CERAMICS CREATE VOLUME AND MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS FOR EUROPEAN SHOE CHAIN

Photo courtesy of Tile of Spain

At the La Roca Camper store in Barcelona, ceramic shapes and colors deliver a striking, three-dimensional aesthetic within a dark turquoise green interior to help the store stand out within the surrounding high-end retail outlet complex.

Ceramics continue to be the central theme in Tomás Alonso Studio’s latest Camper store design for the Mallorcan shoe manufacturer. With a dozen boutiques throughout Europe and Asia, the newest store at La Roca Village in Barcelona features zigzagging ceramic walls for display, storage, and seating, and a cashier desk made from ceramics.

Alonso’s application of ceramic shapes and colors delivers a striking, three-dimensional aesthetic and seeks to immerse customers in a setting with a strong emphasis on the purity of materials and their function. Set inside a dark turquoise green painted interior, the unique design helps the store stand out within the high-end retail outlet complex.

Telling some of the backstory as to how ceramics came to play such a prominent role in this chain of retail stores, Alonso explains that Camper was interested in a retail design that was a departure from a more common corporate style. In looking for a different kind of material that could offer a myriad of properties, “the durability, flexibility, ease of handling, and low maintenance needs led us to ceramic tiles,” he explains.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles.

Photo courtesy of Tile of Spain

Zigzagging ceramic walls in the La Roca Camper store create a 3-D effect, and serve as both a display and a space to store boxes of shoes behind the walls.

“The system we created is based on a 10-inch-by-10-inch square tile and then introducing a triangle and two trapezoid shapes to create the illusion of cubes coming out of a flat wall,” he relates.

Because La Roca is a bigger store with a larger customer base, Camper needed the design to incorporate space for storage. Not only do the zigzagging walls help create the 3-D effect, but they solve this need by serving as both a display and a space to store boxes of shoes behind the walls.

Nestled inside the zigzagged walls are tiled benches strategically constructed between each zigzag for customers to try on apparel.

Tying into the heritage of the region, Alonso’s design integrates terracotta to highlight selected shoes, lend additional warmth, and create contrast with the glazed tiles.

Similar to La Roca, Camper’s London store uses volume to push the ceramics out of the walls while the shelves are used as shoe displays. In addition, geometrical drawings are incorporated into the ceramic tiles.

Photo courtesy of Tile of Spain

For Camper’s Santander, Spain, store, cubes, patterns, and letters in asymmetric volumes create a 3-D effect on the dominant ceramic wall.

Minimum-Effective Dose

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. “There’s so much we can do to help optimize the usage and the budget involved in a premium solution-based material like tile,” adds Fasan.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. Here Fasan is also alluding to the application of advanced production capabilities to adjust gauged materials to optimize the use of ceramics based upon application. Called the “minimum-effective dose (MED),” the ceramic tile thickness can be slimmed down and still meet performance requirements. Consequently, by specifying thicknesses as little as 3.7mm for walls, 6mm for floors, and 2cm for pavers, the cost of materials and shipping can be significantly reduced.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. In fact, between 30 and 45 percent of a ceramic product’s cost is shipping. “The thinner you can make the material, the more you can pack into a container,” says Fasan. Especially now when transportation costs are at an all-time high, it’s essential that specifiers apply a MED mindset to their ceramic designs.

Super Ceramic

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. With owners and architects prioritizing long-lasting, sustainable, and hygienic designs more than ever, the baseline and inherent characteristics of ceramics is propelling it to become a key solution.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. Low-maintenance, resistant to acids and alkali, heat and scratch-proof, UV resistant, and resistant to mold, mildew, and bacteria, ceramics are filling a key performance and safety niche for buildings today. As bathroom tiles, kitchen slabs, indoor and outdoor flooring, ceramics are emulating all different kinds of building materials, with an endless selection of colors, textures, prints, and styles.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. “The long-term durability of ceramic tile makes it a smart decision to specify for high traffic areas within our commercial, healthcare, hospitality, and multifamily projects,” states Eisenstadt.

While Alonso’s first couple of Camper stores incorporated a two-dimensional look, the designer worked with Camper to reinterpret the design with each iteration of the store. Alonso’s designs soon began producing three-dimensional volumes with the tiles. At the end of the day, ceramic tile is poised to be the go-to surface for flexible interior design in the post-pandemic world. “With its benefits and high durability, easy cleaning, and antimicrobial surface options, ceramic is an ideal choice for nearly every flexible use-case we could design for. Now is the best time ever to consider ceramic tile as a full, holistic system,” concludes Fasan.

Barbara Horwitz-Bennett is a veteran architectural journalist who has written hundreds of CEUs and articles for various AEC publications. www.bhbennett.com