In the vibrant neighbourhood of Clerkenwell, one of the world’s major design and architectural hubs, Iris Ceramica Group (ICG) has opened the doors to its Gallery. Located on Old Street, the ICG Gallery redefines the typical showroom experience, offering not simply a display, but an immersive world that invites visitors to engage with the brand’s innovative and original work and provide inspiration for any interior design project. 

Established in northern Italy in 1961, the Group specialises in the production of natural Italian ceramic surfaces and is considered a global leader in its field. Creating high-quality, high-end architectural and interior design surfaces, including floors, wall coverings and furnishing. Every design is meticulously thought through from start to end, showcasing excellent craftsmanship, sustainable production methods, and innovative designs that blend beauty with function. The result? Pioneering developments, such as antibacterial, self-cleaning finishes and touch-sensitive surfaces that can be used to activate lights and audio tech, combined with beautiful, high-spec finishes for modern homes.

The three-storey showroom is the brand’s exciting expression of the Group’s vision – Reengineering Ceramics for the Better – and core values – sustainability, innovation and excellence in quality – and invites visitors to experience ceramics in a whole new way. The immersive sensory journey begins with a Phygital Experience on the ground floor, which merges real and virtual worlds created through augmented reality. 

Here, visitors can discover some of Iris Ceramica Group’s seamless, considered designs that bring together technology and artwork. From its Active Surfaces® (ceramic materials that purify the air with antibacterial, anti-pollution, anti-odour and self-cleaning properties) to the Hypertouch® slabs, where a simple touch can activate and control lighting, temperature and audio-visual systems (without the need for unsightly cover plates and external switches).

Continue upstairs to the Material Gallery and engage directly with the tangible materials to discover their textures, formats and thicknesses. Moodboards are on show here too, spotlighting different creative combinations and new forms of application. Technologies such as Attract®* – a reusable magnetic layering system that eliminates the use of glues and supporting structures – and Alchimia & Iris Ceramica Group – a completely invisible technology, developed by VBH, that conceals an ultra-high definition audio-video system behind ceramic surfaces – highlight the Group’s futuristic and forward-thinking principles.

Back downstairs, the Comfort Lounge presents a sophisticated and comfortable space designed to inspire and showcase the use of the Group’s surfaces within your own home. Featuring Hypertouch® technology and back-lit Moonlight slabs to create a warming ambience through lighting, it’s an intimate setting that shows off tailor-made furnishings that are tactile, homely, elegant and smart. 

For Iris Ceramica Group, ceramics represent “beautility” – a noble material that seamlessly blends beauty and functionality, aesthetics and technology. This vision is reflected in all ICG Galleries around the world and is brought to life in the brand’s one-of-a-kind showroom. Here, Iris Ceramica Group’s impressive, state-of-the-art surfaces and technologies take centre stage, offering a masterclass in how to harmoniously combine the old and the new, tradition and innovation, art and technology. Additionally, it aims to provide an open environment for the capital’s community of designers, architects and creatives to come together and become a hub for development and progression.

Throughout the year, the showroom will host events and research projects, from meetings and round tables on sustainability to a series of design talks laying the foundation for the future of creativity, as well as playing host to installations from international artists, makers and designers. A space for collaboration, ideation and creativity, Iris Ceramica Group is here to prove that interiors not only decorate and inject character but also actively enhance our environment.

Find the Iris Ceramica Group Showroom, ICG Gallery, at 61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW and discover more at irisceramicagroup.com.

*Magnetic laying system licensed by Magface