Marca Corona’s decorative tiles stimulate the imagination

Architects and interior designers might welcome the perennial trend for modish wallpapers. After all, wallcoverings with new, unusual prints and patterns give projects individuality. But there’s an alternative – plain or patterned ceramic wall and floor tiles are increasingly used to cover entire walls or introduce a striking accent. Ceramic surfaces often have a tactile as well as a visual appeal; they offer qualities wallpapers lack – they’re warm, look pleasingly solid and are hard-wearing and easier to maintain.

Such is the demand for ceramic tiles that they’re no longer mainly confined to bathrooms and kitchens but increasingly adorn living rooms and bedrooms, too. High-gloss ceramic tiles are prized for their lustrous finishes and rich, saturated hues and, on a more practical note, make rooms look bigger when light bounces off them.

Italian manufacturer Marca Corona has produced ceramic wall and floor tiles with a strong decorative appeal for over two centuries. Founded in 1741, it’s the oldest Italian ceramic tile manufacturer in the Northern Italy town of Sassuolo – the cradle of the Italian ceramic district, which produces over 80 per cent of all ‘Made in Italy’ ceramic tiles.

The company even has its own museum – Galleria Marca Corona – which attracts many visitors and charts its history to the present day, from early craftsmanship to its contemporary manufacturing. It also displays many of its products, such as 18th-century majolica tableware and its first floor and wall tiles – precursors of today’s versions, all manufactured at the company’s 1200-sq m Italian HQ.

Marca Corona identifies three key themes underpinning its latest, highly decorative collections – Total Look, Indoor Garden and Ultra-realism. Whether covering an entire room or providing a focal point as a feature wall, its range enhances any space and meets any style requirements.

Inspired by the Total Look trend is the versatile, flamboyant Multiforme series, where different ceramic technologies, an almost endless colour palette, eye-catching multifaceted decorations and versatile sizes freely coexist in unique designs. This gives designers creative freedom, too, since they can combine its various elements to suit their personal taste. It’s a concept that allows for glossy handcrafted-effect brick tiles on one wall to be teamed harmoniously with a wall picturing cascading leaves or ultra-modern geometric mosaics.

Similarly multifaceted is Foyer Royal, a marble-effect stoneware series that combines timeless, opulent beauty with highly decorative, attention-grabbing patterns. Its more subtle and muted options – Cozy, Delicate and Chic – contrast yet coordinate with the more flamboyant, coloured Drama and Green Ama accents. The designs’ vibrancy and faithful reproduction of natural marble dramatically come to the fore with the 120 by 278cm slabs – a brand-new, ultra-thin version.

More informal and retro is the floor and wall tile collection Terra Art. This range of cementine tiles pays homage to Marca Corona’s existing, bestselling collection Terra, which until now has only been available in black and white. Now, with Terra Art, Terra concept has been reinvented with the addition of seven on-trend colours. Paradoxically, the accompanying word ‘Art’ suggests creativity and decorative impact, so fulfilling Marca Corona’s key objective – to give products that have a surprising twist. Terra Art’s versatility gives interior designers freedom to create either refined, vintage spaces or more modern, eye-catching designs.

Another design, Lilysuite, part of the Indoor Garden theme, reflects the current vogue for crowding interiors with jungly houseplants. This is partly conveyed by its fresh, jaunty palette that includes pastel pink, lichen green and lively terracotta orange. The nature-themed Lilysuite includes a vibrant colour palette and eye-catching floral decorations that encompass surfaces evoking impressionist, iridescent canvases as well as refined biloba flowers. Yet, as Marca Corona suggests, these ethereal, romantic patterns can be sharpened up by juxtaposing them with plain walls in pastel hues or bold natural accents

Overclay stoneware floor and wall tiles nod to the exotic atmosphere of Middle Eastern deserts. These coverings chime with the Terracotta trend, combining neutral hues with warm accents, such as Terra and Cotto, which can be paired with the nuanced shades of Petra tiles.

The stone-effect Star Road goes beyond referencing stone surfaces with graphics and shading inspired by celestial nebulae. Its intriguing surfaces, with an emphasis on evoking materials rather than patterns, are reinvented through the introduction of small hexagonal tiles enhanced by innovative geometric patterns.

Finally, Ultra-realism simulates natural materials, such as stone, marble and wood with impressive verisimilitude, through ceramic surfaces. Two stoneware flooring and covering options, Elisir and Elisir Royal, convincingly replicate wood’s natural knots and grains. The newly launched Elisir Royal features unique oiled-effect surfaces available in classical stripes or refined chevron sizes.

Marca Corona’s imaginative ceramic solutions – particularly those covering whole rooms – transport people’s minds to other worlds, evoking timeless emotions and adding a unique character to interiors. When expertise and technology blend with passion, the result is a fascinating design, destined to be long-lasting and permanently inspiring.

© Architonic