Artedomus Experts: Episode 4 – New Directions in Porcelain with Fiandre

On a recent trip to Italy, team members from Artedomus visited Fiandre to learn about the company’s sustainable principles and new directions in porcelain.

A producer of high-end porcelain slabs and tiles, Fiandre was founded in 1961 by the father of Federica Minozzi, CEO of Iris Ceramica Group, the brand’s parent company. Minozzi’s father established Fiandre with three key principles that were ahead of their time in the 1960s but remain equally relevant in the 21st century: sustainability, innovation and excellence in quality. “What I’m trying to do now is keep those principles alive,” says Minozzi. “I fell in love with ceramics as a material … so that’s maybe why I’ve got a completely different approach and see it as something that can be used to different applications than the traditional one.”

“I was experimenting with customisation and Design Your Slabs came out of that. I think it’s been exactly understood by the market and has been used around the world.”

The Artedomus team got the chance to encounter Fiandre’s innovative approach first-hand when they visited the company’s expansive headquarters, FAB, in Reggio Emilia, 60 kilometres west of Bologna. The company is “at the forefront of the slab revolution,” says Phil Brenton, Artedomus’s managing director, who sat down with Federica Minozzi to discuss the many innovations Fiandre has introduced in recent years.

These include the Design Your Slabs system, “where you can literally print anything onto a slab,” says Brenton. It’s an innovation Minozzi is particularly proud of. “It’s one of my ideas,” she says. “I was experimenting with customisation and Design Your Slabs came out of that. I think it’s been exactly understood by the market and has been used around the world.”

“If you like a particular pattern and you want to carry it through your project in different formats and applications, then you can – from your floors and walls to your kitchen benchtops.”

Another cutting-edge initiative is the Active Surfaces Collection. “Active is a surface treatment that can be used on any of the company’s tiles and panels and is antiviral, antibacterial, self-cleaning and anti-odour,” says Joanne Ly, Sydney architectural sales consultant at Artedomus. “The way it works is fundamentally related to the material that’s baked to the surface – what we describe as photocatalytic,” says Matt Croll, Artedomus’s NSW sales manager. “What that means is that the material is not involved in the reaction between the pollutants or contaminants, but it allows the light, combined with water, to clean away the surface to make it an easy product to look after.”

For Kaena Rumeral-Acusa, Artedomus’s national operations co-ordinator, it’s Fiandre’s huge product range and its in-built flexibility that stands out. “They have an array of different patterns, finishes and formats that range from mosaics and tiles to porcelain panels that can used for both residential and commercial projects,” she says. “And the prints and patterns are available through a variety of formats. This means that if you like a particular pattern and you want to carry it through your project in different formats and applications, then you can – from your floors and walls to your kitchen benchtops and facades.”

“In 2017, we decided we wanted to do a zero-emission project, but we had to work for more than a year to create a specific machine because nothing existed that was able to go to absolute zero.”

Fiandre is also renowned for its sustainable approach to manufacturing, harnessing advanced technology to reduce its environmental impact. The company has been at the forefront of removing harmful emissions from its production processes. “In 2017, we decided we wanted to do a zero-emission project, but we had to work for more than a year to create a specific machine because nothing existed that was able to go to absolute zero. This allowed us to obtain very important certifications,” notes Minozzi.

For Matt Croll and the Artedomus team, the visit cemented the “close relationship we’ve developed through all of the different projects we’ve worked on together,” including one particular highlight – introducing large-format porcelain tiles to the Australian market. With its long-standing commitment to excellence and innovation, Fiandre makes the perfect partner for Artedomus.

Ceramic surfaces by Fiandre. Stone, tiles and surfaces by Artedomus. Production by The Local Production.