Kensington | Diego Grandi

This year we decided to focus on the use of wall cladding finishes. Looking at the company's catalogue, we realized that the material needed rethinking. We looked back and decided to give new meaning to the collection. While putting things in order, we decided to rethink the scale of the elements, colors, tones, sizes, combinations
The rigorous research on materials over recent years was not reflected so clearly, in fact, in the use of decoration. So, although we are all aware that the language of decoration - from floral to geometric - is part of the world of ceramics, we had sought to limit its use.
As far as we're concerned, as early as last year, along with the company, we embarked on a course to recover tradition and attention to craftsmanship. This doesn't mean that we didn't want to speak an industrial language. The purely "industrial" matrix is rooted, however, in a craft-oriented vision.

The idea came from the interpretation of a series of specifically "Nordic" collections. First we looked at the French and English ceramic tile tradition. The Kensington collection was born from thinking about the atmosphere of London houses. This kind of inspiration deriving from the history of late 19th and early 20th century ceramics intersected our rethinking of Italian ceramic production from the 1950s and 60s, especially regarding format. The 7 x 15 cm rectangular tile is the format that accompanied our childhoods (and perhaps also that of our parents) in colors that would be preposterous today and with equally improbable finishes like the vaguely marbled versions. Even if I like to think that reconsidering them could offer us many interesting ideas.

However, this "module" has been scaled down to 5 x 10cm. The typical glazed tile was then proportioned to fit a smaller format but it is not sold in single units. It is a sort of pre-scored mosaic with a larger format allowing easy installation. It is the color palette that ties the entire collection together. Independent from historical references, we chose neutral and dusty colors in shades of gray-green, mauve, pastel blue. In general the idea was not to create a single smooth and continuous ceramic surface but to introduce divisions as elements extraneous to the world of ceramics. These borders, edges, wood profiles or diamond-shaped tiles and raised geometric motifs are inspired by Victorian woodwork and allude to an idea of classic home decor revisited in a contemporary key. The idea was to create the possibility of articulating the surface with great freedom but also with a certain compositional balance.