October 1, 2006
SicisBlock
Visitors to Italian manufacturer Sicis’s new showroom in New York’s Soho will find a world of tile.
Visitors to Italian manufacturer Sicis’s new 13,000-square-foot three-floor showroom in New York’s Soho will find a world of tile: on racks, in sample cases, and on wavelike sheets suspended from the ceiling; along the floor, walls, and stairs; and across the rippling abs and perky breasts of the faceless six-foot-tall mannequins that stand sentinel on the floor.
Clearly Sicis is a company that appreciates the power of good—or at least profuse—product display. In fact it was an interest in improving showroom displays that led to the creation of SicisBlock, a system of lightweight plastic modular units released at the Milan Salone del Mobile in April. It was invented by the company’s founder, Maurizio Placuzzi, after he realized that showroom managers needed a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to show off new tile collections. “Every time a dealer wanted to build up a display, it became a mess,” he says. “The dealer needed to close at least part of the showroom, call an installer, and hire a laborer for building up the wall or the floor.”
Now dealers can create custom Sicis displays themselves and reuse the modular units. But while SicisBlock was developed with the needs of showrooms in mind, it works just as well for residential or workplace applications—as an impromptu household partition or a colorfully tiled alternative to the standard office cubicle.
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Composition:
The white or black plastic modules are available as rectangular blocks or curved end pieces, which can be used to frame tile, wood, Plexiglas, leather, fabric, or mirrored panels.
Properties:
The modules are lightweight, portable, easy to assemble, and can be bolted to the floor for stability. The transparent plastic can be lit from within. The system is fireproof.
Applications:
SicisBlock can be used to create displays, partitions, cubicles, temporary walls, and even shower stalls.
Distributor:
Sicis North America
470 Broome St.
New York, NY 10012
Tel: (212) 965-4100
www.sicis.it
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