Original black and white geometries thanks to ‘Riggiole’

Tradition from a contemporary perspective that enchants

‘Riggiole’ is a new Ceramica Fioranese collection, previewed at Cersaie 2022, created thanks to the collaboration with designer Davide Tonelli. It’s a collection with a refined impact, characterised by a slightly worn effect that highlights the antiqued look and evokes tradition through a new contemporary language. The distinctive characteristic is the decoration with marked handicraft features appearing on 90×90 slabs: this combination of evocation of the mastery of the ancient ceramists together with an extremely modern format creates a link between past and present. ‘Riggiole’ meets the increasing demand for expanded dimensions and gives character to surfaces thanks to the strong aesthetic impact and deliberately imperfect features that evoke the artistic ceramics of Italian tradition. The graphic effect is even more striking: the chiaroscuro effect and the combination of decorations in black and white are all inevitably emphasised and become real furnishing elements that fill spaces and personalise them with a strongly distinctive style.
The collection has been immediately widely appreciated, winning, precisely during Cersaie, ACIMAC’s first TecnAwards edition for “best product of the year”: an important result that rewards the uniqueness of this collection that celebrates Made in Italy design.
This collaboration between the designer Davide Tonelli and Fioranese is the fruit of a relationship that is renewed from year to year and which has given rise, among other things, to the FIO project: numerous unforgettable collections that include, for example, Liquida, Rainforest, Block and many others. They are collections that always have a refined and very decorative style. We have decided to have a conversation with Davide Tonelli to understand better the ‘Riggiole’ style and the dynamics that have led to the creation of such a particular collection.

LifeTiles: How did the Riggiole collection come about? What are the sources of inspiration?

D. Tonelli: ‘Riggiole’ is the fruit of a design approach that makes the recovery of tradition and territoriality its point of strength. Modern production processes reinterpret decorations that evoke the mastery of ancient ceramists in a contemporary vein; it’s a project that embodies the values of the past and respect for Italy’s great cultural heritage.

LifeTiles: Another successful collaboration with Fioranese. How did your relationship begin?

D. Tonelli: The wish to collaborate developed over the years thanks to the sharing of a type of sophisticated creativity, involving courageous choices, which has always sought to combine the graphic aspect with a material one. It’s a privilege for me to be able to work with a company that has a profound knowledge of materials and technology because all this increases the expressive freedom of my work. What counts most is teamwork and the attitude of wanting to go further in experimentation and finding new solutions.

LifeTiles: You’ve chosen to characterise the collection with black and white. What inspired this choice? With what other materials can it be combined in order to give strength and character to an environment?

D. Tonelli: The ‘Riggiole’ collection revisits the traditional majolica tiles of southern Italy decorated by hand but according to the new format standards, interpreted in black and white, which when combined, create always new settings with a strong iconographic impact. The graphics and the glazing of the surfaces are deliberately “imperfect” in order to create a sense of being handmade. The numerous combination and format possibilities in which the collection is offered make it possible to cover surfaces to create original walls and floors in line with the latest home living trends, both for domestic and for commercial use. It’s a “multipurpose” collection that lends itself to crossover combinations also with other materials. Contamination is seen as a starting point for moving away from the “comfort zone” and experimenting different languages for expressive needs. Matt and gloss surfaces, majolica, woods and stones: mixing materials of today and yesterday brings out their diversity.

LifeTiles: The collection has also brought the great satisfaction of being awarded at the first edition of TecnAwards. What does an award of this type mean for you?

D. Tonelli: It’s always an honour to receive an award. This is even truer if it is assigned by a technical jury like that of Acimac which has known how to appreciate the effort made in terms of “research” of the material that best brings out the expressive force that we wanted to give to the product. For this reason, once more, my thanks go to the Fioranese Team that has known how to faithfully transform our original idea, interpreting in the best possible way the style and spirit of the collection.