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SapienStone at Fuorisalone 2019 with the Iris Ceramica Group in MateriAttiva

2019-04-19 The most recent edition of Milano Design Week has been all about sustainability, featuring plenty of new developments both in the Salone del Mobile exhibition centre in Rho and in the 1300-plus Fuorisalone events that have brought the design districts of Milan to life with design, fashion, art and food. Just like last year, SapienStone participated in Fuorisalone, a series of events held during the fair dates to complete the schedule of design week in Milan. But this time, the selected location was the Brera Design District, always one of the most interesting parts of Fuorisalone.
At the corner of Via Balzan and Via San Marco, SapienStone was represented in the Iris Ceramica Group’s temporary showroom along with other Group companies such as Fiandre Architectural Surfaces, FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, Iris Ceramica, Porcelaingres and Ariostea.


 

The Group participated in Milano Design Week with a choral installation focusing on the theme of sustainability designed in partnership with architect Mario Cucinella and the young students of S.O.S - School of Sustainability.  The theme of this year’s Brera Design District, “Design Your Life”, offered an opportunity to experiment with the use of latest generation eco-active materials, new allies for the construction of spaces that improve human well-being while contributing to the future of the planet.
The educational and research project MateriAttiva goes over the lifespan of ceramic, transformed from inert material to active material by the Iris Ceramica Group’s revolutionary new ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial CeramicTM technology, which makes the group’s ceramic slabs eco-active with anti-pollutant, antibacterial, anti-odour and self-cleaning properties in sunlight and in the dark, making an important contribution to improving the quality of the environment in spaces where it is installed.

MateriAttiva evoked a new pact between humans and nature, casting light on the need to improve the spaces human beings live in. At the entrance to the Iris Ceramica Group space, a monolith covered with a Premium White surface represented inert matter, after which visitors passed through an immersive multi-sensory experience in a cave where light, water and sounds created a highly evocative atmosphere.
The visitors’ passage through the intimate, shadowy atmosphere of the cave was marked by a succession of Bianco Lasa ceramic stalactites of different sizes and by the sound of drops falling from the slabs onto a thin veil of water, producing little flashes of light.
The purity evoked by the archetype of the cave became real environmental quality thanks to ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial CeramicTM, transforming the material into an active architectural element.

As visitors passed through to the second hall, they emerged again into the social dimension of the visitor experience. The breathing of the tree that welcomed visitors coming out of the cave recalled the need to allow ourselves to be inspired by the hidden mechanisms of nature in creating materials that allow us to live in harmony with it.

From this space visitors proceeded into two halls showing off the beauty of the Group’s porcelain surfaces. The first hall featured a truly innovative new product from SapienStone: a new kitchen countertop incorporating a custom-designed TPB tech® induction cooker integrated into the slab, developed in partnership with TPB Top Porzelanik Barcelona® of Spain.
 

The new SapienStone countertop with a built-in induction cooker has a clean design featuring an uninterrupted slab surface. SapienStone chefs prepared and cooked food directly on the surface, demonstrating how porcelain can make life easier in the kitchen with its resistance, hygiene and versatility.
Customisable in size, colour and number of induction elements, the new SapienStone countertop is a revolutionary product that performs a number of functions, serving as both cooking area and table.

Designed for today’s lifestyles, it responds to the needs of both households and businesses: in the home or the restaurant, it creates a kitchen island of versatile design, but it is also perfect for cooking shows, demonstrations and workshops in showrooms and cooking schools.

MateriAttiva at FuoriSalone 2019 confirms the vocation for sustainability and the capacity to innovate of the Iris Ceramica Group and its brands, and marks an important new step forward in the partnership between the Iris Ceramica Group, SOS - School of Sustainability and Mario Cucinella Architects.

Their partnership began in 2018 with technical sponsorship of the Italian Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at Biennale di Venezia and continued with a temporary installation in Piazza Santo Stefano in Bologna, Pollution 2018 – RefleAction. MateriAttiva offered a new opportunity to encourage reflection on the need for sustainable choices on the part of both individuals and groups.
 

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