3d texture: matter to touch
Inspiration is backed up by handcrafting techniques and processes, including techniques copied from tailoring such as pleats, found in unusual "items of décor" for interiors: carpets with big relief decorations, felt curtains that look as if sculpted and can be used to create lightweight dividing walls, decorative tiles with gelatinous appliqués and wallpaper in which paper is overlapped like scales. Literally casting in relief thetactile nature of matter, as in the weaving effect characterising Iris Ceramica’s MA.DE collection, enhanced by use of glossy and matt colours, or Optical surface, a special piece from Ariostea’s Iridium collection which can also be used outdoors as it offers high technical quality (resistance to frost and chemical aggression) and features surfaces structured
by footprint-like motifs.
Design acquires volume and becomes structure; the depth of the engraving in the ornament is not enough, but the material is "extruded" and modelled.
The pavilion on the sea by British architect Thomas Heartwick has a multiple steel façade formed of dynamically layered thick slabs; the library in Nembro (Bergamo) by Studio Archea is a wrapper made of enamelled terra cotta tiles freely combined to let air and light filter through; the interiors of Stella McCartney shops by Universal Design Studio of London feature walls with wallpaper in relief, on which the hexagonal petal motif becomes an element identifying the brand.
An almost optical effect of 3d graphics appears in Luminar by Fiandre, in which the surface of the material is topped by a continuous series of circular incisions to create a glossy, reflective surface with the aid of a particular technique applied to the hi-tech porcelain stoneware.
Sensorial references to nature inspire the design of many of the surfaces, such as stone and marble tiles from FMG’s Shine collection, in which light waves created by "diamonding" of the surface create chiaroscuro vibrations evoking water; while Eiffelgres has created Atmosphere to take us back to the most genuine expression of material, warm, as if worn away by time, which appears to have coated its surface with the texture and design of stone.
Ali Filippini
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