The full effect: Casalgrande Padana

This year, at Cersaie – the prestigious trade fair in Bologna that showcases the latest trends in ceramic and other surface coverings and bathroom furnishings – Italian company Casalgrande Padana unveiled enticing additions to its Marmoker, Macro and Limpha collections. These highly individual, contrasting ranges create distinctive effects suited to a huge variety of contexts, including private residences, public spaces and projects requiring refurbishment or restoration.

The collections range in style from the classic and chic to the funky and playful. Falling firmly into the first category are Marmoker’s porcelain-stoneware tiles for flooring and walls, which faithfully recreate the natural, rich qualities of Italian marble and recall the age-old splendour of this material, inextricably linked to Italy’s architectural heritage.

As visitors to Cersaie discovered, the augmented Marmoker collection now boasts a spectrum of 48 colours, ranging from the neutral to the sumptuously colourful. These include Calacatta Extra, Titan White and Canova with their classic, crisp white background striated with dark veining echoing effects once created by skilled Tuscan stone-carving maestros, the more subtle White Musk, the fiery Orange Black and Rosso Francia and the moodier Ossidiana. Marmoker offers a vast, nuanced colour palette, spanning pale, sophisticated tones as well as theatrical, flamboyant shades of rust, dark brown or grey-blue.

The collection’s romantic evocation of nature is counterbalanced by the human touch of cutting-edge technology: Marmoker is a high-performance, highly durable ceramic surface, too. Available in two finishes – Naturale (matt) or Lucida (glossy) – the tiles range in size from 59cm by 59cm to 160cm by 320cm and are 6.5mm or 10mm thick.

Evoking terrazzo, a technique invented in the 15th century by Venetian builders who fused marble chips with clay, then polished this surface to create a decorative, hardwearing finish, Casalgrande Padana’s Macro collection of stoneware tiles references another venerable Italian flooring tradition. Of course, the appealingly random patterns of terrazzo, which were also popular in the 1950s, are enjoying a huge revival today. Macro capitalises on the endless visual interest provided by unpredictable patterns composed of chips, pebbles and stones in myriad shapes and sizes.

Despite its organic quality, the collection forms a slick, seamless, elegant surface that recalls the homogeneous expanse of a carpeted room. The collection comprises four designs – Moro, Bianco, Carnico and Grigio – all with a lively gloss finish. Some have an even tone, rendering the flooring more homogeneous, while others play up tonal contrasts. Macro’s tiles range in size from 59cm by 59cm to 118cm to 236cm.

Limpha, by contrast, celebrates nature wholeheartedly – its porcelain-stoneware tiles clad walls with trompe l’oeil images of creepers and other forms of vegetation, enveloping the facades of buildings or internal walls, creating the impression of nature invading homes and blurring the boundary between indoors and out.

Limpha brings to mind the perennially popular vertical gardens that cascade down city walls. At Cersaie, Casalgrande Padana launched two new additions to the collection – Coral Rose, a bank of luxuriant, sunlit leaves studded with luscious pink climbing roses and Larix, which simulates the rugged texture of bark. Measuring 120cm by 240cm and 6.5mm thick, these highly original tiles both depict nature and mimic organic processes by supplying improved air quality.

The tiles incorporate a technology called Bios Self-Cleaning that allows them to reduce air pollutants and decompose deposits of dirt, which are washed away naturally by rainwater. So Limpha will purify air in a multitude of settings, from homes to offices, schools and gyms. Low-maintenance, high-performance surfaces and abundant style collide in Casalgrande Padana’s new creations, which reflect the company’s equal concern for technology and aesthetics.

© Architonic