Thursday Salute to Originals: The Possibilities of Porcelain
As lovers of translucent surfaces and progressive design, the word “porcelain” does not often weave its way into conversations here at GPI. Porcelain surfaces traditionally evoke residential powder rooms, a series of neatly laid tiles that are constrained to right angles and square shapes. So we were pleasantly stunned to find the Pulsate project, in which architects reinvigorate the design possibilities of porcelain surfaces.
For the Capital Designer Studio tile showroom in London, architects Lily Jencks and Nathanael Dorent used a repetitive geometry of porcelain tiles to clad every plane in the space. Using only four color shades of tile (and all in the same size), perspective and layout are strategically manipulated to create a truly dynamic composition. With a sloped floor and built in benches, the images of the Pulsate installation only begin to touch on the experience of actually traversing through the space.
As Jencks explain the design concepts at play, “One is about perception – how you perceive distances and shapes; and make sense of space. The other is about how to display an object that’s for sale; we wanted the space to be more than just a showroom selling tiles; to rethink the commercial transaction as something more creative.”
We can sympathize with the attention to detail required to properly show off these tiles, the substructure is invisible but certainly had to be completely precise in order for the surface installation to function. Not to mention the conceptual marketing strategy by Capital Designer Studio, they certainly found a way to redefine their material.
A true testament to the pop-up design trends, the installation is launching today and will remain at the showroom through December 2013. Today, we can salute porcelain material for its unexpected flair! Have any Londoners visited the installation yet? Can anyone describe the experience of walking through the space?
Image credits: Dezeen