All roads lead to: FAP Ceramiche's Roma Diamond collection

Classical in inspiration yet undeniably cutting-edge, FAP Ceramiche’s new collection Roma Diamond, unveiled at the fair Cersaie last year, pays homage to the timeless appeal of high-gloss marble. A noble material with a noble past — beloved of ancient Roman society as much as by architects of 1920s Art Deco villas — marble is also one of the most desirable, on-trend materials today. This new range of flooring in porcelain stoneware and wallcoverings made of white body is a natural development of the company’s Roma collection, characterised by matt finishes enriched with different kinds of ceramic marble enlivened by a glistening sheen.

This contemporary reinvention of a traditional material doubtless looks stunning in bathrooms but needn’t be confined to them: ceramic marble suits kitchens and living rooms equally well, its lustrous finish animating every space it graces. Used not just in one but several rooms in the same home, it inevitably has a unifying effect. Incidentally, the collection is also suited to public and commercial interiors, such as chic boutiques and hotels.

The Roma and Roma Diamond collections are mutually enriching: together, they offer a dazzling, dizzying variety of sizes, shapes, colours, patterns, surfaces and textures — proof that FAP Ceramiche, an established brand founded in the 1960s, offers its customers truly modern, versatile products.

In fact, the versatility of the ceramic marble in Roma Diamond is astounding in itself. First of all, there are its many permutations of marble finishes, including different kinds of veining and shading. Making it more multifaceted still is its nuanced palette of seven predominantly neutral colours — again in a tribute to the natural beauty of marble. These encompass four white finishes, Statuario, Calacatta, Carrara and Frammenti White, which can be paired with the black-based Nero Reale and Frammenti Black, and the crystalline marble design, Beige Duna, in a warm, sandy hue with subtle veining.

Some elements of the collection are more overtly decorative, often taking the form of inserts. The Acanto insert is reminiscent of wood panelling and features luxuriant, swirling acanthus leaves in a bas-relief pattern. Another opulent design is the copper-toned Cromo Pink Gold listel that looks elegant forming a slender horizontal line. By contrast, the listel Lumina Silver comes in a satin or chrome finish, its glowing surface recalling a lunar landscape.

These inserts – others include Righe, Incrochi and Carpet – encourage the user to personalise Roma Diamond. Caleido also readily lends itself to customisation, thanks to its hexagonal design in irregular shapes and multiplicity of tones and textures. It can be used to create a quietly monochrome or more dramatic, tonally contrasting pattern.

Another appealing aspect of these tiles is the many sizes they come in. The porcelain stoneware flooring is available as rectified tiles, meaning they have sharp edges, thin grout lines and barely visible joins, in the following sizes: 120cm by 120cm, 75cm by 150cm, 75cm sq and 60cm sq. Meanwhile, the white-body wallcoverings come as 25cm by 75cm and 50cm by 110cm tiles. One variation on the latter is Line – a ribbed surface that reflects more contemporary marble-making processes.

Rendering the collection even more richly varied is its mosaic tiles. These include its circular or pentagonal tesserae in a small scale that give any interior a refined air. Others in this family include Micromosaico, a medium-sized, square mosaic with a charmingly irregular form, and the similarly sized Macromosaico with a more clean-lined, elegant shape. For those in search of a comparatively hand-crafted, expressive style there are the Schegge tesserae.

Moreover, those with a taste for the truly audacious can’t fail but admire the Mosaico Spinato designçaƒ bold herringbone pattern that, unusually, fuses porcelain stoneware that looks like marble, wood and stone.

Finally, areas that are often overlooked, such as skirting boards, stairs and corners, benefit from being decorated with elements of this sumptuous collection, acquiring in the process as much glamour as similarly adorned walls and floors.

© Architonic