The table is the heart of the home

Matrika design meets Ceramica Fioranese Cementine tiles

If there’s one item of furniture that embodies the meaning and the values evoked by the word “home”, it has to be the table, around which every family gathers to interact. The symbolism of the table has a long history, and there’s hardly a designer who hasn’t devoted close attention to it. Today we’ll be discovering a 100% Italian company, Matrika, with an operating office in the design capital Milan and a design studio in Berlin, the most innovative and on-trend of the European capitals. Matrika’s creatives have has used the cement tiles by Fioranese – the Black&White collection, to be precise – to create highly original, extremely distinctive tables. To get a better idea of how the project was conceived and developed, we had a few questions for the founders of Matrika, Erika and Mattia, who have been able to skilfully team innovation with tradition to create furnishing elements available for purchase online only.
Ready to fall in love with the brand? Okay, here we go!

LifeTiles: How did this collaboration with Ceramica Fioranese come about?

Matrika: We were so impressed by the Fioranese tiles that they inspired our first table designs. The Fioranese cement tile collections immediately proved particularly versatile and popular with our customers, which boosted our desire to work with the company. We believe that the technology and innovative spirit of Matrika is an excellent complement to the history, know-how and professional skills of Fioranese.

LifeTiles: What does design mean for Matrika? And what made you decide to specialise in tables? What do they mean to you?

Matrika: the name Matrika is a portmanteau of Mattia and Erika, the couple who devised the brand. I (Mattia) founded the brand. I’ve always worked in the world of digital technology for furnishings, and in recent years I’ve led the growth of the largest international design portal. The idea came to us around a year ago, when we ordered a table for our new home. Delivery was scheduled for mid-May, but a few days before it was supposed to arrive, we received a call to say that delivery would be delayed for a further month. Armed with plenty of energy and our passion for design (and with the incentive that we needed a table in the house!), we decided to buy a piece of wood, a few tiles, some cement, grout and the necessary tools, and in a couple of days we’d built our first table with tiles. Over the following days, all our friends and relatives were enchanted by the creation, so much so that they asked us to make some more! And that’s how we decided to make a business out of the idea: Matrika.io (https://matrika.io)

LifeTiles: What’s the original element that distinguishes the products made with the cement tiles?

Matrika: Until now, cement tiles have been used mainly for flooring and wall coverings, but we believe it’s a product with enormous potential for application on other surfaces, such as tables. In addition to their objective beauty, tiles also have excellent properties: they are resistant to heat, easy to clean and repel stains. These are the three key characteristics of all the Matrika tables, which prompted us to “promote” the tiles to table tops.

LifeTiles: What do you think makes the Cementine by Ceramica Fioranese so unique and special?

Matrika: Their simplicity, and their elegance. Each Cementine collection by Ceramica Fioranese features beautiful, original decorations, created by combining a wide range of unique shapes and colours. All kinds of desires and personal tastes can be taken on board thanks to the variety of styles offered by Ceramica Fioranese’s Cementine, and this is exactly what we seek to offer with our tables.

LifeTiles: Is there a special menu you like to share with your guests round the table?

Matrika: We love cooking, especially light, simple dishes. We’re crazy about avocado and fish tartare, and no dinner with friends at our home would be complete without a tartare of tuna with blanched pine-nuts and avocado slivers! We also love experimenting with the typical dishes of the peoples we’ve encountered on our travels around the world. But don’t ask us to do without our favourite traditional Italian specialities!
Discover all the collections dedicated to the Cementine, including the Black&White collection, on the exclusively dedicated website. These tiles are always able to bring a special, distinctive touch to both residential and commercial settings www.cementinetiles.com