Konstantin Grcic and The Bouroullecs for Mutina.

Everything begins with an interruption. That was the case for Mutina when, ten years ago, it decided to undertake a new and courageous journey into the world of ceramic tiles. Today, to celebrate this important anniversary, the brand launches their first advertising campaign and two new collections – Rombini, from a collaboration with French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and Numi, the first Mutina collaboration with German designer Konstantin Grcic.

Studio Bouroullec’s projects always develop through a process, a tale of modules that make up a colour consistency that is independent of the material that composes them. The “vibrations” are the true key style of the Studio: vibrations that objects transmit to the final consumer, chromatic vibrations, vibrations of matter. Rombini is a ceramic tale intended to convey these very vibrations, representing a research process that lasted more than two years and an exploration of the world of colour that had to overcome many technical and manufacturing obstacles. Until then, Mutina and the Bouroullecs did not stop reaching the common goal: a project of vibration, all made of ceramics.

“Rombini is an alphabet of shapes and colours. The project consists of three models: tile, mosaic and relief elements. It is a collection that offers a complete solution, offering different combinations; rhythmic and colourful connections ranging from the tile to the mosaic, from the mosaic to the relief, from the relief to the tile” explain the Bouroullecs.

Numi marks the beginning of the collaboration between Mutina and Konstantin Grcic. For the first time, Grcic had to deal with the ceramic surface and presents a book about research and inspirations with a very strong appeal to contemporary art. The result is a real conversation about art. An exploration of a world close to the company, which becomes the basis for the study of colours, materials and shapes. Numi is made of signs, handmade signs, specific signs, imperfect signs which become black strokes geometries, sublimated through delicate contrasts and interpreted on a “soft” cement with natural and dusty pigments.

“Ceramics! Working at my very first collection for Mutina, I’ve come to value the beauty of this simple and ancient material. A lump of clay that becomes floor, coating. The idea of matter as something composed of so many units, is really fundamental. A philosophical concept as much as a biological fact. The ceramic tile simply represents this: a small unit which, once multiplied, turns into something larger than the sum of its parts” says Grcic.

The collection consists of squared tiles – 300×300 mm and 600×600 mm – with a different, partially glazed geometric form, in six different colours. These shapes create a pattern which magnifies into architecture.