CEDIT's compatta collection tells story of ancient rammed earth technique & technology

florim ceramiche’s brand cedit unveils compatta collection

CEDIT (Ceramiche d’Italia) merges raw earth with high-end technology for its Compatta collection. The designer, Federico Peri, embraces warm and cold shades such as clay, sand, silt and gravel, through a rediscovery of the age-old rammed earth construction technique of pisé. While promoting contemporary creativity, the porcelain ceramic stoneware slabs tell a story of three-dimensional experimentations, motifs, art, design and architecture.

CEDIT reveals Compatta collection by Federico Peri (Pisè Mélange)

all images courtesy of Florim Ceramiche

federico peri rediscovers ancient rammed earth construction technique

The porcelain stoneware ceramic company presents Compatta for CEDIT, a project by designer Federico Peri who for the first time approaches the world of porcelain stoneware by investigating the theme of ‘earth’ in its deepest and most primitive meaning. The collection merges traditional craftsmanship and technological innovation seamlessly as the author takes the ancient rammed earth construction technique, ‘pisé’, and expresses his personal interpretation of it on the large CEDIT slabs. The appearance is deep, rough, textured, and is enriched by three-dimensional plays of light and shadow that come to life in the decorative elements.

‘The idea of the collection is an avowed revival of the rammed earth technique; a very ancient construction method based on the overlapping of extremely compact soils that form load-bearing walls or partitions within dwellings,’ he explains.

for Compatta, Federico Peri approaches the world of porcelain stoneware by investigating the theme of ‘earth’ (Pisè Mélange)

The author imprinted his own poetics on the slabs by telling a story of calm, peace and nature, the result of a dialogue with the company on the themes of essentiality, materiality and sincerity. Compatta is not limited to the classical two-dimensionality of ceramic material but is enriched with three-dimensional subjects of different sizes and shapes, which can be assembled into a mosaic on a mesh to be used sculpturally on the wall.

‘The dialogue with Florim started several years ago with CEDIT’s invitation to try my hand at using a material that for me was as yet unexplored – ceramic. After an initial, more cognitive and formative phase, we have succeeded over the past year in developing a project that speaks of authenticity and harmony. It only took a short time to realize how the combination of creativity and industry, design and production was an opportunity to challenge limits by trying to overcome them,’ says Federico Peri.

Compatta is not limited to the two-dimensionality of ceramic material but is enriched with three-dimensional subjects of different sizes and shapes (Inserti Mélange)

On the one hand, Compatta embraces warm and cold shades such as clay, sand, silt and gravel, while on the other it rediscovers the age-old technique used in northern Jordan since the eighth millennium BCE. Raw earth is rammed into rectangular wooden boxes forming structural walls with natural ‘decoration’ due to the layered colors of the different shades of clay used. Peri’s various interpretations and expressions take shape in the different lines of the collection. For example, in the Inserti line, the designer adds geometrical signs to the natural hues of the earth: apparently random curved lines that evoke not only the rounded corners used by Gio Ponti, but also the curves with which Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx shaped his modernist gardens.