Large decorated ceramic slabs on wide continuous surfaces, installed with great precision thanks to advanced high-definition digital printing: this is the innovative “Design Your Slabs” technology of Iris Ceramica Group, which permits customization of the ceramic surfaces of the group’s brands, using any image or design. This is exactly what has fascinated FrancescoSimeti, a Sicilian artist residing in New York, famous for his site-specific installations. And he has chosen it for Questa stanza non ha più pareti, the work created for the bar area of the new headquarters of Fondazione Officine Saffi at Via Niccolini 35A in Milan.
“The ceramic process is very interesting because it offers variables that are often uncontrollable, but always magical. The ceramic material has an almost infinite variety of finishes… it has a great many souls“ –Francesco Simeti remarks.
Subjects of animals and plants, in their terrestrial or marine habitat, create a world that is poetic and concrete at the same time. They are element derived from the history of decorative imagery on ceramics, dating back to the Etruscans and to the modern era, hailing from Turkey, Greece, Italy, seen on vases, plates, terracotta and tiles. A project that has required over six months of historical and geographical research; a true challenge for the artist, who has been able to create a collage with a perfect balance of empty and full zones, white spaces and decorations.
“This space is a sort of history of ceramics. All the decorations come from pots or plates or historic formats in various epochs, different cultures or geographical locations. The ceramic material and technology have allowed me to also conserve the defects of the original images” – Simeti continues. But that’s not all: for Fondazione Officine Saffi, the artist will conduct a series of ceramics workshops, open to the participation of different groups and communities.
