A ceramic journey into the Stone Age

The new printing techniques on ceramic tiles offer a thousand decorative possibilities and the haptic requirements have also evolved. All types of authentic natural stone finishes are clearly in vogue.

This also applies to fine marble looks, which are given a smooth, high-gloss finish thanks to new production processes – various degrees of polishing make this possible. Marbled surfaces with fine veins or decorated with granules inspired by geological layers also play a major role. Granite variants are particularly popular, but other natural stones are also welcome as ceramic floor and wall coverings.

The focus is on the joy of the material, which is why many manufacturers are exploring quarries for unusual geological patterns beyond the classic white Calacatta marble or yellowish travertine. Natural-looking surfaces such as Portuguese pink marble or stone from Ulldecona or dark gray veined Bardiglio can be found on porcelain stoneware. Authentic-looking terrazzo tiles also fit in with this trend and surfaces with stone fragments as well as volcanic and igneous rocks can also be seen. The raw and rough aspects of the ceramic finish are particularly striking here.

Translated, it means taking a look at pure materiality. For example, the surfaces of marble, granite, cement or magmatic rock are depicted extremely enlarged in order to explore their composition. The passion for stone is reflected on porcelain stoneware in monolithic designs with large geological surfaces. XXL formats are particularly popular due to their technical properties as well as their wide range of applications. The collections have been specially designed for large surfaces or façades and are also used as worktops or wall and furniture cladding.

Further application examples and decoration ideas for tiles from Spain can be found at www.tileofspain.de.