To celebrate the opening of its first UK showroom in London’s Clerkenwell, Iris Ceramica Group commissioned food design studio Blanch & Shock to translate the current inspiration of some of the city’s most forward-thinking creative practices into canapés. Chosen for being forerunners when it comes to innovation, beauty and sustainability – the key themes that underpin the Iris Ceramica Group – the unusual appetisers were made in honour of Mamou-Mani Ltd, Brodie Neill, Paul Cocksedge, Marlene Huissoud and Jump Studios.
The three-storey London flagship marks a major milestone for the 60-year-old Italian tile maker, which makes and distributes high-quality porcelain products for residential, commercial and industrial architecture all over the world. A family-run business, Iris Ceramica was founded in northern Italy by Romano Minozzi in 1961 and is currently led by his daughter Federica who is the CEO of the Group.
In the showroom, the first floor features a co-working space and meeting rooms, the ground floor is a lounge and kitchen, and the basement is a spa. Every surface is ceramic, while brands featured include Ariostea, FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, Fiandre Architectural Surfaces, Iris Ceramica, SapienStone and Porcelaingres.
Paul Cocksedge’s cherry tomato
‘London is the creative capital of the world and we have wanted to have a showroom here for many years,’ says Minozzi, who goes on to explain that it was difficult to find and secure the right space. ‘But now we have found it.’ For Minozzi it is also important that they use the space to help build connections among the design and architecture community in the city, and she hopes people will feel ‘welcome to come and use the space to work from, to have ideas in and to collaborate.’
To inform Blanch & Shock’s’ canapés, the chosen design studios each submitted colour palettes and images referencing places or environments, shapes and lines, architectural details, concepts, pattern, textures and materials that are currently inspiring their practice. Iris Ceramica Group then followed each ‘from wish to dish’ and served the final output to guests at the launch event. This included insect nests fashioned from goats cheese, vacuum-compressed kohlrabi, bee pollen and more.
Mamou-Mani Ltd’s baked lotus root
Marlene Huissoud’s Whipped Goats Cheese
Jump Studios’s prawn
INFORMATION
irisceramicagroup.com
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formedIn the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
-
‘Finding quality through the act of making’: Pearson Lloyd celebrates 25 years of designPearson Lloyd’s show ‘Change Making’ reflects on past designs from its archives, showcasing the influences on and evolution of the studio, from furniture design to the NHS
-
Tom Dixon marks his studio's 20 years with a show of design experimentsMushroom, cork, steel coral and more: Tom Dixon showcases an overview of his design experiments as he celebrates his practice's 20 years
-
Porro unveils new London showroom at Coal OfficeLondon Design Festival 2022: industrial architecture meets pure geometries in the new Porro showroom, taking over a space within Tom Dixon’s Coal Office to showcase the brand’s systems and furniture
-
Vitra unveils new London home in the Tramshed, ShoreditchLondon Design Festival 2022: after a year-long renovation, Vitra opens the door to its new showroom in the heart of Shoreditch
-
Mudlarking beside the River Thames inspires The New Craftsmen’s makersLondon Design Festival 2022: The New Craftsmen’s new collection, ‘Claylarks’, features work from a group of creatives inspired by a River Thames mudlarking expedition
-
One tree, ten designers: SCP presents The One Tree Project at London Design FestivalLondon Design Festival 2022: SCP enlisted ten British designers to create furniture and objects from a felled ash tree from founder Sheridan Coakley's Hampshire garden
-
London Design Medals 2022London Design Medals 2022 are awarded to costume designer Sandy Powell, architect Indy Johar, researcher Joycelyn Longdon and photographer Sir Don McCullin
