following last week’s taster, we are ready to “officialise” the calendar for Trascreativity, the DesignTaleStudio event for Fuorisalone exhibition 2008, this year centred around the theme of creativity and transgression.

The suggestive space planned by Laura Villani in the square opposite the Triennale will see the presence of many guests such as Elio Fiorucci (16 April), Alessandro Mendini and Vivienne Westwood (17 April), Karim Rashid (18 April, at 19.00), Mario Bellini and Roberto D’Agostino (19 April), Mariuccia Mandelli Krizia (20 April), and Vito (20 April). In the next few days we will find out more about them.

As last year, the lens of Claudio Porcarelli will create a sort of “parallel diary” of the days, while Radio Montecarlo and Ultrafragolaweb-tv will have live broadcast and interviews with the guests.

Entrance by invitation only: to request your free invitation, please fill in the registration form on the Refin web-site.

The March issue of Casamica magazine contains a special insert entitled “Walls like pictures” dedicated to artistic ceramics for walls in which DesignTaleStudio’s Pareti d’Autore have been given a lot of editorial space.

Recently, we have been talking about interior designers who are still tied to a stereotypical vision of ceramics, a standardized material for floors, walls and every-day items such as vases, cups, small sculptures. In this sense, it is really pleasing to see that our innovative concept of “ceramic picture” is increasingly capturing the attention of journalists as well as that of the public.

Next 23 February, in Dusseldörf, we will see the opening of Euroshop, one of the most important European exhibition dedicated to retail architecture. Our stand will be in Hall 10, No. H34: those who are interested in visiting, can ask for an invitation by filling the form in the Join section.

Here are some photos of Costa Group stand at the recent SIGEP trade-fair in Rimini. The renowned interior design studio uses DesignTaleStudio ceramics both as wall covering and as decorative element, for innovative and trendy solutions in the field of restaurant and entertainment.

DesignTaleStudio will be present at SIGEP, the International trade-fair for ice-cream, confectionery and bakery industries opening today in Rimini.

DesignTaleStudio ceramics, in fact, cover the Costa Group stand (Pav. A3 – Stand 186), the renowned company leader in the planning of shops and venues dedicated to food and entertainment, a company that has already chosen our Pareti d’Autore for its most prestigious projects such as the Bar Gallery in Vicenza and Il Guscio in Genova.

We will post again in the next few days to tell you about the trade-fair and to show you some pictures of the stand.

Yesterday, we all awoke to some sad news: Ettore Sottsass, the dean and guru of Italian design, died as 2007 was coming to an end.

At the very time President Napolitano was giving his final year’s address to the Italian people, appealing to the Italian creativity, Sottsass passed away, and with him one of our greatest contemporary creative talents, an all round talent who was able to test himself constantly with modernity, to recreate himself and to be able to pit his wits against the greatest talents of the new generation. As were, at different times, Michele De Lucchi, Andrea Branzi, Matteo Thun and Aldo Cibic, to name but a few of the main “sons” of Sottsass.

We are pleased to remember that ceramic was one of the main materials Sottsass used to express himself: so, in this sense, it is worth remembering the longstanding partnership he had with Bitossi in the ‘50s and ‘60s, geared especially towards the creation of the vases and design pieces, that launched him towards the very summit of Italian design.

The links below may be of interest:

• Sottsass’s profile on Wikipedia and Design Addict
• A gallery of his work on Flickr
• Three interviews for Panorama, Rai Educational and Archimagazine
• The exhibition to celebrate his 90th birthday, Vorrei Sapere Perché, in Trieste, which runs until March 2008; and, less we forget, Ettore Sottsass – Work In Progress, held in London last Spring and which is the subject of the video at the start of the post, and the Design Museum at the Triennale in Milan
• The first reactions to the news of his death by some Italian bloggers: Designerblog, Designbuzz, Alfonso Fuggetta, Aurelio Valesi, Design Blog Sociale.

Here is the latest creation from DesignTaleStudio: TDA5, the third Tagli d’Autore collection, the new ceramic slabs with a 30_120 cm size destined to the Living, public and residential spaces. The texture of this collection is, we can say, the most traditional one: a texture of lilies (black on a white backdrop and white on a black backdrop) and decorative locks.

A revival, re-interpreted with creativity and innovation, of one of the most famous historic symbols in Italy and Europe. The lily, in fact, is present in the Holy Bible, in Kingdom of France and in the emblem of Florence and it has always been a symbol of nobility and royalty.

The decorative lily which, in reality, is an iris, takes its name from the goddess Iris, the messenger of the gods, who was transformed into a rainbow by Juno. And this is also the main feature of the series TDA5 Tagli d’Autore: a refined and elegant ceramic slab that ennobles and enriches with emotion and luminosity any kind of residential or public space in which it is placed to complement a porcelain stoneware cladding.

An ideal rainbow recreated in our living spaces.

The second Tagli d’Autore collection, large sized porcelain stoneware slabs created by DesignTaleStudio for the dressing of Living and public spaces, is called TDA2N and TDA3A.
The texture that comprises this series is made up of an interweave of stripes, “tongues”, horizontal and vertical rips that interlock one another.

The stripes in relief are in different colours and tones: black and bronze glazes (TDA2N) and red, orange and black glazes (TDA3A). At first sight, the surface seems deliberately torn, revealing an imaginary backdrop.

This Tagli d’Autore series, less minimal than the previous series, relinquishes the geometry of the lines is akin to a delicate, orderly chaos: let’s think about these ceramic slabs in a public or residential space, in a bright Living; they will surely provide volume and enthusiasm and warmth to the atmosphere.

But, what is the creative potential of the series? Imagination, don’t you think? If you look carefully at the slabs, at times you will notice they seem to resemble interweaved branches or waves in a strange coloured sea!

Tagli d’Autore, DesignTaleStudio’s new ceramic slab series is based on three minimal and decorative drawings, today we are going to introduce you to the first one.

As you can see from the photograph, the first Tagli d’Autore texture is the TDA1 collection and it is a series of parallel lines in relief carried out with grits and gold and platinum glazes. The three-dimensional lines create a special light and shadow effect, provoking bronze hints on the surface of the slab which enhance the product, making it brilliant and lively.

It is Tagli d’Autore’s most dynamic and minimal series and if used as a complement on public or residential wall coverings, which are usually mono-chromatic, makes these surfaces more dynamic, tactile and the whole space acquires a different volume. In other words, an incredible space revolution thanks to a simple and basic trait.

Kandinsky used to say that a point is the absolute calm while a line, which comes out from the quick shift of the point, is the movement. What better comparison?

Click To Play

We would like to close the series of videos taken during The Grand Design Tour event with the presentation, by Laura Villani, of Sandra Bermudez slab, displayed at the Otto Gallery in Bologna. A work with a strong graphic element which uses crunched paper as a metaphor of the feminine work.