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mosaics history from Appiani

History

Appiani mosaics has actively promoted its products on the Italian and international markets since it was first founded in Treviso in 1873. After initially focusing on the production of friezes, pan tiles and bricks, widely acknowledged for their high standards of quality in Italy and abroad, it turned to the production of pressed powdered clay tiles at the turn of the 20th century and created new systems for processing and firing materials. Its founder Graziano Appiani started production of the first coloured ceramic tiles in 1910 and built “Eden village” to provide housing for his workers in a village that had its own restaurant, cinema and theatre: the first example of a forward thinking style of business. Throughout the period of fascism in the Twenties, the company worked to deliver orders for floor tiles for barracks, hangars, hospitals and railway stations. After the end of the war, it started to produce the “red stoneware” that the company became famous for during the period of reconstruction and the years of the economic boom.
In 1960, the Appiani family embarked upon a policy of modernisation and started to work on projects with designers such as Giò Ponti and Pompeo Pianezzola. It completed the building of an innovative production plant the following decade to make glazed porcelain stoneware using exclusive “monopressocottura” technology - single pressing and firing. The company was taken over by the Bardelli family in the Nineties, a well-known name in the industry, who decided to focus on reinstating tradition and heritage by developing the production of ceramic mosaics.
Its manufacturing plant was completely updated in 2000 with the introduction of the latest automated systems and complete computerisation.

Tradition

Appiani. Ceramics with superior aesthetic appeal for architecture and mosaic art; the guarantee of no constraints to creativity and no limits to functionality. Individual pieces and flexible modules enabling designers to create combinations, designs and layouts with great decorative finesse and architectural value. 
Layouts that illustrate the creativity of life and the inventive flair of their designers. Appiani has rediscovered the appeal of materials from the past like mosaics (mosaic art), offering colours, shapes and finishes to create surfaces using a variety of materials and blocks of multiple colours by combining shapes and dimensions of traditional ceramics.

Creativity

Appiani. Ceramics with superior aesthetic appeal for architecture; the guarantee of no constraints to creativity and no limits to functionality. Individual pieces and flexible modules enabling designers to create combinations, designs and layouts with great decorative finesse and architectural value. Layouts that illustrate the creativity of life and the inventive flair of their designers. Appiani has rediscovered the appeal of materials from the past like mosaics, offering colours, shapes and finishes to create surfaces using a variety of materials and blocks of multiple colours by combining shapes and dimensions of traditional ceramics.

Technology

Production is divided into complementary products, made using various production technologies that can be combined with one another. The “Monopressocottura” technique is based on the use of dry pressed glazes and clays for the production of the ceramic product. The high firing temperature guarantees exceptionally durable and hardwearing products, ideal for countless potential applications as floor or wall coverings, indoors or outdoors. 

“Bicottura” or double firing has two separate firing cycles, first for the ceramic body and then the glaze, which is applied at a second stage. This technology is used to make ultra bright or matt surfaces with excellent colour definition, mainly for wall coverings. “Glazed porcelain stoneware” is made by firing a compact support at extremely high temperature after its surface has been coated with prime glazes that are particularly hard wearing. It is used for floor coverings in residential or commercial buildings subject to moderate levels of foot traffic. 

Altaeco group

Appiani is a member of the Altaeco group, along with three other outstanding ceramics companies: Ceramica Bardelli and Ceramica Vogue.

Appiani Bardelli Vogue
Altaeco