Totalook: interview with the designer
All you need to know about wood-effect porcelain stoneware
One of the trickiest problems encountered when furnishing your home is that of giving warmth to interiors. Many furnishing options offer only very limited margins for personalization, giving the impression that only standard solutions, which cannot be adapted to your wishes, are available. What’s more, it’s not enough to give character to the walls of your home with objects and furnishings that directly reflect your interests: you also have to give rooms personality right from the choice of the basic surfaces, so you can feel “at home” even if you opt for a minimalist, tidy, distinctive approach, created with just a few stylistic and color features. If you want access to a rich, varied assortment of options, there is no better choice than porcelain stoneware, which also provides a whole series of unique characteristics. And wood-effect porcelain stoneware, in particular, is the right choice for giving the rooms of our homes a strong yet tasteful personality.
What is porcelain stoneware?
You might ask why you should choose tiles instead of real wooden parquet for your interiors. Both wood and wood-look porcelain are of natural origin: the former undergoes treatments to allow it to be installed as a covering, especially on floors, while the latter is created from a selection of natural raw materials, specifically processed to enable their utilization as a covering with multiple, flexible potentials for use, and a wide range of colors and decors. The processing cycle gives the finished product outstanding qualities not normally found in wood, or in many other materials of natural origin: as well as their well known strength, which makes tiles durable over time, not to mention stain-resistant and hygienic if properly cared for, porcelain stoneware is also profoundly environment-friendly. In fact, no invasive operations are required for its extraction and formation, and it is also a green product even at the end of its life cycle: safe disposal is possible, and facilitates recycling by an appropriate procedure. Emilgroup’s Italian porcelain wood-effect tiles are therefore a better solution than wooden parquet planks, because they are more resistant to knocks and bumps, waterproof and extremely varied in their selection of exquisite motifs and sizes, they can be sanitized in any conditions - apart from in the home, uses may include installation in retail premises, subject to very heavy traffic - and, as we have seen, they are up-to-date with strict environmental protection standards.
Wood effect: finishes
So which wood-effect porcelain stoneware tile should you choose, from the very wide selection available, for the room you wish to furnish? A good way to start is to define the style you want to achieve: this will then provide your basis for choosing from the different wood-effect finishes on offer in the Emilgroup collections. For example, you may consider Woodtouch by Ergon, inspired by the beauty of brushed, varnished oak woods. This series combines natural elegance and excellent technical properties, in three surface finishes developed to deliver excellent performances in all intended uses: Soft, with a warm, yielding feel; Natural, which re-creates the look of wood; and Tecnica, ideal for outdoor use. There are five shades available in the 20x120, 22.5x180 and 40x120 sizes in 20 mm thickness: Sbiancato and Fumo, in paler or denser tones of whitish grey; and Paglia, Miele and Corda for colors more typical of wood, varying depending on the treatment imitated. Like all wood-effect porcelain stoneware options, Woodtouch can be used on different surfaces, so the most appropriate finish for the performances required can be selected. And if you wish to add an extra dash of personality to convenience, the W-Cage decor, with its scored lines criss-crossing the surface, can help to create a contemporary, pleasantly discreet overall mood.
The right color for any interior
With Woodtouch it’s easy to appreciate how much the right choice of color may affect the look of an interior, depending on rooms’ layout and thus the amount of natural or artificial light which enhances their qualities. Every Emilgroup collection normally offers a choice of colors which can suit your imagined idea and the room you wish to create to perfection. But credible reproduction on the tile also involves detailed attention to the specific consistency and texture of the material reproduced. For wood, the Alter by Provenza collection is something of a marvel: inspired by inlaid oak wood, it offers a series of reclaimed wood-effect tiles that give their installation locations an immediate distinctive character and a warmth renewed at every glance, in any lighting conditions. Of course, color is important: the chiaroscuro effect of the material’s reclaimed look and its treated inlays with colored resin inserts are able to give depth to interiors in four shades in a scale of increasing luminosity: Bruciato, Noce, Miele and Sbiancato, available in the 20x120 and 6.5x60 sizes. Here again, there is additional 60x60 cm decor size, made from cross-cut pieces of wood submerged in the resin.
The ideal outdoor paving
If the surfaces you wish to decorate are not indoors, don’t be discouraged: the collections offer wood-effect outdoor porcelain tiles ideal for any intended purpose, from garden paths to the paving of verandas or terraces, and from coverings for pool edges to those for work surfaces or outdoor dining areas. Take Millelegni Remake by Emilceramica: the aim of this collection is to discover and reinterpret some of the world’s loveliest types of wood with four varieties of North American elms (in Sbiancato, Naturale, Dorato and Tinto colors) and two fine Alpine oak variants (Ossidato and Bruno Ossidato). It is a question of continuity of wood look: wood-effect porcelain stoneware planks for indoor installation (in the 25x150 and 20x120 sizes) can create a seamless visual whole with the outdoor pavings, produced in 20 mm thickness, in the 40x120 size and in the Olmo Tinto and Rovere Ossidato colors. The Woodtouch by Ergon series also offers a more specific outdoor solution, in 20 mm and in the same sizes: the Tecnica variety, in particular, is safer for outdoor use thanks to its carefully developed weatherproof anti-slip texture.
Wood-effect porcelain stoneware: tips
So, basically, wood-effect porcelain stoneware is the ideal solution for a continuous, harmonious design that imbues all the rooms with the unmistakable charm of wood, while still providing much greater convenience and durability. As well as the recommendations given for outdoor use and regarding color choices, it is also advisable to pay special attention to sizes and installation directions: in the larger sizes, wood plank-effect floor tiles, such as the Alter by Provenza series, tend to make the rooms where they are installed naturally more spacious and, therefore, more attractive. Horizontal installation with minimal joints to maintain the continuity created will help to give interiors a relaxing look, with their “focal points” extending as far as the eye can see. Moreover, every collection has its own, distinctive decors, for a touch of modern design and variety that only the wonderful combination of the purity of wood and the infinite potentials of stoneware can provide. Finally, we must not forget that it is always possible to merge multiple styles and collections, to achieve a truly original result, the outcome of handling all Emilgroup products in a spirit of eclecticism and fun.
19 July 2021
Magazine
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