Mutina marks 10 years of top tiles with new designer collections
Tiles are generally the bottom feeders in the design world, standing on the very last rung in a long rank of product that deserves the attention of the world’s top architects and industrial designers. An exception to this rule is the Italian ceramic maker Mutina who in the span of just ten years has attracted a kilowatt-like clan of designers into its roster, including Patricia Urquiola, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.
'We started with Patricia in 2008,' says Mutina CEO Massimo Orsini. 'It took forever to even get an appointment with her, but then she got it immediately. Now she and the other designers realise that we do things differently; we bring design to ceramics.'
The latest to be lured into this promise is Konstantin Grcic. Though the German designer is famed for his chairs, lights and furnishings, he’d never designed ceramics before. 'It’s a completely new world,' he said by phone from Fiorano, where Mutina was celebrating their 10th anniversary with an exhibit in their Angelo Mangiarotti-designed industrial headquarters. 'I’m very much a product designers. I never work on architectural elements — the walls and floors are always a given. So there was something very elementary but also very radical about tiles.'
Grcic cut squared tiles of 30x30cm and 60x60cm that each feature a different, partially glazed geometric form on the surface that creates a half raw, half finely glossed effect. The tiles come in six different earthy tones.
'80 per cent of production of ceramics today are made from fake wood, or fake stone and it’s extremely annoying,' adds Ronan Bouroullec, who together with his brother Erwan also presented a new collection for Mutina, their second for the company. 'But now Mutina has entered in this field with a new direction, great quality and they’re such a big success.'
Entitled 'Rombini', the Bouroullec brother’s tiles required two years of research and are composed of three models: tiles, mosaics and relief elements that can all be used together to create unusual surfaces.
'The [Bouroullec’s designs] are very particular, but they follow their wonderful poetry, while Grcic’s are very rigorous and geometric,' Orsini remarks of the new collections. 'All of our work involves techniques that are never used anymore. The degree of difficulty is very high,but that’s also what makes us unique.'
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
JJ Martin
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
The Bouroullecs’ ‘Belleville’ chair reimagined 53 ways for La Source Garouste auction
The ‘Belleville’ chair is spliced, diced and furrified for La Source Garouste’s charity auction, by designers from Christian Louboutin to Constance Guisset
By Francesca Perry Published
-
Barber Osgerby’s ‘Loop’ table turns blue for 25th anniversary
As Barber Osgerby’s ‘Loop’ table turns 25 and is reissued in a new colour with Isokon Plus, we recall the design’s first public appearance, at Wallpaper’s 100% Design stand in 1997
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Il Sereno and Patricia Urquiola launch penthouse that celebrates Italian design
The Lake Como Hotel, designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2016, opens its latest penthouse dedicated to modernist design and a new e-commerce to shop furniture, accessories and textiles from the hotel
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Kvadrat’s blind collection plays with transparency and tone
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec design the Kvadrat Shade range with window covering specialist, Coulisse
By Alice Morby Last updated
-
Patricia Urquiola unveils interiors for first London residential project
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated
-
Star cast: The Bouroullec brothers create alcoves and cylindrical vessels for WonderGlass in Milan
By Ali Morris Last updated
-
Illustrated life: the first in our new series of deftly drafted dream homes
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Cassina marks 90 years with a revamped HQ, a new gallery space and a fresh look at its classics
By Ellen Himelfarb Last updated