05.12.18

Tiles come in all shapes and sizes, and now it seems, forms as well. Designed by prolific Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola for Mutina and first introduced in September this year, Celosia is a family of tiles that rebels against the conventional definition of tiles as flat surface coverings. Instead, Celosia celebrates form and craft. Each ‘tile’ or module, is shaped like a zig zag and made of extruded terracotta, which gives the collection its wonderfully rustic, yet artisanal look. 

For its innovative experimental spirit, the collection was just announced the winner in the Wallcovering: Tile and Stone category, of Interior Design magazine’s 13th annual Best of Year Awards.

Being 10cm-thick, Celosia can also function as a partition, with the addition of complementary modules to frame the structure. Its versatile modularity has created a completely new function for wallcoverings, extending it far beyond the two-dimensional realm. 

Besides this latest accolade, Mutina has over the years, picked up several other awards thanks to their persistence in pushing the boundaries of tile design. Mews, for instance, clinched the Wallpaper Design Award 2013, and EDIDA (Elle Deco International Design Awards) in 2014. The collection, designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, uses tonal variations of a set of base colours to achieve depth and movement on a flat surface. 

Phenomenon is another collection which won a Wallpaper Design Award, an EDIDA, and a Red Dot Design Award for Mutina. Created by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, the collection interprets the textures of materials from the natural world, such as honeycomb, icicles and plant cells, and recreates them as elegant and poetic textures in ceramic forms.

Explore the world of Mutina at RICE. Make an appointment to visit riceLAB by emailing them here or by calling 6692 1199. riceLAB is at 213 Henderson Road 01.03 Singapore 159553. They are open from Mondays to Fridays 10am to 7pm, and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm.