Ceramic tiles and fashion

Creativity, innovation and the ability to drive international market trends, along with the quality of products, raw materials and the production cycles are just a few of the characteristics shared by two leading Italian sectors: fashion and ceramic tiles.
These sectors often cross paths, contributing to each other’s success and to the growing diffusion of a style that is globally recognised for its originality and exclusivity. One of the most frequent and fruitful fields of collaboration is that of boutiques and flagship stores, to which Italian tiles contribute elegance and high performance and meet the toughest demands of architects and designers.
One prime example is the longstanding collaboration between Ceramiche Refin and the renowned international fashion house Max Mara for the design of the group’s fashion boutiques in Italy and worldwide.
To get an idea of the scale of this partnership, it is worth remembering that Max Mara boutiques are present in the most prestigious shopping streets in every major world city. Including shopping centre outlets, the chain counts a total of more than 2,300 flagship stores and more than 10,000 multibrand stores. Amongst the Max Mara Group’s brands, Refin ceramic tiles have been used for Marella, Persona and MAX&Co stores.
This latter brand in particular recently introduced a new store concept based on essential furnishings and a neutral colour palette, an ethereal and luminous ambience made up of open spaces and broad vistas where the fashion garments and accessories are displayed to full effect. The setting is anything but invasive, designed to show off the models, styles, materials and colour palettes of the collections on display. One of the first MAX&Co stores to adopt the new concept was the one recently opened in Corso Vercelli in Milan. For this boutique, located on one of the city’s most important shopping streets, Ceramiche Refin developed and produced exclusive strip type floor tiles from the Fabric collection. The tiles stand out for their intentionally irregular cuts and are further enhanced by the herringbone installation pattern and wide grout joints. An additional element contributing to the surface covering project was Mosaico d’Autore Beside, created by designer Massimiliano Adami for DesignTaleStudio, a creative laboratory supported by Ceramiche Refin with the aim of promoting concepts of art, experimentation and innovation. Here too the result is an exclusive product based on a compositional balance between a geometric texture, colour variations and a juxtaposition of different sizes. The floors and walls fully meet the aims of the project, helping to create a unique and representative image of Italian quality worldwide — an image shared by Refin and MAX&Co.