Tex olive

After the great success on the market and the acknowledgment of architects and interior designers received by the collection FOLDED, the collaboration of Mutina with the two young designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay from Raw Edges continues with a new project even more articulated and impressive. A rich multi-colored ceramic tile collection was the starting point developed for Mutina by Raw Edges studio in London. “Creating a tangible texture is one of the challenges when designing ceramics tiles”, state the two young designers.

TEX, the name of the new project (abbreviated from the English word Textile), brings us into the creative world of fashion design and textiles production. “Looking around us, almost every object has its own particular texture, whether it’s a natural or a handmade material. Rather than designing new textures by ourselves, we have reached a print effect and created our reference tactile library by placing plasticine on objects and materials we thought were interesting. To our surprise , it were the textures taken from textiles which have leaded us to define the new collection. (When looking carefully into a knitted textile, a repetition of stitches can be seen aligned in symmetric rows next to each other”.)

The newest thing of this collection is the combination of five different surfaces (fabrics) in each of the eight different colors, which build up the collection, and the declination of each of the colors in five different shades. Therefore, in the grey color we have for example pieces with five different structures randomly mixed into the boxes and colored with three shades: grey, light grey and dark grey. Moreover, three absolutely new colors for Mutina (yellow, blue and green, to which the designers have given the name “fun colors”) have been included into the eight

colors palette and have given the project a unique look, making Mutina enter the “world of the color” in a very funny and original way.

Tex collection is part of the “handmade” products range by Mutina. It is produced by extrusion
and then raw cut. It presents 5 different textures, obtained by pressing on the surface reliefpatterns.

The tile is then glazed using an automatic process which enables the realization in the same percentage of 3 different shades for each color. The tile finally undergoes a baking process which reaches temperatures up to 1.100°. The obtained product has an absolutely matt surface, slightly structured but very soft to the touch, which is also very easy to clean since thought both for wall and floor covering. Each rhombus in size 11,5x20cm and with thickness 10mm, is easily fixed pulling the tiles close to each other and using a matching grout, even if they have some small size irregularities made on purpose by the designers. Tex collection reaches a perfect result obtained combining a completely handmade production to the newest technologies for the application and definition of the color.

The second novelty of TEX collection is undoubtedly the only size of the articles. The tile is indeed a rhombus, whose size from edge to edge is 20x11,5 cm and which has an angle inclination of 60°. This latest aspect allows to realize several laying schemes, each of which creates different aesthetic results: three-dimensional, “diamond”, “spike”, or “fishbone” effect, horizontal or vertical rhombus laying, “flower”, “short diamond” or “extended diamond” effect,.. Of all the several possible opportunities, Mutina presents and offers three main schemes which best express the project: the “diamond” laying with a three-dimensional effect, the “chevron” with a “fishbone” effect and the simplest one with the aligned rhombuses.

The collection is then completed by two special pieces, to be used as frames or skirting, each of which is glazed in the ten colors of the collection.
Moreover, in addition to the single tiles installation, premade patterns named “Runner”, will be arranged on a mesh similarly to mosaics settings. These meshes will allow locating graphic elements in particular places on the wall or on the floor (for instance, as a frame to the room, a central element or a linear pattern).

The production of TEX is artisanal and enables a large multiplicity of textures, the verity of colors and the tactile qualities of the glaze. In addition, the colorful and natural glaze applied on a white ceramics creates an irregular effect in certain places, while a more saturated one in others”.