CERAMIC TILES
Visual and tactile sensations, elegant lighting effects, sophisticated aesthetic concepts. Innovative factors that make you want to touch walls and discover large floors, unique and repeatable surfaces.
Very often, the secret of a successful architectural project is hidden in the chosen materials. The result of the creation of a city square, a shopping center complex and a charming European bath depends on their combined quality, technological efficiency, operational characteristics and formal quality. With all this, ceramic tiles have proven to be an effective ally of the designer.
Indeed, thanks to their diversity, ceramic tiles are suitable for public spaces, but they also perfectly solve the problem of continuity, also visual, between the house and the terrace or garden. All credit goes to research, which is the basis for constantly updating products that adequately meet the changing requirements of modern architecture. We have selected five of the various types of this multifaceted and multifaceted material, and for each one of them, its macro trends in architecture and interior design.
The temptations of matter. The shades that can enrich all shades of gray (like a concrete, loft) win. Special spatial shapes and textures are revealed that change their “appearance” depending on the lighting. Once again, tiles that play by joining opposites: a black on white design. As well as metallic and rusty effects. In this way, an original and surprising mix is obtained between a shiny and charming material, such as steel, and at the same time warm and enveloping like leather. They are used to cover bathtubs in the center of the room with clean and clear lines, as well as for the implementation of ventilated facades that absorb vibrations and thermal expansion. It is also interesting to interpret ceramics as a large-format painting. Which becomes the absolute protagonist on the wall of a living room or kitchen.
Neodecor. “Imitation” and free convergence of periods, floral motifs in the exotic arabesque drawings and, finally, lines that create an optical effect, as in the 70s. The flowers bloom in the interior cladding: Extra-large, stylized, again geometric. We see that the colors, rich and bright, as well as evocative, such as Indian varnish, win again.
Transitional and complete collections are approved, which include various materials: micromosaics, glass sheets, porcelain stoneware, paint, and modeling. Designers can boldly and effortlessly select formats (often rectangular) and brochures that become protagonists of the new home vocabulary. Lots of room for discovery and experimentation. They are used to create a sense of perspective of a home or to implement panels and curtains, which in themselves can fully characterize the home environment and not only. The art of ceramic tile is consolidating, inspired by fashion, and playing an important role in the organization of public and private spaces.
An organic environment, or rather a perfect harmonious combination between nature and structure, is capable of generating emotions. Ceramic tiles look like the third skin, where the first is the skin and the second is the clothes. This is why manufacturers sometimes prefer dark colors, like coffee, sometimes light, like sand. Nature with high-tech content is a topic that the bank holds in theoretical research on architecture and interior design in general.
Inspiration is inspired by natural stones and their fanciful structures; the ideas of bioarchitecture and ecology are strengthened; experiments are underway with oversized formats. The proposed materials are antifreeze, low moisture absorption, non-slip, which can well play the role of protagonist in all these outdoor spaces, which are created under the sign of a single whole between the project and nature. In the foreground are also fascinating ideas taken from faraway countries, be it mysterious India or early Africa.
They are used for floors, wall coverings, terraces and gardens. Ceramic tiles with superficial imperfections, with depressions and cracks, sometimes polished, sometimes enriched with lines, cuts and special shapes. In this environment, the thickness of ceramic tiles becomes important: for example, the thickness of old floors reaches 15 mm, while the thickness of “fashion” kitchen surfaces is reduced to a few millimeters. Modern production of ceramic tiles makes it possible to produce a material with a thickness of 3 mm.
Universal well-being and style Ao. Oriental motifs for smooth surfaces that are pleasant to the touch. This gives rise to the idea of ”soft touch”, typical of digital control, when a light touch of the smart panel is enough to illuminate the light, and with a slight change in the strength of the touch you can adjust its intensity. At an experimental level, there are already tiles that include luminous elements or pieces of glass to enhance the role of touch and create “see-do-see” effects. Among the barely outlined tones, the blue ones stand out and those chosen for their ability to give a calm and relaxed atmosphere to the home. Colors taken from chromotherapy to create special corners rich in different sensations, even in small spaces.
They are used to cover shower stalls to create a microcosmic space of warmth and comfort, public and private hammams. All shades of turquoise are recommended to cover the walls of pools intended for relaxation and recreation.
Babel style, or “talking” tiles. This is a direction that occupies a certain niche, but very strong in terms of expressiveness, especially appreciated by youngsters. The material becomes word and number, plays with geometric patterns, creates shapes with ironic and super decorative motifs, ranging from crocodile skin and wood grain, to woven mats.
Yes, it is a mosaic, but the pieces turn round. As for color, the rule prevails: without half measures, preference is given to strong and determined tones of white, silver. They are used for background writing, considered as carpets; Floor tiles decorated like fabric; surfaces, animated here, and thereby fragments of stones. The ideal destination is not only a residential building open to friends. Also, above all, fashionable public places: a restaurant, a sophisticated disco. There is a tendency to mix styles and follow the direction of going beyond any predefined scheme. The end result of these “creative mixes” is housing and architecture in general. Which meet not only consumer criteria but also aesthetic and emotional ones.
The word “cosmopolitanism” has already entered the daily lexicon. Its fascinating meaning points to the mixture of cultures and people that characterizes our day. And so, thanks to an element as apparently simple as tiles. We can become citizens of the world, and the whole world can influence our lifestyle and interior of our home.