Decoratori Bassanesi presented two new surfaces designed by Federica Biasi at Cersaie, the fair held from September 23 to 27, 2024 in Bologna, a national and international focal point for the ceramic tile and bath furnishing sector.
The two new collections are inspired by elements and shapes from the Orient: Kimono, in bold, vibrant colours, takes cues from the knots and folds of the traditional Japanese robe, and Wă suggests the architecture of rural villages in China with their uneven terracotta tiles.
The new products for 2024 were displayed in a contemporary, original staging featuring warm, earthy, contrasting tones that offers a tactile and visual experience of the new collections. Ceramics cover the walls and surfaces of the space, alternating with evocative photographic images illustrating the research and conception process behind their development.
“Decoratori Bassanesi is constantly committed to exploring the full potential of ceramics through innovative, audacious collections that meet the highest quality standards, – says Paolo Serraiotto, Founder and President. Those who choose our brand embrace a design-oriented approach – in fact, since 2008 the company has collaborated with international designers in the pursuit of new inspirations, welcoming new challenges and exploring the full potential of the material.”
The new products and the mise-en-scene for the latest edition of Cersaie demonstrate the brand’s aim to offer an ambitious concept of sophisticated, elegant ceramic coverings, continuing the evolution of aesthetics and form that Decoratori Bassanesi has been building together with art director Federica Biasi.
Kimono – design by Federica Biasi
The Kimono collection designed by Federica Biasi is inspired by the composition of traditional Japanese kimonos, which involves a complex series of knots and folds almost like a sort of origami: the eri collar, the sode sleeve, the doura lining of the top part of the kimono all contribute to create geometric designs with different fabrics and patterns, which Biasi draws on in creating surfaces and ways of laying them. The collection also reprises some elements form the firm’s historical archive of patterns and colours.
“Decoratori Bassanesi‘s historical archive was a great source of inspiration, a point of departure for an exploration of colour, ceramic yield and glazing, while the geometric motifs and bold colour combinations of the Far East opened the way to new high-contrast laying patterns, – says Federica Biasi – The Kimono collection is a reflection on the infinite possibilities of colour and material, blending distant traditions and cultures.”
Kimono reprises one of the firm’s historic products, Millerighe, with references to the ceramics of the late 1980s. The project also revives a few finishes and processes typical of Decoratori Bassanesi’s early days, double-firing and enamel glazes, with their distinctive shiny texture and vibrant shimmer. With its sinuously smooth feel, Kimono offers that same sort of aesthetic effect, updated with new materials and contemporary workmanship.
The result is a textured collection in bold, vibrant tones: 8 colours, two finishes – smooth and ribbed – and 2 different sizes – 5×15 and 15×15 –encourage designers to play with combining them in creative ways.
Wă, design by Federica Biasi
The design for the Wă collection by Federica Biasi carries us away to the Orient, taking cues from the designer’s travels in China, where she was inspired by the roof tiles of pagodas and typical dwellings in rural villages.
In these buildings, irregular handcrafted terracotta tiles are layered and stacked atop one another in an interlocking system inherited from ancient, traditional Chinese techniques. The designer has translated her impressions of the patterns of these tiles into a design structure, giving rise to the Wă collection.
“Usually, it’s the simplest elements that catch my eye, straightforward images that call up a specific vision. – says Federica Biasi – For the Wă collection, the sharp, strong lines of the buildings, with their ties to history, ancient forms of craftsmanship and the use of natural materials, were a flash of inspiration that, over time, generated the creative process the design grew out of.”
The Wă collection has a harmonious, warm, vivid aesthetic that blends décor with functionality and comes in four natural tones ranging from hazelnut to caramel. As in a mosaic, each individual element is repeated in a 9.5 x 18.5-cm portion that makes up the new covering, in full-body porcelain tile.
For more information, visit decoratoribassanesi.it
