With its ethos of Italian artistry and exquisite handmade tiles, Decoratori Bassanesi joins the Artedomus stable to bring Australian designers three new tile collections. Their magic lies in their tactile detailing and dynamic pattern play.
Established in Italy in 1988, Decoratori Bassanesi is renowned for its incredible handmade tiles which bring a distinctly contemporary aesthetic to decorative surfaces. Through its many incredible collections it has expanded the dialogues of tradition to encompass modern Italian artistry and progressive approaches to materiality.
At the heart of the brand is its passion for research and attention to detail – fundamental values that touch on every element of its tile production – from material choices to experimentation, and new and innovative fabrication techniques. Moreover, Decoratori Bassanesi’s work with established designers has led to the creation of challenging and cutting-edge collections, giving rise to products that are bold, expressive and thoroughly modern.
Its collaborators form an enviable list of internationally renowned names, among them the award winning Milanese designer and art director, Federica Biasi; Guglielmo Poletti, a rising star of the Italian design scene; Danish architecture firm, Norm Architects; and Oki Sato of Japanese studio Nendo.
Decoratori Bassanesi’s ranges are elaborate in their laying of refined yet highly tactile patterns and detailing. Their artistic qualities come to light through the hand and the eye of the designer, as decorative elements that can be coloured and configured to dynamically transform a surface, a space, or a favourite spot.
Introducing the Windy Collection by Oki Sato, Nendo Studio
The subtle breath of the wind, the ripples, and the traces it leaves across water and rice paddies have inspired the new Windy collection by Oki Sato, the chief designer and founder of Japan’s renowned Nendo Studio. Using chisels, drills, and bits in various shapes and sizes, grooves were created in smooth plaster. These grooves reveal how subtle differences in their depth and cross-section alter the perception of shadows.
Copenhagen Collection by Norm Architects
Copenhagen brings to mind the term, shifting surfaces, with its textural patterning that plays with shadow and light. Norm Architects has designed this range for Decoratori Bassanesi, creating a softly minimal collection that feels at once calm and balanced in character, while also ephemeral in quality – its surfaces change appearance across the day.
Norm Architects has structured the collection around two different textures – the first linear and three-dimensional, and the second a smooth surface. Through unique combinations of the two textures, the collection conjures the architects’ experience of Copenhagen’s oldest neighbourhoods where pockets of unique, imperfect details abound, and the general feeling is one of understated beauty and welcome.
Wabi-Sabi Collection by Federica Biasi
Wabi-Sabi speaks to the dualism of complementary textures. For this compelling collection, Federica Biasi has created two parts. Wabi, with its dense yet surprisingly light weave, invites the viewers to observe it in close detail, and extend the hand to inspect its tactile qualities. Sabi is more decisive and tangible in its texture, capturing the gaze from afar before drawing the viewer in.
To complete the range, Federica has created a third proposal, free of three-dimensionality. In WS Full, colour and material are the protagonists and accompany the textural tiles.
Segments Collection by Guglielmo Poletti
A collection of minimal elegance and stark formality, Segments uses a single, simple line in repetition, to create a lasting visual impact. This graphic element, with its strong tactile suggestions, is refined in character yet bold in effect. Guglielmo creates numerous opportunities for creative configuration with variations of the pattern, zoomed in with Segments Small Plus, where the lines multiply to create a density of peaks and valleys; and zoomed out for Segments Large, where a singular line extends into independent sections.
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Words by Alice Blackwood