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Iris Ceramica Group’s Metamorphosis at Milan Design Week 2025
Iris Ceramica Group’s multi-pronged presence at Milan Design Week 2025 showcased its groundbreaking new technologies and stimulated senses with its art installations.
Iris Ceramica Group’s concept for Milan Design Week 2025 – where the theme was ‘connected worlds’ – was Metamorphosis, an idea expressed through sound, vision, an interactive installation and digital canvases. But the innovative Italian ceramics company also revealed a revolutionary new technology, Alchimia & Iris Ceramica Group: its unveiling was the cornerstone of the group’s Milan Design Week program.
“Our partnership represents a shared vision – one where surfaces are no longer just static elements but active participants in shaping immersive environments.”
In collaboration with Iris Ceramica Group, Alchimia-VBH has developed an invisible technology that is fully customisable and integrates audiovisual systems into the group’s premium ceramic surfaces. Designed and engineered by Alchimia-VBH, this technology blends seamlessly into the material, allowing users – via an app – to reveal, conceal or transform the display. The ceramic surface itself can also be used to emit sound, turning it into a refined audio element. Versatile and elegant, the system is suited for a wide range of environments, from yachts and private residences to commercial spaces.
“True innovation happens when design and technology evolve together,” says Alchimia-VBH CEO Jeroen van den Hurk of the collaboration. “Our partnership with Iris Ceramica Group represents a shared vision – one where surfaces are no longer just static elements but active participants in shaping immersive environments.” Iris Ceramica Group CEO Federica Minozzi says that “Alchimia fits perfectly and coherently with our mission: Re-engineering Ceramics for the Better – underlining the material’s ‘beautility.’ The collaboration with VBH has allowed us to integrate an exclusive technology into our high-end surfaces, exploring the new properties of this flexible material and giving us the chance to offer one-of-a-kind solutions to the interior design market.”
The impressive scope of the new technology was on display via a collaboration with visual artist Lorenza Liguori, who presented five immersive digital artworks that harnessed the technology to explore Iris Ceramica Group’s Metamorphosis concept. Liguori presented one canvas each day for five days at the ICG Gallery on Via Santa Margherita in the centre of Milan.
The first, Golden Stone, reflected on the transformations made possible through the discovery of the immortality-giving philosopher’s stone. It was followed by Silver Moon, a representation of the ties between the sun and the moon and the balance between light and shadow. On the third day, Tree of Life was inspired by the journey of the soul from the physical to the spiritual. Day four saw Liguori explore the transformative properties of water in Liquid Soul, while, on the final day, Crystal Energy celebrated the secret powers of crystals.
“For Iris Ceramica Group, ceramics are a noble material with infinite technical qualities, shaped and transformed in our search for new solutions and applications.”
The new technology is the latest step in Iris Ceramica Group’s quest to enhance the functionality of ceramics, following on from other innovations such as backlit slabs, eco-active ceramics and smart surfaces for home automation systems. “For Iris Ceramica Group, ceramics are a noble material with infinite technical qualities, shaped and transformed in our search for new solutions and applications,” says Minozzi.
The final pillar of Iris Ceramica Group’s contribution to Milan Design Week was its curation of ‘Sinfonia,’ an interactive light and sound installation that enhanced the ‘Art Déco. Il trionfo della modernità’ exhibition at cultural hub Palazzo Reale. Sinfonia allowed guests to play a ‘symphony’, using their hands to ‘conduct’ an orchestra by bringing different instruments into the track, or alter its style from jazz to classical. The installation riffed on the exhibition’s Art Deco theme, spotlighting four key songs from the 1920s and ’30s.
Each element of Iris Ceramica Group’s Milan Design Week presentations immersed guests in the Metamorphosis theme, while raising awareness of its pioneering new technology.
