The industrial designers Sandro Meneghello and Marco Paolelli studied at the Politecnico di Milano with two great masters – Paolo Rizzatto and Roberto Palomba – and then opened the studio that bears their names in 2007. One of their first proving grounds was the design of bath furnishings, while today they create products for various sectors, from outdoor furnishings to lighting, as well as ceramic products for use as cladding.
Their design approach is always rational, revealing their grasp of the logic of industrial production. In their projects the focus on details becomes almost maniacal. From their first forays into the world of ceramics, they have attempted to design tiles rather than simply decorating them. “We have tried to get away from decoration, shifting the focus towards modular solutions,” the designers say.
“Working within certain limits is something that distinguishes the work of the designer from that of the artist. For us, breaking these limits was the challenge expressed in the design of the tile covering.” For us, breaking these limits was the challenge expressed in the design of the tile cladding”. The design duo worked on the concept of modularity, to create repeatable forms and to break out of the realm of pure decoration, calling this process un-modularity.
One of the first projects in which the studio has explored this theme was Infinity, created for Horm. Initially conceived as a continuous facing, the pattern was then used to cover a cupboard. “We divided a square module in the median points of each side, and united them with a tangential arc. This allowed us to create a grid on which to extend a line that continues in an infinite way, and in the same module to have multiple types of patterns, avoiding repetition.” This set-up also had the advantage of leaving room for interpretation for the craftsmen who install the facing, who determine the final appearance during the installation phase.
The EXA project created for Escofet, a Spanish company founded in 1886 and specialized in flooring on an urban scale, also plays with the same principle. Interpreting the form of the hexagon, a long-term protagonist of the Escofet collections, the studio has adapted the concept of un-modularity. The result is a dynamic collection of coverings that adapt to potentially infinite installation schemes.
Zip by Ceramica Bardelli, on the other hand, takes a slightly different approach, where the designers have not worked on the surface, but on the joint between two tiles. “We have created a sort of hinge that runs lengthwise on the surface,” they explain. A project that shifts the focus onto the outer edge of the tile, which unites, divides and decorates, while also helping to visually separate spaces without the use of partitions.
For Mipa Graniglie, a company based in Fiorano Modenese that produces stone composite flooring, in 2022 they created Optical Trips, a very wide collection organized in four different patterns to play with the theme of the module, which is repeated to generate different motifs in keeping with the installation mode.
