Valencia has been in the news. On October 29, an isolated area of low pressure brought a year’s worth of rain to Spain’s east coast in a single day. By the time the damage was tallied, the torrential floods amounted to one of the deadliest natural disasters in the nation’s history, with a death toll of 229. The Valencian Community, which forms a hub of design culture and the nerve centre of the country’s thriving ceramics industry, experienced some of the worst damage. Planned months in advance, Azure and Tile of Spain’s Spanish Design in Canada seminar took place at Toronto’s Hart House a week later on November 8.

Although the timing made for a reflective atmosphere, it also offered an apt moment to celebrate a richly historic yet invariably adaptable and forward-looking design heritage. Local designers Aránzazu González Bernardo of Odami and Office OU’s Nicolas Koff shared their experiences — in a talk now available in its entirety online — using Tile of Spain ceramics in both Canadian and international contexts.