Fractile Porcelain Tiles: The magic of fractal mathematics

 

Casalgrande x Daniel Libeskind Fractile Porcelain: The magic of fractal mathematics, beyond the borders of mathematics and imagination. Mathematical proportion expressed in the beauty of Casalgrande Padana porcelain stoneware tiles.

The magic of fractal mathematics, in which the whole looks the same as each of its parts and each of its parts looks the same as the whole. This philosophical concept seems to describe the very essence of beauty in architecture and design, with an invisible mathematical thread that connects all the works created into one great work.

Polish-American architect, artist, professor and set designer Daniel Libeskind and Casalgrande Padana have joined forces to create Fractile, a unique collection of porcelain stoneware tiles that embodies the magic of fractal mathematics.

With a three-dimensional pattern, the Fractile tiles are created through a sophisticated industrial process that include enamelling and firing at 1250 °C, with the best clay, quartz and feldspar mixes used. Oxide-rich metallic glazes are also used to give the top layer an iridescent effect. All this is done meeting the highest technical and performance standards in terms of resistance, durability, and quality.

The first work to be created using the Fractile tiles dates to 2013, with the installation of Pinnacle, on the occasion of Bologna Water Design, covered throughout with the Fractile three-dimensional tiles. The partnership between Daniel Libeskind and Casalgrande Padana continued with the revolutionary ceramic envelope for the Vanke Pavilion at Expo 2015.

Again in 2015, these three-dimensional fractal tiles were used to clad the imposing landmark designed by Daniel Libeskind located in the Reggio Emilia countryside, near the Casalgrande Padana production plant: Casalgrande Ceramic Crown.

Perfectly in keeping with this process of growth and experimentation, and once again based on a project by Daniel Libeskind, Sapphire is a multi-floor building with a particularly complex volume, free from Cartesian coordinates and perpendicular gravity, “rare and spectacular like a jewel”, hard and multi-faceted like a sapphire; the very colour of the Fractile porcelain stoneware covering recalls the shade of blue the corundum gives this precious stone.