When the luxe Italian kitchen design brand Cesar launched the Tangram island in 2022, it genuinely changed everything our editors thought they knew about kitchen trends. Its sinuous curves, its gentle roundness and its convivial form was revolutionary, an instantly iconic piece of decor inspiration.
'Up until then, I'd only ever thought of kitchen islands as being rectangular,' says our executive editor Pip Rich. 'Seeing the orb-like end of the Tangram in Cesar's showroom was a highlight of Milan Design Week, and felt like a "Eureka" moment. Of course islands didn't need hard edges, and of course we could find new ways to play with shape that make kitchens more inviting.'
And now Cesar has moved this modern classic on even further, adding new approaches to the Tangram that are updating and revolutionising kitchen trends yet again. The Groove and Nuance finishes (which can be also be used on Cesar's other models) are exciting, dynamic, beautiful and easy to live with. The ultimate in kitchen design.
The Groove door
The Groove door has an irregular pattern of three-dimensional vertical grooves. And while the interplay of light across its surface is gentle and elegant throughout the day, the texture also has another use. It is designed specifically to camouflage the joints between modules and give the impression of a single unified surface.
It creates a seamless effect, as soothing on the eye as the shape of the Tangram itself, on which the Groove doors are seen, above, in this design by Garcia Cumini. With no extra visual noise, nothing that jars as you allow yourself to relax into the space, the unbroken lines create a world in which it's easy to relax into.
In fact, what the Groove doors do is to celebrate curves and the endless ways that they can be combined to form kitchen islands and compositions with unconventional shapes, an evolution of the kitchen trend revolution started by the Tangram and continued by Cesar's elevated designs.
The Nuance surface
'Just like when I first saw the Tangram, I was blown away by Nuance,' says Pip Rich, of Cesar's Nuance. 'Its honeyed tones and ombre effect that runs from amber to a warm grey changed how I think of kitchen surfaces, and the hues they can be. I'd not seen anything like it before.'
In fact, Nuance makes it possible to create highly elegant visual effects, elevating the sophisticated variations in colour of the Tangram island and allowing you to create a kitchen that is truly personal and unique. 'I'd not thought of texture in chromatic terms before,' Pip adds. 'But that's what Cesar has done. A shining example of why we turn to the brand as a constant leader in kitchen trends.'
Find out more at Cesar.it
