Win a Trip to Italy: Highlights

Our trip to Italy was nothing short of a spectacular adventure. The winners from our #WinATripToItaly draw earlier this year were enveloped by the Italian culture and beauty and gained a new appreciation for the country as well as our world-class porcelain range SapienStone. Our adventures took us from Pavarotti’s house in Modena to the SapienStone/Fiandre headquarters in Castellarano to a ferry on Lake Como to the stands of the F1 in Monza and finally back home to South Africa.

The highlight of our stay was twofold; first was the incredible experience at Monza, watching the F1 (despite Ferrari’s poor performance on that race) and the second was being hosted at the SapienStone/Fiandre headquarters. The immaculate workmanship and the out-of-the-box artistry were evident in the multiple showrooms we explored. Thoughtful backlighting of 6mm Fiandre made for beautiful and seamless displays in the showroom that we would love to see in South Africa, particularly the automatic bathroom dispenser.

One of Iris Ceramica’s favourite party tricks is to include a piece of actual marble in their showroom, alongside the equivalent porcelain made by the Iris Ceramica Group, which only emphasises the true beauty and realism of the porcelain.

The most exciting part of our visit to the Iris Ceramica Headquarters was seeing the first full-body porcelain from SapienStone which was set to be launched at Cersaie 2022, only 2 weeks after our visit. As grooved surfaces continue to make appearances in the currents trends, SapienStone catered to this trend perfectly with their full-body stone. We cannot wait to receive this colour in South Africa!

Our entire experience exploring the multiple showrooms was breath-taking and oddly motivating as it gave us and our clients an array of ideas and inspirations for SapienStone installation back home in South Africa. The vast collection of installations ranging from ceiling cladding to artistic furniture pieces perfectly demonstrated the boundlessness of SapienStone and Fiandre’s beauty. We can only hope and try to bring such beauty and elegance back with us.