sustainable luxury: atlas concorde x hirsch bedner associates
Atlas Concorde is an expert in ceramic-tile solutions that are at once sustainable and luxurious. Architonic spoke with HBA partner Paula O’Callaghan about the hospitality-design firm’s collaboration with the Italian brand on its Marvel Travertine collection.
Italian ceramic tile specialist Atlas Concorde collaborated with international luxury hospitality brand Hirsch Bedner Associates on the Marvel Travertine collection
all images courtesy of Atlas Concorde
We spend so much time in this industry deploring the nefarious activity of design copying, with all its inferior fakes and knock-offs, and rightly so. Apart from the sheer unfairness of it, it’s theft. If you believe in the value of design – of considered authorship, high-end materials and quality production and craftsmanship – resulting in long-life products, the notion of buying a copy will be anathema to you.
But if you’re talking about the technically virtuosic copying of a finite natural material in the name of environmental sustainability, I’m all for it. This was the starting point for a collaboration between hospitality-design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates and Italian ceramic-tile experts Atlas Concorde that has produced what the manufacturer terms ‘extreme realism’. Their collaboration in the development of the Marvel Travertine collection replicates with a surprising exactitude the optics and haptics of that age-old, but sadly limited, limestone for which it’s named.
The Marvel Travertine collection’s versatility can be seen and experienced on a variety of HBA’s extensive hospitality projects around the world
‘The expectation of luxury interiors commonly involves the application of natural stone,’ explained HBA partner Paula O’Callaghan in a call recently to discuss the collection and its genesis. ‘However, our awareness of the finite availability of these natural materials prompted us to determine a more sustainable solution.’
Architonic (AT): How did HBA come to collaborate with Atlas Concorde?
Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA): Both HBA and Atlas Concorde have over 50 years of experience in their respective fields, and share a passion for excellence in design. We both have an eye firmly fixed on the future and the innovative products needed to respond to the environmental issues facing the world. So, our partnership was born out of this common vision.
Discover more from Atlas Concorde
The collection was developed by an international team of designers, who have created a diverse range of different concepts including Diamond Decor (top) and Chiselled Urban Grid (bottom)
AT: You use the term ‘extreme realism’ to describe Marvel Travertine. What does this mean? Why try to recreate the look (and feel) of a natural material? What’s the benefit?
HBA: Our goal was to emulate the beauty of natural materials in an environmentally sustainable way, achieving quality design without sacrificing our planet’s natural reserves. The expectation of luxury interiors commonly involves the application of natural stone. However, our awareness of the finite availability of these natural materials prompted us to determine a more sustainable solution.
‘Both HBA and Atlas Concorde have an eye firmly fixed on the future and the innovative products needed to respond to the environmental issues facing the world’
Within the hospitality interiors space, we are cognisant of the operator’s requirements for easy maintenance, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, where cleanliness within hotel facilities is paramount. Marvel Travertine offers, convincingly, the look and feel of this very porous stone; but, with the ease of maintenance, reliable slip-resistance and the durability of a man-made product.
