Freestyle with Metal and Format The Milan Design Week event

This Italian lifestyle project, underlined by the aroma of espresso coffee, is divided into three thematic areas showing different ways of rendering the multifaceted personality of today's ceramic tiles, an irreplaceable part of home decor.

The setting is decidedly unusual: the space, occupied by a mechanical workshop for the rest of the year, features a barrel-vaulted gallery facing the entrance courtyard.

Natural light coming through the glass roof lights up gallery, enhancing the fascination of the colours of Pietra Forte from Florence recreated in full-bodied porcelain tile (26"x13" square, from the Format collection).

The two designers had fun with the modular formats of the stone: almost as if trying to escape the classic right angles of ceramic tile layout patterns, they created a wave that rises up the back wall in a gradation of strips. Tall lights of light canvas, simple and comfortable garden furniture and fresh herbal scents complete the natural scene.
The courtyard also contains a small gazebo, built in all-black Lavagna slate (26"x13" square, Format collection), used to cover the floor and walls both inside and out. The whole is given an even more modern look by huge plastic plant pots and armchairs of minimal design, decorated with elegant floral prints.

The third setting is a glamorous mix. Bright red lights, designer chairs, inebriating essences and metallic surfaces(18"x18" Steel, Metal Line collection) are reflected in the mirror columns so that they are infinitely multiplied as if to disorient the visitor. In the evening, artificial lighting transforms the environments: our perception of the colour of the material changes, surrounded by lights and shadows in a new perspective that enhances its multi-sensorial dimension.