At Tile Addict our mission is to do everything we can to raise the profile of tiles and amplify the message that today’s porcelain and ceramic creation offer the most aesthetically varied and technically advanced surface solutions on the planet. Two key ways this message can reach and influence the world-wide A&D community and their clients, is via product awards and project-based design competitions. In the latter category, one of the best established and most prestigious is the Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition, sponsored by Confindustria Ceramica and the Italian Trade Agency. The latest edition, the 25th anniversary of the awards, proved a great success, attracting inspiring and innovative projects from designers and architects throughout North America.
Ultimately, four winners and three honorable mentions were selected by an international jury of design industry experts across four categories: residential, commercial, institutional, and the newly-introduced student category. Each of the finalists demonstrated how tile, in this case Italian tile, can play an important role in thoughtfully conceived interior design and architecture.
This year’s winning projects include an apartment building with self-cleaning and air-purifying tiles designed by Studio Libeskind; a contemporary home that pays homage to its fire-stricken past by Ziger/Snead; and a prestigious Engineering School, with a focus on sustainable design, by ZAS Architects + Interiors. Interior architecture students Raquel Raney and Brennan Broome from Florida International University, were selected for their sophisticated renderings of a multi-use complex.
As a way of honouring the past, present, and future of the competition, Ceramics of Italy also created a film directed by Francesca Molteni and architectural historian Fulvio Irace. Timeless Tiles: The Italian Legacy tells the story of the competition from its inception in 1994 to present day, featuring dozens of inspiring projects and interviews with architects Daniel Libeskind, Jennifer Carpenter and Michael P. Johnson.
Tile Addict will be posting about this year’s individual winning projects in the coming days. Meanwhile, you can find out more at: https://www.ceramica.info/en
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, August 2018.