Ceramics as a design language, capable of moving across scales, functions and contexts. This is the thread running through the 24th edition of the Tile of Spain Awards, organised by ASCER, which each year highlights the role of ceramic surfaces in contemporary architecture and interior design. Presented in Oropesa (Castellón), the awards build on an established trajectory while introducing, for the first time, subcategories that reflect the growing complexity of design practice. Across architecture and interiors, the selected works reveal markedly different approaches, united by a considered use of ceramics that goes beyond decoration. In the Architecture category, Casa Marratxí by Casas inHAUS stands out for its integration of ceramics within an industrialised building system. The material runs seamlessly between interior and exterior, reinforcing the modular nature of the house while pointing to the potential of ceramics within prefabrication processes.
Interventions in the Monastery of Santa María de Sijena by Pemán & Franco Arquitectos Sebastián Arquitectos – Photo © Iñaki Bergera
A different approach defines the award-winning project at the Monastery of Santa María de Sijena by Pemán y Franco Arquitectos and Sebastián Arquitectos. Here, ceramics are subtly integrated into the historic setting, complementing the existing architecture without overwhelming it, in a design that emphasises continuity and compositional lightness.
Brickell Penthouse Miami by François Guglielmina (TOGU Miami Design) – Photo © Troy Benson
In the Interior Design category, the award goes to Brickell Penthouse Miami by François Guglielmina (TOGU Miami Design), where large-format ceramic surfaces amplify light and spatial perception, contributing to a dynamic, urban interior. More tactile and chromatic in its approach, Boc Beach by Il Mio Design, uses ceramic textures and formats to shape a fluid relationship between indoors and outdoors, foregrounding the experiential quality of the space.
Boc Beach by Il Mio Design – Photo © José Salto
Alongside built work, the Master’s Thesis Award was presented to Manos Cerámicas by Manuel Alexander Fustamante Mori (CEU San Pablo, Madrid), a project that brings together ceramic making and the regeneration of local heritage, placing process and craft at the centre of the intervention. Collectively, the projects selected for this 24th edition present ceramics not as a secondary layer, but as an active component of design. A material that, between technical innovation and cultural continuity, continues to reshape how space is constructed, perceived and experienced.
