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In the heart of Milan, in the Brera Design District, Ceramica Sant’Agostino’s showroom in Corso Garibaldi is an evocative place, illuminated by a warm and enveloping light. The latest and most iconic collections stand out on large panels inside a space that is spread over two levels but is treated as a single “architectural box”. Designer of the exhibition, the Calvi Brambilla studio.
The location of the new Showroom, in such a strategic point, highlights the intentions and goals of the company, still led by the founder’s family, which, with almost sixty years of history, is one of the leading Italian players in the ceramic sector. Consistent with its values, Ceramica Sant’Agostino continues its path in the pursuit of creativity on the Italian and international territory, entering Milan’s square right in one of the busiest points of the city and in direct contact with the most important architectural firms.
“This is the first project we are developing with Ceramica Sant’Agostino, and right from the start we found ourselves in great harmony,” tell art directors Calvi Brambilla. “What inspired the set-up was the value of this new stage in the journey of a high-level company, solid and rooted in the territory: their first showroom in Milan required a refined look for its entrance on such an important stage. Combining the theme of the journey from the headquarters in the province of Ferrara to the city of Milan with the company’s desire for a very scenic space where they could showcase their collections, we immediately thought of Franco Albini’s design for Line1 of the Milan subway.”.
A new exhibiting function
The graphic sign of the red handrail, which in Albini’s design accompanies the traveller from the surface and continues on the stairs to the train waiting platform, has been reinterpreted with a new exhibiting function in Calvi Brambilla’s design.
Not just one but two horizontal lines, architecturally rendered with dark titanium finish tubes, become the hanging supports for the display panels of Ceramica Sant’Agostino’s collection. The result is a graphic sign given by the parallel tubes, running along the entire perimeter of the showroom ground floor and, from a functional point of view, enabling a very flexible display of the product: the tubes, in fact, allow for a variable modularity of the panels, adaptable to different sizes, but also adjustable in number depending on the presentation that one wants to display; the graphic sign remains, but the frames supporting the product can decrease or increase as in an evocative museum system.
Large display frames, designed down to the smallest detail to hold both slabs with a single finish and tile compositions in smaller formats, best showcase the solutions that the ceramic product can offer within different architectural designs.
In the center of the exhibiting floor, next to the system of tubulars and wall frames, three “totems”: these are compositions of different volumes and collections, covered in porcelain stoneware, with additions of other materials, such as lacquer and glass, which combine several types of products to create real three-dimensional mood boards.
The Material Library
The lower floor, designed as a more operational area, houses the material library, organized on a fabric wall system displaying the entire catalogue, and two large tables to explore samples and create pairings.
Architects, designers, planners, those lovers and curious about ceramic products will be able to enter this exhibition venue not only to view Ceramica Sant’Agostino products, search for the best solutions for their projects and receive advice and technical assistance, but also at exhibitions and events dedicated to architecture, which will make it a culturally vibrant meeting point throughout the year.
Photo: Luca Cioci
by AN shopfitting magazine no.178 ©
