Events

Installation Design Showcase: small home, big style | by Virginio Briatore

Living in a small, cosy home is one of mankind’s oldest dreams and now a popular global trend.

Particularly suitable for retired couples, for young professionals and for today’s millions of single people with their millions of friends, the Tiny House concept responds to primary needs that place a premium on happiness: a small, cosy hideaway, low purchase and maintenance costs, and a location in a pleasant holiday resort or immersed in nature.

But rather than a pioneer’s hut in Patagonia or a woodcutter’s cabin in the mountains, the current-day trend is for small luxury cottages where money saved on size is partly reinvested in high-quality furnishings, materials and finishes. After all, who needs stairs, large rooms and chandeliers when you can have a cosy, regenerating and romantic home? In certain times of life or seasons of the year it is far better to focus on the quality of materials and the beauty of the location.

With this in mind, the Installation Design Showcase to be held during Coverings 2018 (Atlanta, Georgia, 8 to 11 May) will feature three tiny houses.

At the IDS, leading ceramic tile producers will be joined by renowned interior designers and a team of tile installers from the National Tile Contractors Association and given the task of tiling the interiors of splendid tiny houses.

The complexities associated with these small but high-quality spaces will serve to demonstrate the characteristics of ceramic tiles at a showcase event that is sure to attract the curiosity of exhibitors, media, architects and visitors.

Work on the interiors will begin two days before the opening of Coverings and will be completed during the show, culminating in a ceremony where the designers and companies involved will present their finished projects.

Last year’s initiative, sponsored by Ceramics of Italy with the participation of Atlas Concorde, Cisa e Cerdisa (Ceramiche Ricchetti Group) and Mapei, was such a success that the organisers signed an agreement for management of the homes with a small mobile home construction company, Bear’s Tiny Homes of Farmington, Georgia. Last year’s mobile home is now located on the edge of a lake in Florida close to the tourist city of Orlando and is available for rent through Airbnb.

Given the complexity, tight timescale and promotional value of the work, the project of tiling the interiors and some of the exteriors of the mobile home was awarded to just three large ceramic tile manufacturers’ associations. Ceramics of Italy is one of these and its tile display will be designed by Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry, a well-known architecture firm specialising in hospitality and restaurant projects.

The tiling will be carried out by a group of installers from the NTCA Five Star contractor Visalia Ceramic Tile using specialist products supplied by Mapei.

The result? A small home with big style and a dream location!