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CEDIT: le ceramiche d’Italia che hanno fatto storia | CEDIT: Italian ceramic tiles that have shaped history

Sottsass Associati, Alphard Bianco, Alphard Nero, 1993

intensity to interiors and establishing new potentials in the relationship betwee

n

floors, pavings and wall coverings

.

The commitment to expanding the production range led to the exploration o

f

a series of options, culminating, in 1954, in the design, production and marketin

g

of custom-designed ceramic pieces, such as the iconic “SZ1” series styled by th

e

architects Marco Zanuso and Alberto Scarzella, featuring original curved geometri

c

forms allowing the single elements to be combined in a large number of di

fferen

t

ways; modularity of tile sets and decorative motifs became part of the brand’s

vocabulary, and henceforward it was to be one of its most distinctive original traits

.

In 1955 CEDIL took over Ceramiche Dester S.p.A. to create CEDIS Ceramiche d

i

Sicilia s.n.c., with its headquarters in the Tommaso Natale district of Palermo, where a

new plant was built to Marco Zanuso’s design

.

At the end of the Fifties the new group - CEDIL/CEDIS - had more than 30

0

employees, providing a production capacity of 2,200 m2/day of

floor and wall tiles

;

these two companies were then united to form CEDIT S.p.A., visually identi

fied by the

new logo designed by Albe Steiner

.

In the Sixties, as well as taking over more companies (Ceramiche Trinacria

of Messina and Italceramica of Bareggio), CEDIT of

ficially con

firmed the strategy

,

already included in its corporate policy, of launching a series of partnerships wit

h

the top designers of the time. The brand’s intention was to establish a creativ

e

dialogue between production and design, and between the product’s technical

-

formal and aesthetic qualities, by cultivating a constant focus on the evolution of it

s

language, in terms of both technology and visual experimentation, with the overal

l

aim of reactivating, in a modern key, the dialogue between designer, maker and user

integral to the craft production process.

CEDIT can be credited with exercising a sensitivity and farsightedness tha

t

were consolidated over time, thanks in part to inspired ideas completely new to th

e

ceramics industry, first and foremost, the creation of the “Piastrella d’Oro” award in

association with the ADI - Associazione per il Disegno Industriale [Industrial Desig

n

Association], which brought together and selected the best Italian ceramics industry

design in production from 1961 to 1966. This award gave young designers th

e

chance to gain direct experience of the world of business, and allowed criteria of

experimentation and creativity to become part of the logic of production

.

In 1968 the company introduced an absolute novelty into the ceramics industr

y

by creating a new sample collection which combined traditional decorations with

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