“Tools and Space” by Ferruccio Laviani at Milano Design Week

A refined, ultra-thin ceramic surface, the ultimate expression of design and innovation, yet at the same time capable of reconnecting with its original identity and becoming pure material at the service of colour: this is what Lea Ceramiche will present during the upcoming Milan Design Week (18 to 23 April 2023) with “Tools and Space”, the installation curated by Ferruccio Laviani at the PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea.

The colours, decorations and material quality of Pigmenti, within the installation, define five elements, which take the oversized form of the architect’s traditional and iconic working tools, ranging from a gigantic circle template to French curves in different shapes and sizes.

“There are objects from the not-so-distant ‘analogue’ era that are still capable of conveying the hands-on nature of a certain way of designing. ‘Tools and Space’ celebrates, in the surrealist spirit of Savinio’s ‘Giochi Nella Foresta’, an era when tools from the recent past, such as circle templates, French curves and rulers, were used to design space and architecture. This installation, and specifically Lea Ceramiche’s Pigmenti collection, itself becomes an expressive tool for generating new forms and volumes, a kind of surrealist monument within an ideal Italian square by De Chirico, suspended between the Neoclassical architecture of Palazzo Reale and Ignazio Gardella’s PAC.” states Ferruccio Laviani.

“Tools and Space” is therefore the expression of a design approach without limits, serving creativity, in which colour and thickness take centre stage. The collection used is extraordinarily thin: a second ceramic skin measuring just 3.5 mm, in large-format slabs (3x1 m), suitable for use on vertical surfaces, both indoors and outdoors, for external façade applications or for cladding furnishing volumes.

“Lea Ceramiche’s presence at the PAC in Milan represents a celebration of creative freedom and of the sometimes surprising potential that technological and stylistic research applied to ceramic materials can offer today in the service of design and architecture.” states Andrea Anghinetti, brand manager of Lea Ceramiche. “Once again, we believed in Ferruccio Laviani’s vision, which in “Tools and Space”,” allowed him to interpret a collection, Pigmenti, bearing his signature: the result is both a stimulus and an invitation to an open-ended approach to design, in which ceramic material can become a truly extraordinary ally.”