For years, interior design has found a safe haven in neutral tones. Whites, beiges, greys, stone, and natural wood have shaped a language associated with serenity, sophistication and timelessness. Yet their widespread use has also contributed to a certain homogenization of interiors, making it increasingly difficult to recognize the personality of the people who inhabit them.
At Cersaie 2026, APE Grupo proposes a renewed confidence in color. Under the concept “Rainwow,” the company is championing color’s ability to bring identity, emotion, and optimism to spaces without sacrificing the calm and natural character sought in contemporary interiors.
This is not about replacing neutrals or turning color into an exercise in excess. The proposal is based precisely on their coexistence: mineral, stone, and earthy surfaces provide a foundation for chromatic accents capable of transforming the overall perception of a space. Color is introduced deliberately wherever it can create contrast, depth, rhythm, or a point of visual tension.
This approach means looking beyond color’s decorative dimension. Color becomes a design tool: it can articulate surfaces, highlight volumes, establish relationships between materials, and create different atmospheres. Used with precision, a chromatic gesture can change the way a space is perceived, without needing to dominate it.
Sophistication no longer depends on the absence of color, but on the confidence with which it is used.
Different ways of working with color
Rainwow’s chromatic confidence runs through the ceramic innovations APE Grupo is presenting at Cersaie but takes different forms. Creative concepts such as Axis and Lithos, together with the new collections from Carmen, explore different relationships between color and materiality: from unexpected nuances introduced into nature-inspired surfaces, to contrasts with highly expressive materials and the development of extensive color palettes.
Axis explores color as an element capable of organizing, connecting, and transforming a collection. It begins with ceramic surfaces inspired by understated stones, developed in white and ivory. Against this neutral foundation, the Sicily collection introduces a more chromatic interpretation of stone through four shades—brown, green, ivory, and pink— retaining its mineral richness while incorporating less predictable nuances. Rather than breaking with the collection’s natural language, the contrast broadens its possibilities, allowing designers to move from continuous, serene compositions to others with greater personality.
Lithos explores a different relationship between balance and expressiveness. The concept combines ceramic surfaces inspired by neutral stones with others that reinterpret exotic marbles through intense colors, pronounced veining, and striking graphics. The contrast between these two worlds makes it possible to adjust the prominence of each surface: stone provides a restrained foundation, while marble introduces energy, depth, and a more dramatic dimension.
Color takes on another dimension in Carmen, APE Grupo’s brand specializing in decorative ceramics and small formats. Its new products feature particularly extensive color palettes, allowing different levels of intensity to be explored within a single collection. Neutrals and pastels coexist with earthy shades, terra cottas, burgundies, blues, and a strong presence of greens, ranging from soft nuances to deep tones. Collections offering up to 15 colors turn small-format ceramics into a versatile tool for creating tonal harmonies, combining color families or introducing more pronounced contrasts.
Ceramics as a creative canvas
This search for greater expressive potential finds one of its clearest manifestations in Canvas. APE Grupo’s proposal begins with a simple idea: to understand ceramics as a creative canvas and extend the possibilities of the surface beyond traditional languages.
Canvas is being presented at Cersaie through a collaboration with Studiopepe, continuing the work first developed together during Milan Fuorisalone with Lagomar. Terranera and Montaña Roja now join the project, completing a series of three murals in which ceramics become a visual narrative articulated through signs, archetypal geometries, and textured surfaces.
Inspired by the landscapes of southern Spain and its islands, the series unfolds as a layering of signs: from fragments and incisions associated with travel to forms that seem to emerge from volcanic earth, culminating in an almost metaphysical landscape where nature and architecture find a balance between land and water.
Color, material, and gesture connect the three designs through the warm tones of the earth, from sand and terra cotta to the deepest browns, illuminated by accents that introduce rhythm and depth. Three distinct languages share the same sensibility and an ongoing dialogue between nature and architecture.
The collaboration with Studiopepe embodies the ambition behind Canvas: to turn the ceramic surface into a territory open to experimentation and new forms of expression, in dialogue with architecture and design professionals.
Ilbagno broadens its vision of the living environment
Cersaie also marks a new step in the evolution of Ilbagno, APE Grupo’s bathroom equipment brand and a key part of the company’s expansion into new solutions for the living environment.
Relaunched a few months ago, Ilbagno has enabled APE Grupo to take its expertise in materials and design beyond ceramic surfaces and introduce new product categories such as furniture, washbasins, taps, and mirrors. The aim is to approach the bathroom as an integrated space in which materials, equipment, and functional elements can interact within a single project.
This new phase took shape with Contemporary, a concept initially comprising three product lines—Horizon, Lines, and Arch—conceived through different design languages but united by a shared vision. Horizon emphasizes horizontality and the interplay of volumes; Lines is built around vertical rhythm and geometry; and Arch finds its most recognizable gesture in the curve. All three share an integrated approach to bathroom design and extensive possibilities for customization through materials, finishes, and color.
At Cersaie, Ilbagno expands its portfolio with Anne, characterized by a refined architectural aesthetic in which precise lines combine with gentle transitions to create a balanced and sophisticated look. The distinctive character of its taps and the vertical relief of the furniture bring rhythm and depth to the composition, shaping a contemporary, elegant space with a strong design identity.
Ultimately, Ilbagno’s evolution reflects a broader move for APE Grupo: from primarily offering ceramic surfaces to developing solutions that address the living environment from a more integrated perspective, with design, materiality, and the ability to combine elements as common threads.
About APE Grupo
APE Grupo is a leader in the creation of distinctive spaces, offering a broad range of design-led ceramics, advanced technical products, and services that help its customers reach their full potential. APE Grupo was established as a corporate group in 2016, bringing together four brands with more than 30 years of experience: APE best for you, Carmen true tiles, XLINING, and Ilbagno. Headquartered in Castellón, Spain, with logistics centers in Onda (Castellón) and Fiorano Modenese, Italy, the group is present in 125 countries, employs 140 people and recorded turnover of close to €60 million in 2025.
