Mystone Travertino and Crogiolo Rice Collections

Marazzi’s wonderfully expressive products might reproduce the enduring allure of natural stone or rediscover the imperfect beauty of authentic ceramic, but whatever it creates the company skillfully merges artisan expertise with industrial technology. And this was the precise approach underlying the design and creation of two new porcelain stoneware collections presented at the most recent Cersaie ceramic exhibition. The one, called Mystone Travertino, is a new interpretation of marble in which a powerfully contemporary vein emerges, while the other is Crogiolo, which means “melting pot” and is named after the historical company workshop in which so many designs have been explored.

Using digital printing technology from Sublime Sync, the Mystone Travertino line replicates the details of stone with remarkable precision, with this is then complemented through the addition of soft-touch, anti-slip StepWise technology and the lasting durability guaranteed by High Performance. The collection has three options on the color palette, Navona (light beige), Classico (cream) and Silver (light grey), available in two decorative options, Classic and Botanic. Colors and sizes can be combined in three mosaics and four formats (90x180, 60x120, 60x60, 30x60 cm), with two possible finishings, one of which is soft and warm, while the other is shiner and more elegant.

The Crogiolo line is about creativity that moves beyond styles and times. The name itself is a direct reference to the laboratory where Marazzi started testing and experimenting on solutions in the 1980s, bringing in architects, designers, artists and photographers to breathe life into customized tiles designed by Roger Capron, Amleto Dalla Costa, Original Designers, Saruka Nagasawa and Robert Gligorov, often with photographs by Luigi Ghirri, Cuchi White and Charles Traub. The Crogiolo project brings together projects that differ in stylistic underpinning, but are united through narrative power.

In this light, Rice uses cutting-edge manufacturing technology to take interesting new research into enamel and color to produce a stoneware reinterpretation of handmade majolica bricks, complete with wonderful imperfections, dots and color variations. This collection comes in three modular formats (15x15, 5x15 and 7.5x20 cm) built on a neutral color palette (white, natural and grey), with touches of blue that are woven into three nature-inspired patterns to produce countless solutions.