Sprezzatura featured in Winter 2015 issue of Perspective magazine by Roger McClenaghan
Sprezzatura is an aristocratic Italian word for studied carelessness. In men’s fashion, it has come to mean a nonchalance in dress – cuff buttons left undone, mismatched jacket and trousers or trainers with a suit jacket and jeans. At the Italian tile fair in Bologna, Cersaie, sprezzatura was apparent in the cooler Italian brands like Verde 1999, 41zero42, Fioranese and Mutina. Large format stone look wall tiles with ornate parquet look wood floor tiles. Polished Carrara marble porcelain with black flagstone, or stucco plaster wall tiles with Moroccan style encaustic. It is a difficult look to achieve successfully, without looking wrong. Mutina and 41zero42 are two of the very few companies than can get away with it without looking like they are trying too hard.
Other trends include terracotta tones lead by Mutina with their Tierra’s launch, and Verde 1999 with their Passepartout, designed by Ellen Bachman with a modern twist in its 900×900 format. Sant’Agostino displayed their Digital Art range that looked like carpet tiles and even tricked your senses into feeling like you were walking on carpet.
We are just back from a week in Bologna full of ideas and new products. It will be an exciting late 2015/early 2016 for David Scott Tile & Stone, with a new concept to be launched in December.
