SENSUUM SPA: the winning project in the Tile Competition 2020 at Coverings
The exquisite green/gold veins of Opulence granites on the walls
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Sensuum spa is the title of the project by four young American women which has won the Tile Competition 2020 organised by Italian ceramics producers' association Confindustria Ceramica on the context with Coverings*.
The real temple for Italian ceramics features the latest-generation stoneware slabs that effectively reproduce the finest marbles, used to clad the floors, the walls and even the ceiling with all the convenient installation typical of Ceramiche Piemme tiles.
A series of alcoves creates an intimate, evocative rhythm along the walls of the couples' massage room, which features the pale shades of alabaster travertine (Elegance collection). Their sparkling, stippled green/gold walls reproduce some of the most exquisite coarse-grained granites. Contrasting with the pale shades of the room itself, they generate a dreamlike impression: the sensation of being in the centre of the earth or looking down onto a seabed.

With their transparency and their extremely lifelike digital reproduction of the natural vein patterns, the porcelain stoneware tiles from the Opulence collection by Ceramiche Piemme thus become the key feature of a simple yet sophisticated interior. The hammam is also covered throughout - this time with the Eccentirc finish from the Opulence collection.

“American designers are particularly discerning and knowledgeable with regard to both sustainability and surface quality,” stresses Davide Colli, COO of Ceramiche Piemme. "They are also very up-to-date with the latest novelties, and well informed, a point proven by these four students' choice of materials. We are delighted that they appreciated the quality and the light and transparency effects of our collections and succeeded in making the most of them in a truly evocative project. We have put a great deal of work into both collections, Elegance and the recently launched Opulence, and they showcase the latest developments we have reached in technology, with effects never previously achieved in terms of both aesthetics and sensory impressions."

The award was announced during the press conference held by Confindustria Ceramica (the Ceramics of Italy brand promoter) as part of Coverings Connected (www.coverings.com), the online experience of the United States' biggest tile and coverings exhibition..
Carolina Cardona, Gabriela Mesquita, Rachael Cowan and Mariapia Sierra of Florida International University (FIU) designed the Spa for the cruise company Virgin Voyages.
Opulence combines style and sustainability with its rare mineral shades, in a material which is both high-tech and natural, completely recyclable like the clays from which Modena ceramics district tiles are made.
Elegance is the collection dedicated to the marbles of the great Italian tradition: white onyx, alabaster travertine (the collection is inspired by the Piazza di Spagna in Rome), light pulpis and dark pulpis. The particularly shiny surface accurately reproduces the look of marble polished to a mirror finish.

* Now at its 27th edition, the Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition assigned awards to North American architects and designers who have used Italian ceramic tiles in institutional, residential and commercial locations. The competition is open to all architects, interior designers and students, who may enter new-build and restructuring projects from the USA or anywhere in the world. The Sensuum spa project won the award in the "Student project" category.

For further information: www.ceramichepiemme.it Tel. 0536 849111

Ceramiche Piemme
Established in Maranello (Modena) in 1962, Ceramiche Piemme, which has been a member of Confindustria Ceramica since 1968, is a company specialised in the production of ceramic floor and wall coverings. The modern production plant in Solignano, in the province of Modena, is equipped with heat-recovery kilns that produce over 7 million square metres of porcelain stoneware every year.