The innovative Marazzi showroom in Milano displays tiles in a cabinet of curiosities

The Italian ceramics and tiles are displayed in an innovative way at Marazzi new showroom in Milano, opened during the Milan Design Week 2019 and designed by studio Citterio-Viel

One of the key materials of the Milan Design Week 2019 for interiors was for sure ceramic. In fact, during this design week, I have seen tiles used in many new ways (for example, to decorate an entire apartment like in the Perfect Darkness exhibit) or new ceramics created with really advanced technologies, like the first 3d printed tiles. I have also seen the first shop where ceramic tiles are showcased in a totally new way.

I am talking about the new Marazzi showroom in Milano, which introduces a new way of displaying and selling ceramic tiles. Let me show you something more about this in this article.

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Marazzi ceramic tile showroom in Milano / Concept

The Marazzi showroom in Milano – already existing and with a surface of almost 400 meters- has radically been renovated by a restyling from Italian design studio Citterio-Viel, with the idea to create something new and different from the traditional ceramics showrooms.

The inspiration for the concept came from the “Wunderkammer”: that’s to say, the cabinets of curiosities which emerged in the sixteenth century in Europe and are considered as the very first museums.

The result is a new space articulated into different small rooms, which looks more like a jewellery shop or a small gallery than like a showroom of tiles. In fact, tiles are elegantly displayed in small samples on shelves, each wall corresponding to a different chest of drawers, containing the full range of tiles. The chests are created in wood and finished with a stoneware top, and decorated with small labels which identify the drawers’ content. The soft light coming from the table lamps (Viabizzuno) spread on the chests and on the shelves, give to the interior a very cosy and warm atmosphere.

Each room of the basement shows a different range of finishes, from the wooden-effect tiles to the concrete ones and the marble tiles. In the ground floor, instead, you can find the new collections, together with a big space dedicated to large formats.

Here, again, a totally new way for displaying ceramics: XL slabs are hanged and fixed on tracks so you can move them. Behind, a wide room shows how to apply large format tiles in meeting rooms, office and contract spaces.

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New ceramic tiles collections and formats

Together with the wide range of surfaces already part of Marazzi collection, some new collections have been introduced during this Milan Design Week 2019 and displayed in the entry room.

The Grand Wood Tarsia collection, always designed Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, brings the ancient art of wood inlay on large formats stoneware slab. Always talking about large formats, the new Grande Marble Look Terrazzo brings the classical Venetian Seminato pattern on a large surface.

The iconic four-curve tile Triennale, designed by Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli for Marazzi in 1960, comes back in the new SistemS technical stoneware, the high-performance solution for public and retail spaces.