Cersaie 2024: surface design celebrates the beauty of imperfection

Cersaie 2024. Homey Paper Clay collection by Paola Paronetto x Ceramica Piemme – Photo by Ceramica Piemme.

Design. We live in a fast-paced world driven by often compulsive digitalisation and a fascination with algorithmic hypes. Yet, a growing trend for more organic, slow, and human-crafted spaces emerges at Cersaie 2024. Check out these brilliant surface design collections debuting at the world’s most influential fair dedicated to ceramic tiles for interior design and architecture. They all highlight the beauty of imperfection, the crafted, the raw, and the wabi-sabi.

RELATED STORIES: Read more about Cersaie and discover more eclectic surface design on Archipanic.

Kimono collection by Federica Biasi x Decoratori Bassanesi – Photo by Louis De Belle.

Founded in 1988 in Bassano del Grappa, not far from Venice, Decoratori Bassanesi heralds the authentic values of artistic decoration in the field of handmade ceramic coating. Last year, the company explored the Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy for imperfect beauty. At Cersaie 2024, art director Federica Biasi continues a new craft-driven exploration with the statement Kimono collection. Warm, earthy, contrasting hues take cues from the knots and folds of the traditional Japanese robe for a tactile and visual experience.

Kimono collection by Federica Biasi x Decoratori Bassanesi – Photo by Louis De Belle.

Paola Paronetto is known for her poetic ceramic, paper, and clay crafts, cross-pollinating art and design through collaborations with Veuve Cliquot, the Triennale Design Museum, and others. This year, for Ceramica Piemme, she created a collection defined by tactile brush strokes in desaturated pastel hues. “In a globalised world where uniqueness and authenticity can easily get lost, the Homey Paper Clay collection stands for a conscious well-made in Italy,” Ceramica Piemme told Archipanic.

Homey Paper Clay collection by Paola Paronetto x Ceramica Piemme – Photo by Ceramica Piemme.

“At Cersaie, you find tiles emulating wood, leather, metals, and more. I think artificial materials should instead develop their own identity?” Questioned Italian designer Paola Navone of Studio OTTO, who teamed up with ABK stoneware company to create the Poetry House surface design research project. The new Poetry Net collection derives from exclusive wall finishes designed in collaboration with canvas and fresco restoration experts. Fabric fibres from hemp to cotton are woven with pictorial materials to create elegantly imperfect effects.

Poetry Net collection by Paola Navone-OTTO Studio and Abk – Photo by Abk.

Early this year, Atlas Concorde presented a collection developed in collaboration with Matteo Brioni, highlighting the materic beauty of raw earth. At Cersaie 2024, the Italian company joined forces with Milan-based designer Elisa Ossino to present the earthy Boost Expression collection. The new series conveys the texture and imperfection of hand-worked plaster through geometric and dynamic patterns, generating contrasts and vibrations of light.

Boost Expression collection by Elisa Ossino x Atlas Concorde – Photo by Atlas Concorde.

Marca Corona unveils Arialuce, a crafty collection of extruded terracotta modules that can be assembled both indoors and outdoors to create walls and dividers that let air and light filter through. The series was created in collaboration with the historic Fornace S. Anselmo near Padua, combining industrial capacity, artisanal expertise, deep respect for tradition, and a contemporary-drive inclination.

Arialuce collection by Marca Corona, crafted by Fornace S. Anselmo – Photo by Marca Corona.

Cotto d’Este brings craftsmanship and industrial technology together with Arketipo. The brand-new collection harnesses ancient craft techniques: a mixture of grains, flakes, and sands is pressed and mixed with cement mortars to create a unique compact surface. Arketipo is available in five main hues ranging from neutral grey to earthy reds and light browns.

Arketipo collection by Cotto D’Este – Photo by Cotto D’Este.

The Maximalista collection by Sartoria, a brand of Terratinta Group, evokes the mouldings of decorations in ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Marble-effect strips are available in six variations, with a matte finish and three shapes. Sartoria, tailor’s art in Italian, is handcrafted by the Artigiana Workshop: “Our roots are simple and lie in the oldest craft techniques, the evolution of which has taken ceramics to new heights.”

Maximalista collection by Sartoria – Photo by Terratinta Group.

Ceramiche Refin introduced the new Grayn collection. Concrete’s minimalism is mitigated with a texture animated by slight irregularities, lending depth to the surface. The surface design is available in tenuous nuances—ash, Bone, Clay, Dove, Rope, and Smoke—alternating uniform areas with small granular features and slight creases. The final effect is homogeneous overall but rich in distinctive details.

Grayn collection by Ceramiche Refin – Photo by Ceramiche Refin.

The NOK collection by surface design studio 41zero42 draws inspiration from primitive art with Africa as a thought of escape. Earthy hues meet a distinctive materic feel. Tribal and geometric patterns, as well as three different mosaics, complete the collection, combining a raw yet sophisticated feel.