Lava and clay lead the way for exciting eco-conscious company NineFifty. Beginning in the Sicilian city of Caltagirone, NineFifty’s founders Nicolò and Fausto sought to preserve and reinvent the ancient production methods of this ceramic-forward place whilst respecting the land and the resources it provides.
In order to stick to their environmental goals they keep their supply chain short and minimise waste in their production. Local terracotta and lava stone from Mount Etna are used alongside ceramic waste to prevent over-exploitation of soil, and can be repurposed into the production cycle once it reaches the end of its life. Lead-free paints and glazes are used for decoration, rainwater is collected for manufacturing, and electric kilns are used throughout.
Under the creative direction of Margherita Rui, NineFifty has developed a fabulous range of collections that blend the craft’s heritage with modern aesthetics. A patchwork of unusual flecks, stripes, and swipes feature in a number of the collections with textures and organic tones demonstrating the variety achievable with these wonderful materials.
The most striking of these collections is Alfabeto – a selection of abstracted curved symbols rich with rhythm and character. A total of 16 decorative shapes, 13 colours, and 4 bases (of both lava stone and terracotta) add ever more diversity to these intriguing tiles.
As for the company’s 13 additional collections present at the time of writing, the artisans hand can be found amongst the surface textures and fabulously imperfect decors.
A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, June 2022.