“Drifts” wins Iris Ceramica Award at Dubai Design Week 2023 for the final phase of the “Local Cultures in Global Settings” project after being launched in Milan at Salone del Mobile earlier this year. Project fosters the exploration of unique cultural roots in global discourse and included a series of events across the world including Milan and London.
Evolving from local to ‘glocal’, project comments on the ways natural environment is replaced by humanmade in relation to the rapid urbanisation of Dubai, questioning potentiality of generating discussion among the two, while design enhances the tactility that develops the human-space correlation with the ceramic surfaces.
Influenced by the narrative power of Roberto Burle Marx’s work relying in integration of landscape and architecture, proposal presents a reconciliation with nature, forming a discourse among built space and nature. The value of nature as a source of inspiration is combined with the impact of cultural confluence by abstracting such values to visual language through aggregation.
Taking advantage of innovative printing possibilities of the DYS modus operandi, a dynamic dialogue with technology and progress is materialised. The continuous ripples add plasticity to 2-dimensional surface, reflecting the continuity of printing process and technical features behind the manufacture of Iris Ceramica ceramic slabs.
Flux of wind & water, light & shadow
Flow of natural elements hints to mutability of landscape as intersecting waves reshape constantly the shore, alluding to intersectionality of cultures. The sea that connects different cultures unveils how mobility across space and time has shaped the frame of globalised environments such as Dubai. Project captures the interplay of light, shadow and pattern, recreating the pulsating lighting effect of traditional ‘mashrabiya’ diaphragms which give material shape to light while generating shadow shapes.
Land and material it provides to build culture
Referring to the unique local geography, desert dunes and terrain contours shaped by the wind illustrate how the trace of human intersects with the trace of time. With reference to traditional ceramics illustrating the long history of building with earth, pottery lines highlight our common roots and the deep connection with earth. Through visual and physical linkages, the ceramic slabs’ design forges a strong link with what is made of: matter extracted from earth.
Patterns & arrays, combinations & connections weaving multicultural fabric
Seeing craftmanship as the ultimate expression of human creativity, while triggering a bond to the rich local history, concept presents an effort to combine contemporary design with traditional craft. Drawing reference from patterns of Arabic textiles and tapestries, loom weaving lines are converted to Op art stripes as the gentle undulation captured on their surface creates a visual expression of the rhythm of weaving. These introduce a perceptible pulse, creating a spatial articulation that instils a primarily two-dimensional object with a three-dimensional aspect. A modern interpretation of heritage celebrating its creative roots, design arrangements and arrays imply geometric patterns familiar to traditional Islamic decoration and Middle Eastern mosaics. Reminiscent of ornaments found in local crafts and motifs of Arabic carpets, combinations allude to interweaving the multicultural fabric of Dubai.
INNOVATIVE FEATURES
DYS is a complete, versatile on-demand decoration service patented by Iris Ceramica Group, making it possible to produce any kind of decoration on all the Group brands’ ceramic surfaces. The result is a unique customisation that turns ceramics into an authentic art form. Active Surfaces® natural materials combine science and design to improve people’s well-being in the spaces they live in. Active Surfaces® turn ceramic slabs into an eco-active material with four superior properties: antibacterial and antiviral, anti-pollution, anti-odour and self-cleaning, certified to ISO standards. These materials can degrade bacteria and viruses (including SARS-CoV-2), polluting particles and the molecules responsible for bad odours. The eco-active surface is also more resistant to dirt, making it easier to clean.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS AND APPLICATIONS
Panels can stand on their own but also develop patterns of visual continuity through modulation – an open-ended process referring to Islamic motifs expanding infinitely. Their combination generates geometric patterns by simple rotation of slab, in order to achieve maximum degree of customisation with minimum use of construction elements. A module that balances between geometric and abstract fits different environments and ambience, with applications ranging from small to large-scale and urban design.
Applied as cladding in building envelopes, geometric combinations form a dialogue with mutability of topography and urban environment. Encountering movement and plasticity, vibrations and pulses activate surfaces complementing ceramic slab’s texture and tactility. Employing metallic inks and tonal adjustments in combination with the wide range of “Iris Ceramica” slabs, users can add personality and distinctiveness in domestic habitat. Interplay of reflections and patterns reveals different textures in pools, spas and wellness centres. A visual reflection of people’s circulation in stations, shopping centres and public areas, flow is converted to spatial experience.
