For over 60 years, innovative and ecological solutions: advanced ceramic materials capable of meeting any creative and technological need in the world of architecture and design.
A vision strongly oriented towards innovation and environmental respect, through intense research and experimentation aimed at continuous improvement, both aesthetically and functionally. This is the motto of Casalgrande Padana, which, at its headquarters in Reggio Emilia, produces 24 million square meters of product every year, dedicated to research and innovation. Let’s meet Sara Costi, web communication manager at Casalgrande Padana.
Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud.
The facade of the institutional headquarters of Casalgrande Padana in Casalgrande, in the province of Reggio Emilia.
Sara Costi, web communication manager at Casalgrande Padana.
From historical collections to current ones, how has the world of coatings changed?
Throughout history, the evolution of ceramics and its production techniques has accompanied that of architecture. This is still a living reality today, where ceramics and porcelain stoneware offer architects materials that allow combining aesthetics with functionality.
If until a few decades ago these materials were mainly used as exterior cladding and flooring, today they surpass these “limits” to become veritable furnishing surfaces, dedicated to infinite design solutions. This is possible thanks to innovative production technology, which provides excellent technical performance in terms of durability and resistance, as well as ductility and versatility..
Some examples of the use of porcelain stoneware as cladding in architecture signed by Casalgrande Padana.
Even in interior design, ceramic material finds multiple applications. Supreme Taupe collection.
Wood effect, warm and textured in the English Wood – Dean collection contrasting with the Supreme – Gray collection.
What role has production process technology played?
The answer to this question lies in the uniqueness of the district in which Casagrande Padana has always operated: the Emilian ceramic system, unique for the role it has played, and continues to play, in the global market, with competitive positioning and few comparisons in the Italian industrial landscape.
A detail of the laying of a slab floor.
A story that, starting from the late 1960s, saw a rapid process of development in industrial production, with consequent innovations, leading to a success that can be attributed to both the solid entrepreneurial heritage of the territory and an abundant and prepared workforce. Not to mention a crucial detail: easy access to essential raw materials, such as the various types of clay found on the hilly and mountainous strip of the Modenese and Reggiano Apennines.
In the following decades, a natural evolution was witnessed, with restructuring at the production level: technologies became increasingly sophisticated, processes automated, and, as a result, production times reduced. All this has led to the highly performing contemporary situation, increasingly innovative with state-of-the-art ceramic products, transversal and diversified.
English Wood collection – Galloway
The demand for new applications has driven investments and innovations, made possible thanks to the intense connection with local technology suppliers. Furthermore, within the more complex ceramic sector system – alongside tile manufacturers and machine and plant manufacturers – a varied network of sectors has developed that supports and integrates production activities, giving rise to a system of skills and excellences without equal.
Marmoker Collection – Deep Dark.
And sustainability?
It has always been a consideration. The company is committed to continuous improvement to reduce environmental impacts, using the best available technologies, applying circularity criteria in the use of energy, water resources, and waste, adopting, at the management level, certified environmental management procedures for process and product.
100% of raw waste generated during production is reused, 100% of process waters are treated and reused, 90% of electricity is self-produced. The heat from the baking ovens is recovered and used both in the production process and to heat some company premises. 99.5% of waste is destined for recovery, and a photovoltaic system, installed at the headquarters, produces renewable energy.
Supreme Collection – Grey.
Furthermore, Casalgrande Padana was among the first companies in the sector to introduce (as early as the 2000s) antibacterial, self-cleaning, and pollutant reduction treatments (Bios Antibacterial® and Bios Self-Cleaning®): an innovative type of eco-friendly products capable of interacting autonomously with the environment, to generate a series of virtuous processes.
What about the future?
Unlike past years, focused on strengthening the image, both in terms of quality and service, in the future, the ability to ask the right questions will play a fundamental role, with the intention of seeking answers that go beyond the boundaries of habits, to open new and unexplored avenues of knowledge.
This sensitivity is necessary and indispensable, useful for successfully facing the competitiveness of the global market, which does not only mean “knowing how to do”, but also knowing how to listen, going beyond the simple product-service combination. The goal is to build identity, corporate culture, dissemination and transfer of knowledge, to make it a common and shared heritage in the construction of a new quality of living.
Supreme Collection – Sand.
On the cover, Fusion collection – Gray
