Marazzi Ceramiche is founded in 1935 at Sassuolo, near Modena in Italy.

It is said that the firm’s founder Filippo Marazzi built his first production plant using two parallel rows of poplar trees to support it, creating what was to become known as the “cardboard factory” due to its flimsy structure.

Decoration for stencil tile

It was in the ‘50s that Marazzi saw its first major expansion, thanks to large investments in new technologies such as “tunnel kilns”.

Outside view of the Marazzi factory

Advertising poster for the first 2×2 cm porcelain stoneware dot tiles

The first hand-decorated floor tiles stem from the partnership with Venerio Martini, world-renowned painter and ceramist from Sassuolo.

The first “four curve tile”, designed by Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli, is presented at the Milan Triennale in 1960. It marks the first, outstanding partnership between design and ceramic coverings.

Frames from storyboard no. 2 of Marazzi’s 1964 commercial, intended to promote colourful, glossy, easy-clean decorated white-body wall tiles and floor tiles.

During the ‘60s, Marazzi introduces new decorative and communicative languages into its product range.

Biki, Forquet and Paco Rabanne styled the Alta Moda collection for Marazzi. It is the first association between haute couture designers and the ceramics industry.

In 1974 Marazzi patents rapid single-firing: the simultaneous firing of the tile body and the finishing glaze cuts production times and redefines the image and intended uses of ceramic tiles themselves.

At a time of wide-ranging experimentation and major technical innovations, for Marazzi Nino Caruso explores the three-dimensional potential of ceramic tiles in the modular sizes of the Marazzi Forme collection.

The first 60×60 cm stoneware tiles are created in the Marazzi laboratories

Michelangelo 3

Gianni Berengo Gardin photographs the new Marazzi production lines

Large new production plants are established abroad; at Castellón de la Plana, in the Spanish ceramics district, and American Marazzi Tile at Dallas, in Texas.

Marazzi offers an extensive assortment of colours in the form of coloured modules for mixing and matching.

Photographers Charles Traub, Luigi Ghirri and Cuchi White interpret the new Marazzi collections

1985 sees the launch and patenting of “Enduro”, involving the introduction of special production lines where the tiles are glazed halfway along the kiln, while still red-hot, for immediate fixing and integration of the vitreous coating. An original, exclusive product, which once again changed the potential uses of ceramic coverings.

Together with artists, designers and potters, Roger Capron, Amleto Dalla Costa and Saruka Nagasawa experiment with new applications and decorative techniques in the Il Crogiuolo R&D centre.

New markets, new plants and unusual applications for ceramic tiles. The product range is extended with original solutions for the construction of ventilated curtain walls and raised floors.

Thanks to the I Colori modules by Marazzi, during the Italia ‘90 Soccer World Cup an ordinary water tower in Milan becomes the Torre Arcobaleno, or “Rainbow Tower”. In 2015 the Tower undergoes a second restyling, using the different shades of the SistemC Città collection, by the same creative team as a tribute to Milan and the millions of visitors to Expo 2015.

Ceramic tiles are used to cover the external walls of the three buildings of the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture in Miami, designed by the architect Bernard Tschumi.

The design for the Wilkinson Office And Warehouse Buildings, built in Phoenix (USA), wins the prestigious Ceramics Tiles of Italy Design Competition 2005 for the “commercial architecture” category. Marazzi created its façade using 60×60 cm porcelain stoneware slabs from the SistemT – Cromie collection.

Aldo Cibic designs the bench that makes adults feel like children for the Triennale Gardens in Milan.

Elliott Erwitt and Goettsche create the Marazzi “We Design the World” advertising campaigns

An innovative, flexible technology for products of exceptional beauty and technical quality. A totally innovative production cycle with a continuous, highly flexible process not only able to produce a variety of product types, sizes and thicknesses but also to improve ceramic slabs’ geometrical precision.
Ph. Giuliano Koren

The hotel towers designed by Dominique Perrault create unusual abstract effects thanks to a reflective skin produced by Marazzi

A new stoneware of amazing appearance and quality reinterprets the finest varieties of natural wood and becomes a best-seller.

In 2010, Marazzi patents SistemA crystallised porcelain stoneware, an innovative, eco-sustainable material, a new product concept, and a system of colours and surfaces for environment-friendly architecture using ceramics. SistemA is a technical stoneware suitable for use as a paving or floor or wall covering, indoors or out, available in 2 finishes: natural and “lux”.
SistemA had already been included in the ADI Design Index in 2009.

The Marazzi laboratories create the first lightweight wall covering in the large 32.5×97.7 size.

Treverkhome, the flawless imitation of the choicest woods.
Ph. Andrea Ferrari

Soho, the first three-dimensional stoneware decor tile, receives an Honourable Mention at the ADI [Italian Design Association] Compasso d’Oro awards – the most highly-prized accolade in the design sector – and is added to the Compasso d’Oro Award Historic Collection.

Stone inspiration for a collection of hyper-materials that combine the best performances with unusual surface effects.

Marazzi celebrates 80 years of age.

Marazzi’s eco-sustainable tiles were installed in over 10 areas of the Universal Exhibition in Milan, including Palazzo Italia – designed by Nemesi & Partners-, the USA Pavilion – designed by architect James Biber – and the Decumano and the Cardo, the two main thoroughfares of the Expo.

To mark the Group’s 80th anniversary the Sassuolo headquarters underwent major refurbishment and renovation work. Based on a project by architect Gianluca Rossi, this involved all the buildings on Viale Regina Pacis, the company’s historic site, with the office building and the new Marazzi showroom.

The new Fiorano Modenese plant was inaugurated in the presence of leading politicians. The design of the new plants prioritises environmental impact as well as working conditions and safety, including a cogeneration plant, heat recovery and water recycling systems and leading-edge safety systems.

The refurbishment work carried out to mark the company’s 80th anniversary also involved the restoration of the Crogiolo, the oldest surviving Marazzi building, a historic remnant of the first industrial plant dating to the 1930s which in the 1980s became a research centre under this name. Encouraging the experimentation of artists, architects, designers and photographers, invited to develop their own take on the ceramic tile product, it is now a hangar for events and a cultural venue also open to the city.

Winner of the 2015 Ceramics Design Award presented by ADI – the Italian Design Association – thanks to the 3D decoration created on a thickness of just 6 mm, the Materika collection presents concrete in its most elegant form and in the prestigious new 40×120 cm size.

The deep colours of the custom-produced SistemA crystallised stoneware for Salerno Maritime Station designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Like an oyster, between land and sea, with a hard shell that comes to life in the sunlight thanks to a unique crystallised stoneware.

Opening of the new facilities of the Finale Emilia plant, struck by the 2012 earthquake, in accordance with the strictest earthquake safety regulations and with double the production capacity in comparison to its environmental emissions.

Inspired by concrete and distinctive for the soft and harmonious nuances of its surface patterning, the Powder porcelain stoneware collection wins the Best of Category by Archiproducts Design Award. Delicate colour variations emphasise the originality of the material, highlighting its imperfections in the large new 75×150 cm size.

Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
Cascina Merlata is the eco-sustainable social housing project designed by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel in Milan.  The stars are the Marazzi stoneware ventilated walls – SistemN and Mystone Gris Fleury – and the renewable sources for buildings, the solutions for creating healthy and safe environments

Design by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
The Cortile della Farmacia (Courtyard of the Pharmacy) of Milan University, as part of the Interni Material Immaterial exhibition, and the Marazzi showroom on Via Borgogna, display Marazzi porcelain stoneware produced ad hoc for the Augmented Surface project using an innovative surface treatment.

Marazzi opens its first showroom in London, at the centre of an internationally-renowned hotbed of design and creativity. The 300 m2 space in St. John Street was designed by Italian architects Lorenzo Baldini and Antonio Pisano, founders of the Marcel Mauer practice of London.

Developed to explore the new frontiers of porcelain stoneware surfaces and to expand design and customisation possibilities with an incredibly versatile, resistant and light material. Large size, 6 millimetres thick, marble and concrete effect for a collection of porcelain stoneware slabs for covering horizontal and vertical flat surfaces, from design features to the façades of buildings, both indoors and outdoors, and creating infinite solutions. Lots of customisation potential: made-to-measure cuts and shapes, laser and digital decorations, mosaics to meet all project requirements.

For Marazzi, Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel design Grand Carpet, the new large size 120×240 cm stoneware, which combines Oriental carpet decorations with the Kolam tradition.
Produced in 6 different modules and two extremely sophisticated colours, the collection won the 2017 Archiproducts Design Award.

A 3-storey space, located at 63 Boulevard Saint-Germain in the V arrondissement, which preserves the historic and cultural legacy of the Haussmann building while harmoniously showcasing the latest Marazzi ceramic and stoneware solutions.

The showroom in the Ochota district – one of the most dynamic and up-and-coming areas in the Polish capital – was designed to present the many Marazzi brand solutions available in terms of top-quality materials and cutting-edge creativity.

Grand Carpet and the Grande collection in an extra-large size are the stars of the space designed by Matteo Cibic and Studio Blanco: The Tile Club, a gentlemen’s club in the heart of Milan’s San Babila district for ceramic enthusiasts, developed during the Salone del Mobile.

Studio Peregalli
The iconic Triennale four curve tile designed by Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli for Marazzi decorates the 5 kitchens on the 5 expertly renovated floors of the Cracco restaurant in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.

Stemming from the union of two pre-existing production units, the new Marlit specialises in the production of high-quality technical porcelain stoneware.  With production lines over 1.5 km long, the plant has a capacity of around 9 million m2 a year.

The new laboratories, with an indoor area of over 3,000 m2 and 1,000 m2 outdoors with large, well-lit zones, reflect the historic corporate culture of the Marazzi Group, with its innate focus on research and innovation.

The showroom covering over 400 m2 is located at 117 Avenue Jean Jaurès in one of the city’s most dynamic, culturally vibrant and trendiest areas, a district in which all the leading international design and furnishing names represented in Lyon are concentrated.

Marazzi opens the doors of its new exhibition space in Milan. The project by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel transforms the Via Borgogna showroom into a “Wunderkammer” of colours and materials.

The pavement along Corso Trento e Trieste in Lanciano was redesigned by taking inspiration from a number of traditional Abruzzo decorative motifs and turning them into the foundation of urban life. It was made from Marazzi double loading 20 mm SistemN porcelain stoneware in the nuances Sabbia and Grafite, cut ad hoc according to the indications of the designers.
Project: RicciSpaini Architetti Associati, architect Orazio Carpenzano

SSA and ZDA
The new Mystone Ceppo di Gré porcelain stoneware slabs were chosen for the ventilated walls of the first UpTown residences in Milan.
Developed for the project by SSA (Scandurra Studio Architettura) and Zanetti Design Architettura, they are completely carbon-free.

Adrian Samson, the world-renowned London-based photographer, reinterprets Triennale, the “four curve tile” designed by Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli for Marazzi in 1960. “I fell in love with the colours and patterns of these iconic tiles. I felt they were works of art. We decided not to use any additional material, but to work with just their own shapes and bodies, underlining their sensual appeal.”

Warm materials. Tactile surfaces. Products with a story to tell.
Crogiolo defines an approach to design that has shaped Marazzi’s history. In the 1980s, the company’s first factory building in Sassuolo, dating back to the 1930s, was transformed into the “Il Crogiolo” research and experimentation centre. Artists, architects, potters and designers were invited to try out new, creative uses of ceramic material, basing their work on the investigation of remembered beauty, colour and tactile effects.  Today, Crogiolo represents the Marazzi Group’s constant research and technological innovation, a prerogative of exceptionally high quality and outstanding stylistic research, which enables the company to interpret the trends of contemporary home design and respond with exquisite, practical, exclusive solutions.

Crogiolo Lume by Marazzi, the stoneware collection that reinterprets the beauty of handmade majolica tiles, has won the award for best design product in the “Finishes” category in the international competition held by Archiproducts, the architecture and design community that receives 46 million visits a year and has more than 1.7 million registered users.