Presentation

The Instituto de Promoción Cerámica (IPC) is an independent body of the Local Administration, pertaining to the Castellón County Council (Spain). It was established in 1982 with a view to supporting industrial ceramic tile manufacturing, an activity that was then immersed in the incorporation of new process technology and in upgrading the sector’s production facilities.

Those were times of change and progress in an industrial sector that had no service infrastructures yet, infrastructures that began to develop in 1984.

In a first stage, IPC focused its human and materials resources on establishing a documentation centre that would provide the sector’s business and technical stakeholders with quality, topical information, as well as on developing a programme for the promotion of industrial ceramic design, of technical marketing as an instrument at the service of the marketing and sales, and of the installation quality of ceramic tilings.

That stage culminated in the submission of a draft Plan of Intangible Assets for the ceramic tile sector to the Ministry of Industry and Energy (Madrid, 1985), the presence at the Ceramic trade fair in Valencia (Cevisama, 1986), and the publication of the ‘Handbook–Technical Guide for Ceramic Floor and Wall Tiles’ (1987).

In a second stage [1988-1992], IPC initiated the project aimed at cataloguing Valencian architectural ceramics, because of their cultural significance and the value of that movable heritage, so closely linked to the ceramic activity of this land since the Middle Ages. Those cataloguing results supply the photo library contents and will become the basis for the documentary block on the History of Architectural Ceramics, scheduled to be activated in 2011.

During that stage, IPC collaborated with other institutions in training initiatives, and in the Qualicer Congress from the outset in 1990. IPC also devoted resources to non-industrial ceramics, which materialised in a training project on innovated pottery and creative ceramics.

That stage culminated in the organisation of an international group exhibition Holland/Spain that, under the title Ceramics/Habitat, promoted the use of Ceramics in publicly trafficked architecture, and urban domains and furnishings. Eight ceramists from each country presented their line of work and latest creations in a travelling show that visited the cities of Alicante, Barcelona, and Castellón between February and May 1992.

In 1994, IPC drew up an action plan focusing on the more sensitive areas relating to ceramic tile installation quality. The so-called Tile Installation Project, funded by the Castellón County Council and the Regional Government [Regional Department of Industry and Trade of the Autonomous Government of Valencia], was started, which pursued different lines of action in regard to documentation, information, and training in the period 1995–2007:

• A complete documentation was drawn up on adhesive tile fixing technology with the participation of technicians from the various sectors involved [ceramic tiles, adhesives, construction, and tile fixers]. That documentation was published as a CD-ROM entitled the ‘Electronic Guide on Ceramic Tile Installation Technology’, which was presented at the Cevisama trade show in Valencia in 1998, at which the installation of different ceramic tilings based on the latest available technology was showcased.

• A route for entering the tile fixing trade, complemented with a programme of top-up and specialisation training for working professional tile fixers, was prepared and tested. The training route was put into practice in the period 1999–2006, with the collaboration of the Spanish Tile Fixers Association, Proalso. This line of work culminated in IPC’s participation in writing up the vocational training route ‘Installation of rigid pieces’, promoted by the National Institute of Qualifications of the Spanish Ministry of Education.

• An information line was started with the publication of the above CD-ROM and the organisation of technical workshops at the Colleges of Building Supervisors. This was followed by the participation in third party initiatives in relation to instructional publications and actions. Particularly to be noted is the continuous collaboration with the Qualicer Congress, as well as point collaborations with business associations.

The documentary block Covering Installation Guide has inherited the wealth of information and experience obtained by IPC during the twelve years that the Tile Installation Project was running. As a receiver and transmitter of the adhered installation technology of modular rigid coverings, capable of offering quality information, IPC now seeks to share that knowledge so that the services IPC provides may continue to be characterised by topicality and usefulness.

Management of the Documentation Centre has been the common denominator of IPC activity in its over 25-year-long track record. Specialising in the thematic areas of Architectural Ceramics, Technology and History of what are today known as traditional Ceramics, and the technology of the adhered installation of modular rigid coverings, IPC seeks to become an international forum for communication and information exchange in those fields. An information core that arose as a service to professionals engaged in an industrial activity, the manufacture of ceramic tiles, and that has extended its scope to the complex and, simultaneously, fascinating world of Ceramics in the Habitat.

In short, a friendly institution, at the service of Society, which purses the promotion of Ceramics in the Habitat and the dissemination of quality information.