Ceramics of Italy 2025 Tile Competition Winners Celebrate Unique Uses

Story at a glance:

• Confindustria Ceramica (the Italian Association of Ceramics) recently announced the winners of the 2025 Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition at Coverings, the largest tile and stone exhibition in North America.
• The international jury chose five winners and three honorable mentions—all showcasing exceptional use of Italian tile in designs from top North American architecture and design firms.

This year’s Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition entrants were creative and diverse—from an academic research building using large-format porcelain to residential projects with tile-wrapped islands and more. Winners were announced at the 2025 Coverings Expo, this year held in Orlando. The contest was divided into residential, nonresidential, and design and new applications.

Projects were judged on overall design, sustainable attributes, the degree to which Italian tile enhances the setting, the amount of ceramic or porcelain tile from Ceramics of Italy member companies used throughout the project, and the quality of the tile installation.

This year’s competition follows the successful merger of two historic initiatives—the Design Competition in North America and Europe’s La Ceramica e il Progetto, which now operates in alternating cycles between continents. In 2025 the focus returned to North America, celebrating architecture and design firms that demonstrate exemplary use of ceramic and porcelain tile from Ceramics of Italy member brands.

The 2025 winners reflect the latest in design and technology—from exterior cladding and ventilated facades to 3D textures, handcrafted aesthetics, bold color palettes, through-body veining, large-format materials, and a strong emphasis on indoor-outdoor living.

Here are this year’s winners.

RESIDENTIAL WINNERS

Living Lounge, Winnipeg

Along the Assiniboine River, Living Lounge is a hotel-inspired bungalow that blurs the line between indoor comfort and outdoor entertaining spaces. Designed by Canada-based firm Secter Architecture + Design, the residence centers on a sprawling open-plan living, dining, bar, and lounge space, oriented to capture optimal light during evening gatherings.

The interior flows effortlessly into exterior entertainment zones, including a sauna and an alfresco kitchen with river views. Mirage’s Glocal collection unifies the design and lends a clean, contemporary surface to the main entrance, laundry, and powder room floors, while the brand’s textured Quartziti line adds depth to the powder room walls. In the kitchen and dining areas, Laminam’s Pietra Grey porcelain surfaces wrap the backsplash, buffet, island face, and countertops, creating a refined, cohesive visual thread throughout the home.

Firm: Secter Architecture + Design
Tile Manufacturers: Laminam, Mirage
Distributor: Julian Tile
Installer: Harris Builders LTD

House in the Hill, Pelham, Ontario

Tucked in the wooded hillside of Ontario’s Fonthill Kame, House in the Hill is a reimagined residence that reconnects the home with the surrounding Carolinian forest. Designed by These Architects, the new structure builds on the original foundation, balancing preservation with a bold new architectural identity.

Large-format Italian porcelain flooring from Emilceramica’s Tele di Marmo Reloaded collection unifies living spaces, kitchens, hallways, and bathroom, while the brand’s Tele di Marmo Revolution series adds dramatic, marble-look veining to the kitchen backsplash, island, and appliance garage. Marazzi’s Lume collection complements the kitchen walls and animates ensuite bathrooms in shades of blue, green, and white, while the brand’s Essenziale White Flora 3D tile adds texture to the gym bathroom, contrasted by Mirage’s stone-look Norr tiles on adjacent walls.

With sustainability central to the design, the project features high-performance glazing, passive ventilation, and a tightly sealed envelope that exceeds code requirements.

Firm: These Architects
Tile Manufacturer: Emilceramica, Mirage, Marazzi
Distributor: Stone Tile Canada, CIOT, Centura
Installer: DB Custom Homes

RESIDENTIAL HONORABLE MENTIONS

Hidden Pond House, Old Westbury, NY

In the lush landscape of Old Westbury, Hidden Pond House reinterprets the classic barn structure through a modernist lens. Designed by Mojo Stumer Associates, the home balances raw materials—featuring washed gray wood, concrete, and exposed steel—with refined architectural elements.

A defining material throughout the home is the Matrice series by CEDIT—a large-format porcelain tile used on both the exterior and interiors. On the facade and rear elevation, the tile contrasts against dark wood slats, creating a striking rhythm, as bold, triangular roofs and distinctive windows invite light and frame the surrounding greenery.

Inside, CEDIT’s Matrice tiles appear on a dramatic double-height entry wall, accent walls in the halls and stairways, and above the fireplace, drawing the eye upward. The tile’s consistent presence—including moments in bedroom entries and alongside the owners’ art collection—unifies the interior palette while strengthening the home’s seamless relationship with the outdoors.

Firm: Mojo Stumer Associates
Tile Manufacturer: CEDIT
Distributor: Florim
Installer: Jon Bijari Custom Homes

NONRESIDENTIAL WINNERS

Tikka Charcoal Grill, Hicksville, NY

Tikka Charcoal Grill by Olbos Studio brings a sensory underwater world to life through immersive design and vibrant materiality.

The restaurant’s focal point is a sculptural bar wrapped in overlapping, three-dimensional Calathea tiles by Acquario Due. The design mimics the movement of water in four oceanic blues. Marine-inspired tones and forms create intimate dining zones in pill-shaped volumes that glow like lanterns behind translucent curtains. In the bathrooms Acquario Due’s tiles make another bold impression, from peachy tones and warm golden hues to dark blue tiles complemented by coral colored sinks.

Each thoughtfully curated space continues the aquatic narrative, emphasized by metallic water ripple panels applied across the bathroom ceilings.

Firm: Olbos Studio
Tile Manufacturer: AcquarioDue
Distributor: AcquarioDue
Installer: Dumani Contractors

Academic Research Building at Wharton School of Business – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Part of the dense urban fabric and landscaped spaces that define the University of Pennsylvania’s campus, the Wharton School of Business is a cluster of prominent buildings now joined by its latest addition: a 74,000-square-foot academic research building designed by MGA Partners.

Occupying one of the last available sites on the main campus, the LEED Gold building is both an architectural anchor and connective link. A sophisticated ventilated facade clad in 12mm large-format porcelain panels by Florim—chosen in a charcoal tone to reflect the traditional slate roofs of neighboring historic structures—integrates with a high-performance curtainwall. The rainscreen incorporates ceramic frit patterns that vary in density, carefully balancing daylight, transparency, and solar control.

Inside, the same Florim panels reappear throughout corridors, unifying the material palette, while white porcelain panels from the brand provide a contrasting color field that frames a sculptural, cantilevered spiral staircase. The design as a whole balances tradition and innovation, supporting dynamic student life through a rich layering of classrooms, study zones, and informal gathering spaces.

Firm: MGA Partners
Tile Manufacturer: Florim
Distributor: Florim
Installer: Hunter Roberts Construction Group

NONRESIDENTIAL HONORABLE MENTION

The Overlook Cafè, San Francisco

Arcsine designed the Overlook Café to take people back to a time when mid-century modern architecture and design flourished. Above the pool room at The Olympic Club— a historical athletics club operating since 1860 in downtown San Francisco—the café combines the club’s sports-driven heritage with stylish and contemporary accoutrements.

Overlooking the club’s swimming pool, the multipurpose space features bold yet classic aesthetics such as white ceramic picket tiles from Settecento’s Crayons collection at the servery wall, adding a clean yet visually intriguing backdrop. Original decorative posters from past sporting events at The Olympic Club provide a sense of artistic whim among the sleek furniture and chic elements, including custom red button-tufted banquettes and leather lounge booths, while the wooden ceiling adds texture and blocks sound amplified by the swimming pool with acoustic felt and wooden veneers.

Firm: Arcsine
Tile Manufacturer: Settecento
Distributor: Statements Tile
Installer: HP Build

DESIGN & NEW APPLICATION WINNER

2020 Stradella, Bel Air, CA

High in the hills of Bel Air, 2020 Stradella is a luxury residence by DI Group and Adeet Madan Home Design that exemplifies restrained modernism through finely tuned materials and meticulous detailing. Italian porcelain tiles from Ceramiche Refin, Florim, Laminam, Infinity, and Supergres play a starring role throughout the home, with their refined aesthetic and technical performance viewed across clever interior and exterior applications, including living areas, bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoor spaces.

Outside, impressive applications of Ceramiche Refin’s matte-finished tiles define the exterior facade, pool coping and a cascading pool waterfall, while slip-resistant surfaces from the brand ensure safety across patios, walkways, staircases, and other high-traffic wet zones. Inside, new applications of porcelain continue to take on unexpected roles, including an integrated induction cooktop set into a porcelain counter by Laminam, paired with seamless indoor-outdoor flooring transitions that reinforces spatial continuity. Across all surfaces, the design prioritizes durability, modern elegance, and a seamless material language that elevates the experience of everyday living.

Firm: DI Group, Adeet Madan Home Design
Tile Manufacturers: Ceramiche Refin, Florim, Infinity, Laminam, Supergres
Distributor: DI Group
Installer: Social Homebuilders

DESIGN & NEW APPLICATION HONORABLE MENTION

Fort Lauderdale Waterfront Homely Estate, Fort Lauderdale

Along the waterfront in Fort Lauderdale, this 12,300-square-foot residence by DKOR Interiors was designed to embrace its tropical setting through calm materiality and open spatial flow.

Created in collaboration with STRANG Architecture and Bomar Builders, the two-story home balances industrial warmth with modern simplicity, pairing clean architectural lines with natural finishes. On the exterior, a distinctive design feature is the innovative use of wood-look porcelain tile by Emilceramica, applied across vertical fins and overhead ceilings.

Tasked with sourcing an extremely durable, low-maintenance, weather-resistant alternative to natural wood, the chosen material captures the warmth and texture of timber while standing up to Florida’s humid, salt-rich coastal climate. The palette throughout is rooted in the landscape, complemented by open design that reinforces the transition between interior and exterior spaces. The result is a home that fosters connection, ease, and a deep sense of retreat.

Firm: DKOR Interiors
Tile Manufacturer: Emilceramica
Distributor: Emilgroup
Installer: Bomar Builders

About the Jury

The international jury was chaired by Louisa Hutton, architect and founder of the Berlin-based practice Sauerbruch Hutton, and included Domitilla Dardi, historian and design curator at MAXXI in Rome; Luca Molinari, architect and professor of architectural theory and design at the University of Campania; Steve Clem, principal at the Atlanta- and Tampa-based firm TVS; and Emilio Mussini, chairman of the Promotional Activities and Trade Fairs Commission of Confindustria Ceramica.

Ceramics of Italy contributed to this article.