Two years have gone by since the #AroundTheTop truckset off from SapienStone’s headquarters in Castellarano to take Italian design all over Europe.
The truck has been in motion since February 2017, crossing whole countries, travelling through cities, stopping in Europe’s principal capitals as well as smaller towns in search of new stimuli, ideas and relationships.
The goal was simple: contaminating, and being contaminated. Collecting stories and experiences in design worth sharing, as well as the cuisine and lifestyles of the countries visited, on one hand, and on the other telling stories and introducing the European public to the excellence of SapienStone porcelain.
The name #AroundTheTop expresses the very essence of this innovative travelling showroom.
Around the continent in search of different places and cultures, encountering new lifestyles and ways of interpreting the kitchen.
Top as in countertop, work surfaces for the kitchen with all the textures, benefits and qualities of top quality porcelain from SapienStone.
But also top as in excellence, that combination of knowledge and know-how, traditions, stories and suggestions associated with value in the worlds of design, food and lifestyles which the truck set out to meet.
12 metres long and almost 6 metres wide, with 40 sqm of space inside, the truck travelled across Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, touching upon numerous cities and meeting thousands of people.
Fitted with two kitchens, the truck hosted cooking shows and culinary demonstrations along the way.
More than 40 events introduced the Italian and European public to the aesthetic and functional advantages of SapienStone countertops: Italian design, long-lasting quality, and resistance to heat, temperature excursions, stains, acids and corrosive agents, hygiene, easy cleaning and sustainability.
The #AroundTheTop project offered opportunities throughout the year to present new SapienStone textures such as Dark Marquina or the Rovere Collection, as well as one of the company’s most innovative products: a Malm Grey porcelain countertop with a built-in TPB tech® Malm Black induction cooker featuring new generation elements and touch controls, all perfectly integrated into the worktop.
This innovative SapienStone countertop developed in partnership with the Spanish company TPB Top Porzelanik Barcelona® may be found in one of the two kitchens in the truck, where it catalysed the attention of the public, once again demonstrating the brand’s capacity for innovation, drawing on the Iris Ceramica Group’s experience.
SapienStone’s proposal is profoundly revolutionary in that it completely revolutionises our concept of the kitchen.
Life today is characterised by a frenetic pace and spaces that are called upon to serve a great variety of different functions. In response to this need, SapienStone, which is sapiens by nature, came up with a product that is both kitchen countertop and table, allowing users to cook, dine and work on the same surface. It is the perfect design solution for people who live in small spaces and for everyone who likes open spaces in which the kitchen and living room flow together.
The #AroundTheTop truck’s voyage was intense, as are all the stories, inspirations and creative ideas collected along the way.
The encounter with different cultures in the course of the year 2018 gave rise to a partnership with ten food bloggers who became the special voices of the web magazine What’s the top, SapienStone’s curious window on the world.
Giulia Scarpaleggia of Juls’ Kitchen, Antonella Pagliaroli of Fotogrammi di zucchero and Lidia Forlivesi of Nonsolofood in Italy, Fabienne Engel of Freiknuspern in Germany, Michelle Minnaar of Greedy Gourmet and Kimberly Espinel of The Little Plantation in the UK, Edda Onorato of Un déjeuner de soleil and Albane Hemon of Eat Me Baby One More Time in France, and Virginia Martín Orive of Sweet & Sour and Marta Sanahuja of Delicious Martha in Spain prepared their traditional recipes and culinary homages to Italy on a SapienStone countertop and offered plenty of useful and interesting advice about their cultures and food design tips.
SapienStone celebrates its first two years on the road in a recipe book representing the principal stops on the #AroundTheTop tour with some of the most interesting dishes from the countries the truck visited. Included in this special recipe book are a number of the recipes the SapienStone chef prepared on the countertops in the truck, such as daube provençale, Modena tortellini or Sacher cake, along with the dishes the food bloggers came up with especially for SapienStone.
The recipe book collects inspiration from the worlds of gastronomy, art and culture: the description of the recipes, which embrace a whole range of combinations of highly varied flavours, is illustrated with photographs in an innovative style.
Food becomes the material used to create beauty, benefitting not only the sense of taste but the sense of sight. The ingredients in the dishes become the subject of true artworks on the SapienStone countertop, geometric shapes created using food which surprise us with the originality of their combinations and their clean yet evocative look.
The recipe book may be downloaded in PDF form from the link: #AroundTheTop
It may be used as the starting point for creation of unusual concerts of flavour and presentations to amaze even the most jaded palates.
