The World of Clay: matter as inspiration
Report on Talks that Matter with Benedetto Fasciana at Matter Barcelona: the origins of Florim's SensiTerre, its surfaces, sizes and uses.
Products6 min read
On Thursday 16 October 2025 we held a new edition of our Talks that Matter series at Matter Barcelona: The World of Clay. An evening devoted to exploring the expressive power of clay and its transformation into surfaces that connect artisan tradition with technological innovation, with Florim and Benedetto Fasciana, who designed the SensiTerre collection together with Matteo Thun.
In this report we look at what Fasciana told us about the origins of SensiTerre —a set of handmade terracotta vases—, how that artisan memory has been translated into a porcelain stoneware for architecture, and which colours, surfaces and sizes the collection offers specifiers. To close, the cocktail reception that rounded off the evening.
- Speaker: Benedetto Fasciana, Associate Director at Matteo Thun & Partners and co-designer of SensiTerre.
- Brand: Florim, the Italian porcelain stoneware manufacturer, which has its own space at Matter Barcelona.
- Venue: the Matter Barcelona showroom.
- Music: DJ set by Merli Marlowe during the cocktail reception.
An encounter with Benedetto Fasciana and the SensiTerre collection
Benedetto Fasciana is an architecture graduate of the University of Ferrara and Associate Director at Matteo Thun & Partners, Matteo Thun's Milan studio, which he joined in 2014. His background in ceramic art shows in his work: with Thun he designs furniture, lighting and surface collections, including Florim's Sensi family, to which SensiTerre belongs.
At The World of Clay he presented SensiTerre, a project that reinterprets the world of earths and clays from a contemporary perspective.
“SensiTerre was born from the desire to give new life to the oldest material in the world: earth.”
— Benedetto Fasciana
During his presentation, Fasciana shared the creative process behind the collection, conceived as a dialogue between the memory of the ‘handmade’ and the new horizons of Industry 4.0. The world of earths and clays thus moves from the artisan dimension to the architectural one and becomes a tool for architects and interior designers.
A journey to the origin: from the Venere Bianca vases to SensiTerre
A collection born from a handcrafted piece.
The starting point is a limited edition of terracotta vases created in 2014 in collaboration with Bitossi and named after the ideal woman: Venere Bianca. Designed by Matteo Thun and Benedetto Fasciana and handmade by master potters in Tuscany, they are unique pieces that convey emotion and tactility and recall the workshops of the Italian Renaissance. SensiTerre celebrates that collection and transforms it into a ceramic surface.
From those vases the collection inherits colour and, above all, texture. Its surfaces reinterpret the gestures of working clay by hand —the imprint of gauze, comb marks, incisions— and the texture of Roman cocciopesto, the mortar of lime and crushed brick. Florim describes it as a reflection on the elegance of detail in which each shade is a conscious colour choice: colour as the common thread between the memory of tradition and today's architecture.
Between tradition and technology
In SensiTerre, clay becomes an architectural surface: a material that retains its natural essence while acquiring new technical possibilities. It is dry-pressed, rectified fine porcelain stoneware with an average water absorption of 0.08% according to Florim's technical data, well below the 0.5% set by EN 14411 for group BIa. That makes it resistant to frost, staining and chemicals.
Together with Matteo Thun, Fasciana expresses a deep admiration for Made in Italy, reinterpreting traditional ceramics with an approach that celebrates tactility, expressive purity and formal balance.
Surfaces that breathe calm and a connection with matter: that is true contemporary luxury.
SensiTerre: colours, surfaces and sizes
Six earth tones and four surfaces for floors and walls.
SensiTerre comes in six warm, earth-inspired colours: Cotone (cotton), Sabbia (sand), Rosato (pinkish), Mattone (brick), Amaranto and Carbone (coal). There are four surfaces, all with a natural feel: Naturale, smooth and matt; Grana, grainy, in a matt or slip-resistant (Grip) version; Rigatino, finely ribbed; and Cannettato, fluted and reserved for wall cladding.
All pieces are rectified, so they allow minimal joints: Florim recommends 2 mm for single-size layouts and 3 mm when different sizes are combined. When specifying the collection, bear in mind:
- Interiors: Naturale and Grana Matte (R10) for floors and walls; Grana Matte in 6 mm is the one that reaches the large 120×240 cm size.
- Outdoors and areas needing more grip: Grana Grip (R11). In 20 mm it can be laid on a screed with double buttering or dry on grass, gravel or fixed or adjustable pedestals.
- Textured walls: Cannettato is for wall cladding only; Rigatino can also be used on floors.
- Compositions: mesh-mounted mosaics —Listello, Intreccio, Spina, Tappeto, Cubo and Tavella and Listello— that combine colours and small pieces and simplify installation.
- Trims: skirting, step and L-shaped pieces in all six colours, in Naturale and Grana Grip.
Florim's current catalogue also adds 5.7×23.2 cm glazed wall tiles in a Matte Silk finish —Brick, with a flat face, and the wave-shaped Onda 5 and Onda 7— for small-format cladding in the same colours.
An award-winning collection
SensiTerre arrived at The World of Clay with several accolades: a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025, a Green Good Design Award 2025 —according to Florim, the only surface collection to win in that edition— and inclusion in the ADI Design Index 2025, presented at the ADI Design Museum in Milan on 15 October, the day before our event. That selection places it among the 344 finalists eligible for the Compasso d'Oro 2026 preselection.
Florim, a porcelain stoneware manufacturer based in Fiorano Modenese (Italy), became the first manufacturer in its sector to achieve B Corp certification in 2020. According to the company, its plants recover 100% of production waste and process water.
An experience for the senses
After the talk, guests enjoyed a cocktail reception in the Matter showroom, surrounded by SensiTerre pieces and an immersive atmosphere created by DJ Merli Marlowe.
Sound, texture and conversation intertwined in a multisensory experience that reflected the spirit of the collection: the meeting of the sensory and the essential.
Matter, design and emotion
The World of Clay presented not only a collection, but a reflection on how the most advanced innovation can be born from the earth, from the human gesture and from the desire to create beauty out of the elemental.
Matter thus continues its commitment to bringing together architects, designers and brands around a dialogue on materiality, sustainability and design culture.
Frequently asked questions
- Who designed SensiTerre?
- Matteo Thun & Partners for Florim: Matteo Thun and Benedetto Fasciana. The collection builds on the Venere Bianca terracotta vases, a limited edition the two designed in 2014 in collaboration with Bitossi.
- What is the largest size?
- 120×240 cm, in 6 mm with the Grana Matte surface, for floors and walls with few joints. In 9 mm the largest size is 120×120 cm.
- Can it be used outdoors?
- Yes, with the Grana Grip surface, rated R11 for slip resistance. In 20 mm (60×120 and 120×120 cm) it can be laid on a screed or dry on grass, gravel or adjustable pedestals.
- Can Rigatino and Cannettato be used on floors?
- Rigatino can, with an R10 rating. Cannettato is for wall cladding only. Both are made in 60×120 cm and 9 mm, in Sabbia and Mattone.
Book your visit to Matter Barcelona to see the Florim space where this event took place, and talk to our team about SensiTerre and the materials for your next project.
