Tales of the Tiles

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Our new virtual book that accompanies the “Racconti delle Riggiole” [Tales of the Tiles] of the Little Museum of Mercedes Mariotti in Cagliari.

Visiting the Small Museum “Contus de Arrejolas” (Sardinian words for “Tales of the Tiles”, “I racconti delle Riggiole” in Italian) in Cagliari you will find our new installation, “Tales of the Tiles”. It is a work done together with &makers, a company with which we have already developed other museum projects.

It is a virtual book that aims to accompany Mercedes, the founder of the Museum, telling the story of the collection.
The Riggiole of the Museum, in fact, has a double value: artistic and historical.

 

Artistic because they are real works of art, made by hand, with a fantasy and a variety of patterns and colors that is amazing.
Historical because they tell the great events, as well as the daily stories, of Cagliari and Sardinia through 4 centuries.
With “Tales of the Tiles” we wanted to integrate technology into the atmosphere of the Museum: a large book with blank pages placed on a table and the simple movement of the hands to browse through it and explore its functions.

There are no screens or keyboards to touch, there are no buttons to press, there are no cables or devices in sight; everything is perfectly natural.
Everything starts from the idea that each floor tile has been created to be laid according to a precise pattern, so that the chromatic interlocking with the neighboring ones composes a specific design.

Many of the pieces in the collection, however, are unique and it would therefore not be possible to see the full effect, returned only if placed side by side in large numbers.
So the idea to ​​give the opportunity to see a complete floor starting from a single tile, which can also be enlarged to appreciate the detail of the design or reduced at will to get the glance of the complete motif.

If it is true that each Riggiola has been created to be laid according to a precise pattern, it is also true that by playing with the combinations you can obtain unexpected patterns and shapes and the system allows you to scroll through them endlessly, always creating new combinations.
The floor can be inserted inside the three-dimensional reconstruction of an ancient living room to get a glimpse of how a house of the time furnished with that type of tile might look like.

For each Riggiola, it is also possible to browse all the information relating to the characteristics, the dating, the material, the producer and the history of its discovery.
We look forward to seeing you at the “Contus de Arrejolas” Small Museum where you can hear the stories of the Riggiole from Mercedes’ voice and, in the meantime, play with their wonderful colors and designs.