Innovation Processes of Ceramic Product. Colors and Surface Modelling Systems, In between artisanship and digital technologies

The ceramic sector is experiencing a phase of renewed plasticity and a new relationship with the sensorial value of product forms and uses. This increase in the emotional value of the manufactured product, which makes it distinctive both culturally and on the market, involves both visceral and behavioural aspects and reflexive ones, opening up new possibilities for interacting with the object and understanding its values. The surface and aesthetics of the product represent a crucial interactive element in developing these sensory values. In this sense, the role of design is to add narrative and conceptual value to the traditional object, telling its material story, the stratification of experiences and knowledge that make it unique, recognisable and inextricably linked to the territory it expresses. This approach cannot avoid involving new technologies that can also become promoters of a contemporary and transitional aesthetic and, at the same time, define invariants and new value maps. The guidelines design the relationships between genius loci, innovative materials, and digital manufacturing integrated with traditional ceramic materials and processes. In this context, the digitisation processes of Made in Italy production can support this evolving emotional heritage. Implementing advanced and enabling technologies can bring organisational improvements and reduce time to market, but can also generate further levels of user-centred innovation in the production system. In particular, a new focus on the artefact-user relationship, supported by interaction and user involvement processes, can lead to the development of new emotional platforms that enrich the user experience with new ways of knowing and interpreting the aesthetic and functional content of the product. Furthermore, digitisation processes, parametric modelling, and artificial intelligence can generate innovative formal solutions that accentuate sensory value and integrate functional innovations into the product.