POLICROMA

Policroma: note sulla collezione | Policroma: notes on the collection

The Policroma ceramics collection

The Policroma ceramics collection offers an aesthetic formula that incorporates

both the stylistic canons of classicism and those of a compositional and expressive

code more in line with modern taste, skilfully combining them in a well calculated mix.

The collection’s repertoire of large slabs features motifs inspired by two

separate sources: on the one hand the exquisite, always surprising vein texture

of some specific metamorphic rocks, and on the other the sophisticated colours

of marmorino plaster.

This dual reference to the surfaces of marble (and rare, or even extinct types at

that) and those created by a category of plaster decoration that aims to imitate the

shine of marble itself is the key to Cristina Celestino’s project.

In spite of their different natures, these two materials are embedded in the

culture of Italian architecture: their substance and appearance evoke the modes of

construction and decoration typical of Italy’s urban and rural landscape in various

periods, defining and characterising its buildings – especially in some specific regions

– both inside and outside.

Today, the mass of memories relating to the use of these materials acquires

new life, distinctively interpreted in the lovely succession of marble weaves and

marmorino plaster colours in the Policroma range of slabs: the large ceramic

surfaces become portions of space, on which the exquisite “geographies” of a marble

surface or the subtle ripples of colour in a plaster pattern are magnified, in unbroken

successions or defined by a severe dark perimeter frame.

A rounded arch is then used to offer suggestions for combining the two

decors in the same ceramic covering, which becomes a marvellous inlaid area for

use alongside other, similar zones to generate a rich web of figurative weaves and

possible two-dimensional patterns, each with its own specific visual impact.

The collection is completed by a straight listel tile with the motif of a sequence

of vertical rectangular blocks, which can be combined with the slabs to ornament

compositions involving continuous ceramic covering surfaces.

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