Ceramics of Italy Names 2026 Tile Competition Winners at Cersaie

By Amara Osei

Confindustria Ceramica and the Italian Trade Agency handed out the 2026 Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition awards on Sept. 23, during the "Building, Dwelling, Thinking" program at Cersaie 2026. For the first time, the competition opened entries to firms worldwide. The response, per the organizers, was exceptional.

Projects came from twelve countries: Australia, Canada, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. An international jury judged four categories — Commercial, Residential, Outdoor and Design & New Applications — weighing functionality, aesthetic appeal, sustainability and the quantity of Italian ceramic materials used.

Who judged, and what did they see?

Steve Clem, principal at Atlanta-based TVS, chaired the jury. Alfonso Femia of Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia, architect and former Domus deputy editor Donatella Bollani, and Filippo Manuzzi, chairman of the Confindustria Ceramica Promotional Activities and Fairs Commission, joined him.

"Serving as chair of this year's jury was an exciting opportunity to see the remarkable range of architectural and design work being created with Italian ceramic and porcelain tile around the world," Clem said. He added that the winners show ceramic surfaces working "not just as finishes, but as integral elements of the architecture."

A chair of a tile jury praising tile. Still, the winners make his case.

Which projects won?

• Residential: "Spoonbill" in Manalapan, Fla., by 610 Interiors, with tiles from Leonardo Ceramica and ABK. The residence sits over a protected basin; ivory and soft white ceramic surfaces stitch gallery-like interiors to the waterfront.
• Outdoor: "Villa Delago" in Torri del Benaco, Italy, by JM Architecture, using Casalgrande Padana surfaces. The single-storey pavilion wraps two courtyards in a portico of slender white aluminium, and the roof — clad in large-format ceramic slabs as a fifth façade — anchors the design. Century-old olive and cypress trees stayed put.
• Commercial: "Terradamari Resort & Spa Marina di Modica – Tapestry by Hilton" in Sicily, by Studio Chiara Caberlon, with tiles from Coem, Fioranese and Ceramica Sant'Agostino. Ceramic surfaces reinterpret traditional Sicilian motifs in a contemporary register.
• Design & New Applications: "Icebergs Bar and Kitchen at Sydney Airport T3" by Lazzarini Pickering Architetti, using handcrafted glazed tiles from Franco Pecchioli Ceramica in Tuscany. Ceramic wraps counters and monolithic tables to evoke Bondi Beach's Pacific reflections inside a working terminal.

What earned honorable mentions?

Five projects picked up mentions. "Private Villa – Bay Hill" by Brooks Design Studio in Orlando, Fla., pairs concrete-toned large-format Ceramiche Keope surfaces with a glass mosaic-effect pool edge. The "AC Hotel Savannah Historic District" by Design Continuum, stocked with Emilceramica, Florim, Cooperativa Ceramica d'Imola and Italgraniti tile, carries LEED Platinum certification.

In Outdoor, Miami's "The Atrium House" by Space & Forms used Ceramiche Caesar to balance openness with domestic privacy. Two mentions landed in Design & New Applications: "Towerhill House" in Mono, Ontario, by Studio Maggs — a pandemic-era retreat built with Ceramica Vogue, Laminam, Ragno and Ceramiche Refin — and London studio SMITHS' "Staples Table," a Casalgrande Padana slab installation that argues porcelain stoneware is structure, not decoration.

The competition returns annually at Cersaie. With the field now global, Italian tile's next marketing battleground is everyone else's backyard.