In the context of Milan Design Week 2026, APE Grupo presents Lagomar, an author-led ceramic design proposal developed in collaboration with Italian studio Studiopepe, exploring new ways of understanding ceramics as a creative medium. Conceived specifically for Appartamento Spagnolo, the project is part of Canvas, a concept driven by the Castellón-based company that expands the possibilities of ceramic customisation, transforming it into a true architectural canvas.
Installed at Palazzo Castiglioni, Appartamento Spagnolo brings together 22 Spanish companies in an intervention that goes beyond the traditional exhibition format to become a spatial experience. Through a sequence of five environments —an outdoor garden, a veranda engaging with the exterior, a bedroom, a living space and a kitchen area— the project proposes a journey based on progressive discovery. Transitions between rooms do not occur through conventional doors, but via metal chains that visitors must move aside by hand: a tactile and acoustic filter that turns each new space into a threshold. “We wanted to generate curiosity, so that not everything is revealed immediately, but instead invite visitors to explore the space through a succession of atmospheres,” explain Studiopepe.
Within this context, Lagomar occupies a central position within the overall journey and becomes one of the key moments of the installation. Located in the Sala del Pavone —the space representing the home’s living area— the mural acts as a reading key for the entire project: within a single wall converge the colour palette, the softness of forms and the tension between the handmade and the architectural that runs through each of the rooms. More than a surface covering, Lagomar is conceived as a large continuous surface where colour and texture construct a distinct visual narrative.
The project stems from an approach in which design and space are conceived simultaneously. “The idea of working on a large surface, like a continuous canvas, allowed us to move away from the typical modularity of ceramics and adopt a more artistic approach,” explain Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto. This vision results in a fluid composition in which even the joints between tiles are integrated as part of the visual narrative, acting as lines that structure a kind of illustrated notebook. The result blurs the boundaries between construction material and visual expression, placing ceramics in an intermediate territory between architecture and art.
Developed on an existing ceramic base by APE Grupo, Lagomar materialises the potential of the Canvas concept, which allows any design to be transferred onto ceramic surfaces with complete freedom of scale, format and composition. This approach opens up new possibilities for architects and interior designers, enabling them to use the material not only as a construction solution but also as a narrative tool within their projects.
Drawing on references ranging from the architecture of Ricardo Bofill to ancestral symbolic languages, the design constructs its own visual universe, where sea, vegetation and mineral matter are translated into a graphic alphabet of hand-drawn stylised forms. The colour palette —featuring terracotta tones, warm browns and accents of acid green, dusty pink and teal— reinforces the sensory dimension of the piece, integrating with the overall space and guiding the visitor’s experience throughout the journey.
The collaboration between APE Grupo and Studiopepe has been instrumental in translating the original design intent into the material. The studio worked in close coordination with the ceramic group’s technical team to ensure that the handcrafted gesture defining Studiopepe’s poetics —the freshness of the line, the controlled irregularity of colour— was fully preserved throughout the industrial production process. “Ceramics offer great expressive freedom thanks to the combination of colour and texture,” note the designers. The result is an intervention that retains the warmth of the original drawing while meeting the technical demands of the material with precision.
With Lagomar, APE Grupo not only presents a singular proposal, but also introduces a new way of approaching ceramics through author-led design. Canvas is conceived as a collaborative platform with international studios, where each intervention demonstrates the system’s potential and its ability to adapt to different creative visions. This project marks the beginning of a line of work that will continue to evolve with two new proposals by Studiopepe, to be unveiled at Cersaie (Bologna, Italy).
Participation in Appartamento Spagnolo, promoted by ICEX and Interiors from Spain and curated by Elle Decor Italia, further reinforces APE Grupo’s presence on the international design stage. In a context such as Milan Design Week, where industry, culture and experimentation converge, the company positions ceramics as a medium capable of generating experience, emotion and contemporary discourse. Appartamento Spagnolo will be open to the public from 20 to 26 April at Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan, as part of the Fuorisalone.
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