Iris Ceramica Group designs culinary performance for London launch

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Inside the Iris Ceramica Group’s London flagship
Inside the Iris Ceramica Group’s London flagship
(Image credit: TBC)

To celebrate the opening of its first UK showroom in London’s Clerkenwell, Iris Ceramica Group commissioned food design studio Blanch & Shock to translate the current inspiration of some of the city’s most forward-thinking creative practices into canapés. Chosen for being forerunners when it comes to innovation, beauty and sustainability – the key themes that underpin the Iris Ceramica Group – the unusual appetisers were made in honour of Mamou-Mani Ltd, Brodie Neill, Paul Cocksedge, Marlene Huissoud and Jump Studios.

The three-storey London flagship marks a major milestone for the 60-year-old Italian tile maker, which makes and distributes high-quality porcelain products for residential, commercial and industrial architecture all over the world. A family-run business, Iris Ceramica was founded in northern Italy by Romano Minozzi in 1961 and is currently led by his daughter Federica who is the CEO of the Group.

In the showroom, the first floor features a co-working space and meeting rooms, the ground floor is a lounge and kitchen, and the basement is a spa. Every surface is ceramic, while brands featured include Ariostea, FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, Fiandre Architectural Surfaces, Iris Ceramica, SapienStone and Porcelaingres.

Paul Cocksedge Iris Ceramica

Paul Cocksedge’s cherry tomato

(Image credit: Press)

‘London is the creative capital of the world and we have wanted to have a showroom here for many years,’ says Minozzi, who goes on to explain that it was difficult to find and secure the right space. ‘But now we have found it.’ For Minozzi it is also important that they use the space to help build connections among the design and architecture community in the city, and she hopes people will feel ‘welcome to come and use the space to work from, to have ideas in and to collaborate.’

To inform Blanch & Shock’s’ canapés, the chosen design studios each submitted colour palettes and images referencing places or environments, shapes and lines, architectural details, concepts, pattern, textures and materials that are currently inspiring their practice. Iris Ceramica Group then followed each ‘from wish to dish’ and served the final output to guests at the launch event. This included insect nests fashioned from goats cheese, vacuum-compressed kohlrabi, bee pollen and more.

Inside the Iris Ceramica Group’s London flagship


(Image credit: Press)

Mamou-Mani Ltd’s baked lotus root

Mamou-Mani Ltd’s baked lotus root

(Image credit: Press)

Marlene Huissoud’s Whipped Goats Cheese

Marlene Huissoud’s Whipped Goats Cheese

(Image credit: Press)

Jump Studios’s prawn

Jump Studios’s prawn

(Image credit: Press)

Iris Ceramica Group designs culinary performance for London launch

(Image credit: Press)

INFORMATION
irisceramicagroup.com

Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson is a London-based writer, curator, and consultant specialising in design, art and interiors. A longstanding contributor and editor at Wallpaper*, she has spent over 20 years exploring the transformative power of creativity and design on the way we live. She is the author of several books including The Art of Timeless Spaces, and has worked with some of the world’s leading luxury brands, as well as curating major cultural initiatives and design showcases around the world.