With its new Céragrès Studio in Montreal, Céragrès unites materials, furnishings, expertise and professional networks around a central idea: making the project, not available inventory, the starting point of the research process. By joining forces with[MS1]  Le Centerpiece and maintaining a vast materials library, the Studio makes it possible for architects, designers, contractors and individuals to bring in a colour, a material, an inspiration or a need. The team and its network of suppliers and collaborators can then find suitable items.

Projects before products

In today’s world, inspiration for a project can be found anywhere: a colour noticed in a restaurant, a stone seen during a trip, a ceramic spotted online. Given the endless options posted on Pinterest, Instagram and specialized platforms, there can never be enough physical space to display materials.

Céragrès Studio uses this gap as a starting point to flip the logic around. Instead of asking an architect, designer or client to build their project using a limited selection of products displayed in a showroom or kept in inventory, project requirements drive the research process. The team can search suppliers’ catalogues and samples, place a special order or call on their network of contacts to find a satisfying solution.

“Fifteen years ago, showrooms played a bigger role in shaping trends, simply because people relied on showroom displays for discovery,” says Philippe Gervais, vice-president of sales,

marketing and strategy at Céragrès. “Today, the internet gives us access to an enormous number of sources. Clients and professionals come to us with ideas that can originate just about anywhere. So our approach to presenting materials also had to evolve.”

A toolbox

The Studio is conceived as a “toolbox.” Its libraries include catalogues and samples that make suppliers’ collections accessible, far beyond what Céragrès is able to keep in inventory. The showroom display is now the starting point for research, rather than its boundary.

“Designers are necessarily limited by what is available to them. But they’re always on the lookout for new materials, so that their next bathroom project isn’t the same as the last,” Mr. Gervais explains. “By providing access to our suppliers’ full collections, we’re looking to expand what’s available and allow them to choose products that they might not have found otherwise.”

The space was also conceived as an extension of a professional’s workspace. The large tables are ideal for laying out plans and samples, building colour palettes, juxtaposing materials and evaluating different combinations with clients. As a result, materials can be seen as they are: their texture, scale and finish, as well as their relationship with other elements.

Collecting without integrating

The research process now covers a much greater variety of materials than ever before. In addition to those used for finishing – the core of Céragrès’ expertise – there are fabrics, leather, cork, metals, glass bricks and hardware. Céragrès Studio also includes Le Centerpiece, a vintage furniture and design boutique founded by Julia Johnson, making it possible to display materials in context and better understand how they can work together in a single project.

These three components are complemented by a network of artisans, manufacturers, contractors and specialists. The objective is not to have comprehensive expertise internally, but to be able to direct clients and professionals to trustworthy collaborators when their project requires specialized know-how.

“Our goal is to be able to help designers, and everyone involved, work through the various phases of their project. Céragrès contributes its expertise in finishes, the materials library expands the search to other families of materials, and Le Centerpiece makes it possible to extend the thought process to the project as a whole,” says Mr. Gervais. “But we aren’t looking to offer design services internally – architects and designers remain at the heart of the process. Our role is to provide them with materials and resources, and a network of trustworthy partners when they need specialized expertise.”

That reasoning gives the Studio its “design hub” dimension: it is a place where the catalogues of international suppliers, specialized manufacturers, local artisans or partners can be searched when the answer is not available in the showroom.

“We want people to be able to ask us absolutely anything. With the Studio, we have a rule: we never say no,” Mr. Gervais notes. “If we don’t know the answer, we find it. The requests we receive also help us constantly improve our product lineup and discover new tools that can be useful for other projects.”

Rediscovering materials

This new approach is taking shape at a time when more and more of the research process is happening online. For Céragrès, the online world increases access to resources but does not eliminate the need to experience them physically.

“The internet is quickly transforming the process of discovering and selecting materials,” Mr. Gervais adds. “We can find and order a ceramic online, but we want to have a physical space where people can see and touch it, compare it to other materials.”

The Studio’s location in Mile-Ex is part of a return to Montreal for Céragrès. The closing of the company’s former space on Saint-Laurent Blvd. marked the end of a three-decade presence in the city where the company was founded. With the Studio the company once again has a Montreal address, in a neighbourhood where several members of its professional community are already located.