“Choosing the colors should not be a bet. It should be a conscious decision. Colors have a meaning and a function,” said Verner Panton, the Danish architect and industrial designer considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. This 2023, terracotta has established itself as the fashionable color in interior design, especially on walls, but also as flooring and in utensils such as shelves, hangers and other furniture.
It's not red. It's not orange or brown either. We are facing a toasted and warm color with ancestral overtones and a Mediterranean aroma. “In an increasingly technological and digital world, there is a greater appreciation for the colors and materials that connect us with the natural world,” reveals Yolanda Aranda, interior designer in charge of her studio in which they represent different brands and decoration firms.
“The products we develop at todobarro have increased in demand enormously over the last three years. We particularly think this is due to two things. On the one hand, we perceive a greater interest in natural finishes, handmade products and sustainable materials. Secondly, we are dealing with a material that connects with the value that is finally being given to crafts and the renewal of material languages to adapt them to current trends", says Samuel Vega, in charge of the marketing department of this Malaga company.
Precisely, the works of todobarro show that clay-based products are also requested in countries where cold and minimalism reign, such as Norway, or in the north of Spain, specifically in Enkarterri, where this material is the main element of interior design. from the renowned Teike restaurant. Likewise, his pieces are highly sought after in China and Germany. “The handcrafted product makes the spaces in which it is integrated unique and allows us to differentiate them from places based solely on industrial and mass-produced materials,” he adds.
Terracotta exudes elegance and that is why it is also used on many occasions in rustic or rural decorations, in which materials such as stone, wood or glass abound. It can be used in any room, with the only precaution being that its strength makes it the visual axis of the room and, if we do not want a dark effect, we must choose to combine it with white, sand and neutral tones. It also works perfectly with coral and even with cold blue and green tones, achieving a harmonious palette, as demonstrated by the work of the designer Marta Capdevila for the Brunells pastry shop, in which the color of clay is integrated into a space dominated by mint green.
The key is to combine it with colors that soothe and/or counteract it, as demonstrated by the work of the interior designer and painter Mariona Espinet, who reminds us that ceramics has achieved its deserved success now that many more people are betting on building a cozy home. where quality has become a paramount element. “With its texture or its color, terracotta also pays homage to the Arab baths, where the ritual of the waters is a process to take care of oneself”, she explains.
Terracotta tiles are a classic and a sure value. As Alberto Twose, from the TWOBO interior design firm, tells us, it is a material that can be eroded by rubbing, but with the peace of mind of continuing to be beautiful and even gaining in beauty over the years. TWOBO precisely demonstrates with its works the variation and adaptability of ceramics, which is worked with small formats that are given from the size of the human hand.
And there is still more: “If we talk about the rasilla, the typical piece for the floor of the terraces of Catalonia, it is evident that we are dealing with much more than a custom. We are talking about an architectural value, where the quartering comes into play. These values can be easily transferred to the walls. It is then when practicality is more in the background and we allow ourselves to play with the value of the piece. Thus, we have chosen to put them upside down, upside down... ”, explains Twose, who signs, together with his partners, large-scale projects in Mallorca, Cabrera de Mar and Arenys, among many other towns. Reforms and new construction in which we also observe the enduring marriage of ceramics with plants, creating spaces for rest and leisure.
Such is the ode to the Mediterranean implied by the terracotta tone (literally baked earth in Italian) that countries like Israel have chosen it for museums such as the Design museum in the city of Tel Aviv, a vine of steel plates with clay finishes that are intertwine between them giving shape to an authentic masterpiece of modern architecture signed by the architect Ron Arad. Initially very reddish tones, over the years it has taken on more orange colors, but it also all depends on daylight, which makes this museum incredible not only for the exhibitions it houses, but also for the beauty of its chromatically mutable structure.
The historic Catalan office furniture brand, Vilagrasa, has recently launched two new collections, Cosmos and Atlas, which incorporate terracotta into its palette of finishes and also demonstrate how this material can be used in metal or in the textiles of the panels. photoabsorbents. What's more, we are dealing with a bioclimatic material that, if we use it for the floor of our space, we will immediately see its great capacity to conserve temperatures, which will allow us to optimize the use of heating in winter or air conditioning in summer. .
Another example of how terracotta has entered through the front door in the renovation of emblematic spaces is the Mango flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York, where it shares the limelight with other materials that are very local to our land, such as jute. The same is true of other buildings in the Big Apple, as we see on the roof of a 1929 house in the suburbs of the city that never sleeps, a work signed by the Spanish interior designer Gala Magriñá.
More orange, more earthy, more tile... clay has returned to our lives, and this is also demonstrated by the success of ceramic courses in much of the world. His versatility and personality are unrivaled.
