GLOCAL and the restyling by Giulio Cappellini
The global value of Italian design
The desire to seek out new solutions able to transmit the dual global-local concept prompted Mirage to pursue synergy between high technology and craftsmanship.
Glocal can be seen as a product of the post-industrial era: a new dimension in which industry is moving from large-scale serial production towards a more flexible approach able to respond to the growing demand for custom design and creativity.
Flexibility is all about adaptability, speed, and above all the courage to create prototypes quickly, driven by a desire to experiment and to invest, even to take risks, because innovation means moving into areas where there are no absolute certainties. It requires audacity.
Glocal x Giulio Cappellini x Mirage
It's probably a coincidence, but the name of our Glocal collection already contained the initials of Giulio Cappellini.
“Giulio Cappellini, explains Mirage Marketing Director Massimiliano Croci, embodies the essence of elegance and innovation, striking a perfect balance between rationality, imagination and eclecticism.
With painstaking attention to detail, he has brought a respectful new twist, enriching and enhancing the collection with new decorative solutions while maintaining its original appeal”.
Six years on from its début, the restyled version of the collection was presented once more at Cersaie 2023.
Enriched with trend-inspired colours that turn the natural tones into lighter, warmer shades, or in variants with hints of blue, green or terracotta. The colours remain neutral, but take on a softer, more distinct tone, with more character. They can be combined attractively with one another, which facilitates design choices and extends the scope of application of the collection. Inspired by smooth concrete, Glocal perfectly embodies the Mirage philosophy, combining the simple, minimalist appeal of concrete and particularly audacious colour contrasts and surface variations into a single product, and complementing the vocation of a company able to operate on a global market with the artisan values of production on a local scale. This latter element is an important aspect for Giulio Cappellini, who has always been attracted by industrial production.
“When I was asked to work on the review of the Glocal collection by Mirage, I was delighted to accept, because I’m always very interested in the opportunity to work with different production systems and materials”.
Mirage passion
The passion for something new was the key to the project from day one.
This passion combines the work and experience of Mirage with the genius of Giulio Cappellini, whose enthusiasm, versatility and approach are very similar to those of the people on our team:
“On the one hand, there’s a large industry”, explains Cappellini, “and on the other, what I found was a team of people who like taking risks, who enjoy innovating and really endeavouring to create something new”.
This something new was expressed above all in a review of the colours in the collection, mixing the original tones with the 8 new colours, in a restyling operation carried out with a splendidly subtle approach, allowing the collection to continue to be used for floors and walls both indoors and outdoors. The extension of the scope of the collection also regards the addition of decorative solutions that offer the opportunity to mix different textures. Cappellini says:
“In addition to the more contemporary colour palette, we chose a number of actual processes, involving impression or the insertion of another type of material into the tiles, giving the product a connotation that allows designers, interior decorators, or architects in the case of external use, to create highly customised elements”.
The impression on the tiles creates a material effect, featuring round or square elements inspired by modern architectures, with a particular nod to Japanese architecture, allowing the raised surface to further enhance the colour choices thanks to the ton-sur-ton decorative elements.
“Formal rigour on the one hand and the insertion of colour on the other are more or less the two principles I normally work around”.
Cappellini’s style has always focused on the rigorous geometries typical of contemporary architecture, which are key to creating a timeless aesthetic concept. For Glocal, he has opted for an audacious use of spots of colour that bring a more dynamic edge to the rigorous shapes and neutral colours, giving the product a very interesting, appealing character.
An industrial process with an artisan soul.
And once again, Giulio Cappellini is an ideal partner in this process, with an approach that looks in the same direction.
“I sought to work on a fusion approach, taking what is basically a very industrial product, with a highly industrialised manufacturing process, and introducing elements with an artisan feel. I think this really is a winning combination for an Italian product, because while I always say we’re envied not only for our technology, we’re definitely also envied for the human touch we bring”.