Circularity, Customization And Essential Design

Lately, there has been increased demand in the market for design that evokes the personal over the commercial and, critically, meets environmental criteria. Trends are ultimately creating waste that we don’t need and because of that, when designing a new space, we should think less about “beauty” and more about the social value of what we are creating.

It’s generally good advice to design keeping in mind second life for a project. Retrofitting is becoming a very crucial topic in the industry and design should facilitate that rather than make it ever more challenging.

Iris Ceramica Group discusses innovation technologies and how they could help in adapting design to the challenges of today's world.

The Inspiration

Starting from the 60’s, the equation ECONOMY=ECOLOGY has always inspired Iris Ceramica Group work: it means that every decision and action that the company takes must respect the ESG criteria. Their vision is reengineering ceramics to optimize the relationship between human beings and the environment. Starting from there, they have been able to develop year after year, incredible solutions in line with the values of Sustainability, Innovation and Excellence in Quality. Their innovative technologies and solutions are indeed improving the human experience indoors and outdoors, creating meaningful environment, sustainable, and functional to their purpose: among the others Attract, Design Your Slabs, Hypertouch and Active Surfaces®.

Attract and Desing Your Slabs: Achieving Circularity Without Compromises on Personality and Customization

The common feeling about using sustainable, circular materials is the necessity to renounce something and, specifically, to renounce beautiful materials. But it doesn’t have to go this way.

Attract is the innovative, circular dry magnetic laying system for the ceramic slabs developed by Granitech, the Business Unit of Iris Ceramica Group. The modular system consists of ceramic slabs that are made magnetic and reach the site ready to be laid to create a continuous horizontal or vertical surface, without the use of glues or supporting structures. The removal of each ceramic slab is also quick, easy and circular, without the need for demolition.

In this way, the ability to re-use has become central. The ceramic slabs can be re-used an infinite number of times, renewing walls and floors in homes, offices, stores and any temporary spaces that require frequent modifications. The magnetic base can be also reused an infinite number of times, cut and re-assembled without losing its magnetic properties. Moreover, every single component in the system can be separated from the others and treated individually, also for re-use, disposal or recycling.

The customised solutions related to the use of Attract technology are limitless if are matched with Design Your Slabs.

This technology offers three different solutions to give shape and substance to ideas: by designing your custom graphics in transparency on the surface of the slabs, applying it to completely cover the ceramic material, or with the exclusive luxury system, using metallic inks with exceptional yield aesthetics, both in transparency mode and covering the slab. Ultimately, it’s a digital system that together with the Attract technology, can really bring circularity and customization to the next level without renouncing to a responsible and environment-friendly solution.

At Iris Ceramica Group they embraced the circular economy as a new paradigm for their business model, putting immediately both these solutions in action for the realisation of their Planet-Friendly Booth at Cersaie 2023.

For that occasion, thanks to the Attract technology and a modular system developed by Henoto – the international company specialised in trade fair set-ups – the Group has been able to create a temporary, circular and 100% reusable exhibition space. The use of DYS has allowed Iris Ceramica Group to have a large mural entitled “Blooming Bonds”, created exclusively for the company by the international artist Becha.

At the end of the trade fair, all the materials used to build the Booth, as well as the ceramic slabs, were re-used for other purposes, with an entirely circular approach.

The Planet-Friendly Booth is a concrete example of the power of aware design, attentive to the principles of circularity and in line with the Iris Ceramica Group ESG values.

Hypertouch and Active Surfaces®: The Innovative Solutions for the Better

Iris Ceramica Group commitment to improving people’s lives and well-being has brought the company to develop two innovative solutions: Hypertouch and Active Surfaces®.

Hypertouch is a capacitive emotional surface - designed and patented by Iris Ceramica Group - that improves design functions beyond imagination: it enhances the design and continuity of surfaces, eliminating unsightly cover plates and external switches. Thanks to a concealed technology, simply by lightly touching the Hypertouch ceramic surface, an integrated system of home-automation sensors is activated to switch on and off lighting and audio-video devices, control doors and windows, and set the room temperature and many more.

In 2022 Hypertouch won the prestigious “Most Intelligent Domestic Device” award from Wallpaper* – one of the most internationally recognised magazines for design and lifestyle. But that’s not all.

Active Surfaces® not only hold great design value but also innovatively respond to our need for safety and well-being indoor and outdoor. In fact, the superior properties of Active Surfaces® transform ceramic slabs into eco-active materials with antibacterial and antiviral, anti-pollution, anti-odour and self-cleaning properties. This 100% Italian technology is owned by Iris Ceramica Group and developed in partnership with the Department of Chemistry of the University of Milan, and research still continues today aiming to further improve the technical performance of the materials.

To better understand the potentialities of this latest technology through real case studies, take a look at Iris' BIID accredited CPD “Application and Benefit of Photocatalytic Porcelains” 

Otherwise, if you would like to discuss your project or some of those technologies and get in touch with the Iris Ceramica Group team, email to: london@icgmail.com.