Marble-look tiles for flooring and wall
Marble, a “timeless” material, and amongst the most appreciated in interior design, meets with today’s most innovative technologies to give life to a new high-performance product with a unique aesthetic impact.
Florim marble look, porcelain stoneware slabs and tiles, a high-quality product of great intrinsic beauty offering unparalleled technical advantages, can be used not only for indoors wall and floor coverings, but also for ventilated facades, technical floors, swimming pools, wellness areas and furnishing accessories.
The result is design surfaces, combining the ever-present charm of marble with the functionality and ease of maintenance typical of porcelain stoneware.
The Florim collections
From Florim’s know-how and technological expertise come “oversize” marble look slabs up to 160×320 cm where high aesthetics and technical performance are guaranteed. Florim proposes a wide selection of slabs and tiles inspired by the typical colours and veining of the natural material and reinterpret them with a contemporary language in line with the most current trends.
Characteristics and advantages
Noble and refined, marble possesses a pure and eternal beauty, capable of lending value even to the smallest aesthetic impurities present on its surface. Stains, veins and the subtle mottling of different hues embellish the different essences of this marvellous metamorphic rock, which has long inspired the most amazing architectural and artistic works throughout history.
Recent investments in highly advanced 4.0 technologies, combined with almost 60 years of experience in the ceramic sector, have enabled Florim to translate design creativity into products where nothing is left to chance. From research into the clay mixtures, to studies of pattern and texture, from the pressing out of forms to the exact temperature of the kiln, each and every aspect at Florim is carefully considered in order to produce large format tiles and marble effect tiles with an incredible aesthetic yield. Wide open-spot veins stand out on the surfaces with great realism and definition, for high-impact results with great attention to detail.
Natural marble vs marble look porcelain tiles
The aesthetics are those of real marble, but the technical characteristics are those typical of Florim’s porcelain stoneware, a ceramic material with a solid and compact consistency that does not require particular attention and maintenance: it is resistant, non-absorbent, hygienic, easy to clean and resistant to sudden changes in temperature (even in the case of systems with underfloor heating, porcelain stoneware is a perfect heat conductor). However, it doesn’t end there: unlike natural marble, it does not require subsequent treatments and remains unalterable over time.
Main characteristics of stoneware:
- Resistance to wear and tear (greater than natural marble, which, being a porous stone, is more prone to scratches and stains)
- Resistance to chemical attacks (detergents). The polished surface of natural marble, on the other hand, may become thinner or stained with opaque halos if it comes into contact with acidic liquids.
- Resistance to water
- Stain resistance
- Resistant to temperature changes
- Inalterable over time
- Hygienic and easy to clean
- Fireproof, Frostproof and environmentally friendly
- Reduced weight, simpler and easier to cut and install/place than natural marble (from large formats to smaller tiles)
Types and applications
Thanks to the aesthetic and functional characteristics of porcelain stoneware, and the wide variety of patterns, colours, sizes, thicknesses and finishes expanding the possibilities for design and personalisation of rooms and furnishing accessories, large slabs and tiles that looks like marble are the ideal choice for wall and floor coverings in every room of the home and beyond.
Just to mention a couple of examples:
- A marble look bathroom wall covering that is just as gleaming and attractive as natural stone, which it is able to reinterpret, both in terms of both characteristics and gloss.
- A marble-look kitchen, for example, can be built by combining the various elements (wall, floor and marble-look porcelain top table) at will, guaranteeing hygiene and ease of cleaning. The attention to detail and the enhancement of the colour nuances of Florim materials find their maximum expression in the kitchen tops of the Marble collection. An example of this are the imposing stoneware slabs, available in the Calacatta, Statuario and Marquinia marble variations, where veining and geometries fill the space with striking effects.