Identity and history

 

 

Our five values: a story through CEDIT

Defining style through a relentless research for invention, to reveal an expressivity that knows no boundaries.

The creation of a unique language, shaped around 5 words…

 

C for Culture.

Curators of knowledge, cultivated through creative dialogues and exchange of experiences.

 

E for Ethics.

The responsibility to protect our environment, work together to shape our future.

 

D for Design.

Investing in research, the most sublime form of knowledge.

To be the architects of innovation, protagonists of a process that takes us ever onward.

 

I for Identity.

1947: the legacy begins.

Timeless values, and ever evolving artistry, reveals the unique identity.

A living heritage that surrounds us today.

 

T for Talent.

The Italian art of making.

Through imagination, through passion, through life…

 

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“The culture of beauty, art, architecture and design are part of CEDIT’s DNA.”

Following an outstanding season of fruitful collaborations and experimentation on the technological and stylistic fronts,Florim relaunches CEDIT.

Having been created with the desire to explore new methods of expression that could contribute to the culture of Italian design, this company made its mark on the 20th-century scenario.

Today and of the years to come, CEDIT regains and relaunches its aptitude to collaborate with names of major relevance on the contemporary creative scene, giving rise to a range of ceramic collections designed by Italian creatives, each defined by an original stylistic hallmark.

 

 

Our history

The main steps of CEDIT’s history, from 1947 to today.

1947 | CEDIL

CEDIL – Ceramica di Lurago d’Erba s.p.a. starts operating. The company produces white-body glazed ceramic tiles in a range of solid colours. A year after, diversifies its sizes and starts producing collections developed in association with the up-and-coming creative personalities of the time: the first tile collection introduced under this strategy is designed by Albe Steiner.

 

1954 | THE “SZ1” TILE

A path landed in ‘54 lead to the design, production and marketing of custom-designed ceramic pieces, such as the iconic “SZ1” series styled by the architects Marco Zanuso and Alberto Scarzella – original curved geometric forms, modularity of tile sets and decorative motifs became part of the brand’s vocabulary.

 

1955 | CEDIS

In 1955 CEDIL took over Ceramiche Dester S.p.A. to create CEDIS Ceramiche di Sicilia s.n.c., with its headquarters in Palermo in a new plant design by Marco Zanuso.

 

1956 | CEDIT

At the end of the Fifties the new group – CEDIL/CEDIS – had more than 300 employees; these two companies were then united to form CEDIT S.p.A., visually identified by the new logo designed by Albe Steiner.

 

1961 | ADI & CEDIT: PREMIO “PIASTRELLA D’ORO”

CEDIT – in association with the ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale [Industrial Design Association] – creates the “Piastrella d’Oro” [Golden Tile], an award given to the best Italian ceramic tile design in production. At its first edition, the award goes to Maria & Gramigna, for the “Valdieri” ceramic tile; the final award, in 1966, is assigned to the “Elle” tile, by Cini Boeri.

 

1968 | NEW PARADIGMS: “COLLEZIONE 68”

Two paradigms shift into the world of ceramic tile manufacturing: first, the “Collezione 68” which brings versatility into wall covering design through a variety of compositions starting from a single motif, styled by artists like Enzo Mari, Ettore Sottsass, Bob Noorda, Michele Provinciali, Joshitaka Sakuma, Bruno Binosi, Gilio Confalonieri, Franca Helg & Antonio Piva, Sergio Asti and Marco Zanuso.

 

1968 | THE CERAMIC OBJECTS

Secondly, giving space to an unexplored idea at the time: to combine tiles with a series of functional and decorative objects, involving some of the most famous names of the time: Ettore Sottsass, Gruppo Dam, Sergio Asti and Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. Plywood packaging for objects was designed by Albe Steiner.

 

1970 | “16 GIOCHI A PARETE”

Throughout the Seventies CEDIT continues this interdisciplinary approach, staying ahead of its competitors in terms of stylistic technique: in 1970 with another key-project: “16 giochi a parete” [“16 wall games”], an exhibition at the company’s Milan showroom, at Via Verri 4.

 

1973 | “SERIE PITTORI”

With the unusual “Serie Pittori”, the brand engages a variegated group of international artists, including Emilio Scanavino, Edival Ramosa, Mimmo Rotella, Mario De Luigi, Ross Littell, Guy Harloff, Marcello Pirro, Gino Marotta and Ken Scott, to explore the decorative potentials of ceramic surfaces. The preface to the catalogue presenting the collection is by Gio Ponti.

 

1980 | THE MILAN STYLE

In the Eighties, the extraordinary, crucial input of Sottsass Associati is reflected in the design of a series of products mainly featuring expressive use of abstract geometrical decoration, achieved through the multiplication of tiny graphic outlines – an anticipation to future trends that will later be a revolution to the world of ceramic coverings. Over time, this creative cooperation extends to the point of originating a new CEDIT brand: “The Milan Style”, with Ettore Sottsass as art director.

 

1994 | “41 COLORI”

The “41 Colors” collection stands as an alphabet for what has proved to be an everlasting design language: colour. With CEDIT, the master-designer Ettore Sottsass, a long-established lover of ceramics and their crafted unpredictability, found a way of transferring his personal feeling for colour to a wide audience, through industrial mass production. This collection will later inspire one of CEDIT’s contemporary design proposals.

 

2016 | THE RELAUNCH

Following the foundations of a company that has helped to write the history of the evolution of ceramic wall coverings, new contemporary talents are called in to create the products for the company’s relaunch by Florim. Returning to Gio Ponti’s preface to the 1973 catalogue, to “expand” the influence of ceramic tiles to include the interior as a whole, CEDIT counts with the expertise of the Florim Group in the production of large ceramic slabs, conceiving surfaces that will innovate the very idea of architectural space by dialoguing with human space. Over time, the company’s collections will be joined new ceramic design, inspired by an invitation to view design as an inexhaustible possibility.

 

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