Designer Tiles

DZINE is excited to carry three Italian manufacturers of tile; Domenico Mori, Salvatori, and Mutina. The range in styles and materials varies between the manufacturers, but they all have in common a rich history in Italy and the production of high quality tile.

A family-run business composed of artistic craftsmen, Domenico Mori was founded in 1860. Domenico Mori, the founder's great grandson continues the company legacy, producing hand made tiles in small batches.

Piero Lissoni showcased Domenico Mori tiles in his Duemilaotto kitchen for Boffi. The tiles cover the hood of the kitchen. The off-white 1/2-inch thick tiles have a couple of different, subtle patterns on them that are artfully mixed to create a beautiful, unique hood that compliments and softens the clean lines of his kitchen design.

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Salvatori Tile has been making a name for itself in the natural stone industry since the late 1940s. Salvatori demonstrates their interest in contemporary design through their unique floor and wall collections made with their range of natural stone materials. They are an innovative company, always researching new design possibilities and looking for new materials.

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Salvatori was showcased by architect John Pawson in his "House of Stone" exhibition for the 2010 Think Tank Exhibition, Milan. Pawson built a house using Lithoverde from Salvatori that was cut with meticulous accuracy. The structure was lit with LED lighting to enhance the simplicity of the architecture and the texture of the stone.


Lithoverde- Piombo


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Lithoverde is the only natural stone in the world comprised of over 98% post-industrial material. Stone scraps are layered to form a block which is then infused with soy-based poly-amid binder to strongly bind the layers together. The block is then just like any other stone, it can be cut into slab or tiles, or carved for various other multi-dimensional products.


Mutina is a young company but boasts a history in the production of ceramics for over 30 years. Since 2006, a team of young managers has given the company new energy and challenges.

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Mutina's collections are characterized by hand-crafted details that enhance the qualities of the materials used. Graphic themes, plain, multicolored offerings allow for tailor made tile arrangements and the possibility to combine and interchange tiles from various ranges. Mutina is constantly updating it's catalog to stay current with design trends.

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"Folded" Tile Design by Raw Edges

Mutina works with several notable designers to provide new and interesting designs. Patricia Urquiola and Tokujin Yoshioka are just two of the designers that Mutina employs. Patricia Urquiola designed the Dechirer collection for Mutina. The collection explores the expressive potential of ceramics, incorporating patterns and colors that are inspired by the nature and the consistency of concrete.

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Tokujin Yoshioka designed the Phenomenon collection for Mutina. Yoshioka was inspired by the irregular patterns and textures found in nature, which is reflected in the unique textures of the tiles. The white color emphasizes the intriguing depth and dimension in the tiles.



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We invite you to stop by DZINE today to see our new tile manufacturers!

Doctor Gianturco

 from Interni by Alessandra Mauri

He's more charming than Dr. Gregory House. But unlike the famous character seen on television, Giulio Gianturco abandoned the medical profession to take up design. Often achieving extraordinarily innovative results.

What is your educational background?

When I finished high school I wanted to study architecture, but at the time (1972) the school of architecture in Venice was in a state of chaos. So I enrolled to study Medicine, following in the footsteps of my father and my grandfather.

How did the passion for design get started?

I have always been good with my hands; whenever I imagined an object, I would make it. I practiced medicine in Castelfranco Veneto: I had a workshop nearby, and I spent free afternoons making prototypes of objects for myself and friends. That's how I gained experience, with the local craftsmen, who helped me a lot, also because I don't know how to draw. I don't have a traditional studio, I don't work with assistants.

How did you get into the world of design?

I've known Roberto Gavazzi of Boffi for many years, we would often meet outside of those circles. I showed him my pieces in steel, and he liked them: that led to the Minimal series.

What is your relationship with materials?

I am curious; I try to use materials that have been used in other sectors: so-called "marine" steel (AISI 304 stainless) was familiar to me thanks to my experience with yachting. With Agape I then made a silicon shower head. I was experimenting with membranes used inside shower heads to keep deposits from forming. Gluing two sheets of silicon together, I got the idea for the shower head: I like it when material is displayed, in all its essence.

Your latest project?

With Cesana we presented, at the International Bath Fair, a shower where a double glass with tropical fish is inserted in the wall. I was inspired by Miami, where they have a great passion for aquariums. It was a provocative piece, but I liked it a lot.

Technology and poetry.

In effect I have experimented with all the elements. Air, water, fire, earth: the fan, the faucet, the shower head, fire extinguishers, fireplace tools; I have even designed a box of memory: a cinerary urn.

What cannot be missing in an object today?

Especially when you talk about water and light, you cannot get away from the idea that the object you are designing has to be sustainable. With Natalino Malasorti of CEA we have obtained a patent, and with it we are developing a shower head that consumes 4.5 lt per minute. CEA will also distribute my latest project: a fan with six carbon blades, with a low-tension motor that consumes just 20 Watt/hour, capable of moving 40,000 cubic meters of air per hour.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a new, totally revolutionary project, but I still can't talk about it...

We'll look forward to seeing that, and being surprised!



Giulio Gianturco has collaborated with many Italian design companies including Boffi and Agape. For Boffi he designed the entire "Minimal" collection,"Matilda" shower, "Air" fan, and the "Fire" fire extinguisher.

"Minimal" wall faucet

"Minimal" shower head

"Air" fan

Wallpaper magazine awarded "Fire" the extinguisher The Best Kitchen Appliance in 2006.

"Fire" the extinguisher

For Agape he created the "Kaa" shower collection, and the "Soft 2" and "Soft 3" bath mats. In 2005 "Kaa" received both the Elle Deco International Design Award in the bathroom category and the Design Plus Award Material Vision at Frankfurt.

"Kaa" shower head and hand shower

Come by DZINE and check out some of Giulio Gianturco's products!

To view the original Italian article click here.

Victor Carrasco visits DZINE

For the past 10 years spanish born Victor Carrasco has been in collaboration with many prestigious companies such as Boffi, Glas Italia, Coalesse (Steelcase group), Gandia Blasco, and Hodema. He is the founder and the creative and strategic director of a contemporary furniture company, Viccarbe. He has worked with multiple internationally recognized designers like Patricia Urquiola, Jean-Marie Massaud, Arik Levy, and Jeffrey Bernett.

In 2009 Victor designed the VOL sink for Boffi. The Vol is based on a sculpture by Victor that he wanted to turn in to a sink for his home, he showed it to Boffi and the rest is history. Victor always creates functional pieces with great elegance and strong personality.

For Glas Italia he designed the Trim collection a group of bridge shaped low tables with irregular shapes and special faceted grindings of the glass, in clear or black glass.

Victor is a good friend and fan of ours and on August 10th he visited DZINE and signed the Trim table we have on display.

Boffi takes a turn toward rustic with fired-clay tiles

by Zahid Sardar from the column Material World in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

With the resurgence of crafted, handmade goods, even the precisely engineered stainless-steel aesthetic of Italian kitchens is getting a makeover.

"We are responding to what people want now," says Boffi CEO Roberto Gavazzi.

The company's newest lines, which build on Vienna-based Norbert Wangen's timeless, efficient K2 kitchen design that Boffi adopted in 2003, have recycled, distressed wood counters, steam-darkened sustainable acacia cabinets and surprisingly humble, traditional veneers that have been used for centuries: handmade ceramic tiles with low-relief arabesque patterns.

Unlike colorful Ottoman originals, these nostalgic matte-glazed Duemilaotto tiles of fired clay, designed by Boffi Creative Director Piero Lissoni, are all white, like monochromatic plateresque moldings on Hispano-Moresque buildings.

The creamy white 1/2-inch-thick square tiles in three mix-and-match designs sometimes vary slightly in size depending on how much they shrink or warp in the firing. The occasional discrepancy adds to the overall handcrafted effect, but grout between the 15-by-15-centimeter (almost 6 inches) and 20-by-20-centimeter (almost 8 inches) tiles makes it easy enough to clad precisely engineered Boffi kitchen island stove hoods or form custom backsplashes and wall treatments.

"They almost look Victorian," says Cardenio Petrucci, owner of Dzine, the showroom that showcases Boffi kitchens and baths in San Francisco. That's no coincidence: The new tiles are made by Domenico Mori in Macerata, south of Venice, in kilns that have been in use since the 19th century. They may well have supplied the dowager queen.

At a glance

Expert opinion: "A kitchen is no longer a craft shop," says Boffi designer Norbert Wangen, 48. "It also has a social and aesthetic function." While he likes spare, efficient designs that are timeless, a kitchen can also be organized and decorated in the manner of other living spaces.
"We are no longer in the '70s when everything 'designed' had to look avant-garde," he says.
The new Piero Lissoni tiles "soften the Boffi look," says Dzine owner Cardenio Petrucci. They are handmade near Boffi's Milan headquarters and can be made and delivered within two months.
Pros: The all-white tiles can be mixed and matched for a custom look. Tiles are as easy to clean as stainless steel but don't show fingerprints. The tiles are intended to fit Boffi hood sizes perfectly, so there is little waste.
Cons: The tile-clad hoods can weigh as much as 600 pounds. Metric grids are harder to apply to American construction planned in inches.
Price: $20-$32 per tile

Shadow and Light

by Judith Thurman for Architectural Digest August 2010 issue

Pitsou Kedem is a prize-winning Israeli architect who likes to cut corners.  Literally, that is.  In his residence for a family in Herzeliya, an upscale coastal enclave 10 miles from Tel Aviv, he played with the geometry of two stacked boxes-an upper bedroom story of Italian stone, and a lower living story of glass and teak-and deftly perforated their mass.  A buttressed wall between the main structure and the garden creates a stately "bridgeway" from the street to the front door.  Wraparound windows take a bit from the corner of the master suite.  Steel girders punctuate transparent walls, and a floating metal staircase-a piece of abstract sculpture-conjoins the two floors.  The result is an intricate modernist puzzle with open, light flooded interiors, but a facade so discreet that it reveals little of the drama behind it.  "Land is a great luxury in Israel," Kedem notes, "and even in an exclusive neighborhood like this one you don't have a lot of breathing room.  Because there are houses on both sides, I wanted to create a sense of privacy and enclosure in a relatively modest space-4,300 square feet-but without sacrificing its seamless flow.  You can see the garden from every room, and sliding doors blur the boundaries between inside and out."

The clients had been living in an apartment overlooking the marina before they found an appropriate building plot, and work on the house took about a year and a half.  It went without a hitch, Kedem says, largely thanks to his penchant for meticulous drawings ("paper suffers the abuse you give it without complaint") and for computer modeling.  "Israeli sun," he adds wryly, "was about the only element that didn't import."  The stone, fixtures and furnishings came from Italy, the teak from Myanmar and the windows from Germany.  He and his studio (based in Tel Aviv) designed the interiors, which flaunt a luxurious severity.  "If you want to work with me," he says, "it has to be my way.  I don't happily delegate control.  There has to be one language on a project-one creative fingerprint-or it loses its integrity."

 

Even Kedem, however, was impressed by the rigor of his client, a Dutch-born entrepreneur in the electronics business.  "He and his wife are an unusual couple," the architect says.  "She trusted him completely and stayed out of the decision making.  He is a passionate minimalist-I have never known anyone so cool in both senses.  Most people can't inhabit a space this pristine or live with such a commitment to aesthetics.  I aim to give my clients a perfect container, and they usually accessorize it with their own possessions.  But these clients didn't want anything-even art or books-to distract from the architecture.  Their only painting is one that I gave them."  (The couple have two lively young children, but they also have a huge basement playroom where their elan vital is contained.)

There are many modes of sensuality in design, not all of them involving embroidered throw pillows.  The bold verticality of Kedem's blueprint is balanced by the play of light and shadows filtered through the horizontal slats of the facade and the ground floor.  From a mezzanine that seems to float over the dining area, one looks down into the colbalt well of a narrow lap pool, embedded in a basalt patio that abuts the house.  Its water reflects the greenery of a Zen-like garden.  The warmth of the teak parquetry softens a graphic palette of white concrete and lacquer; black or charcoal rugs and upholstery; and the pumice-colored pietra sierra.  The decor, Kedem admits, is "strongly masculine;" he even incorporated the garage into the house and illuminated the husband's treasured sports car like a work of art.  But when the family and their guests gather for meals, a lacy, modern chandelier suspended from the 19-foot ceiling above the dining room table reminds one that a lovely woman-old-fashioned in her reticence-also resides here: It shimmers like a cloud of tulle.

The stark contrasts of Kedem's architecture recall the Taoist principle of yin and yang-a duality of dark and light, feminine and masculine, receptivity and action.  They, in turn, have their counterpart in the kabbalah, and its notion of Ayn Sof: the primal nothingness that preceded the creation.  "Ultimately," Kedem concludes, "you can describe my work with the simplicity that it strives to express: It's all about connection."