Stone love: creating inspiring spaces indoors and out with porcelain

Here in New Zealand, we’re blessed with a temperate climate that allows us to enjoy the great outdoors virtually year-round. As a result, being close to nature is something that we all enjoy and take for granted.

Not surprisingly, when designing and styling our homes, we strive to bring natural elements to the fore indoors as well. Thanks to Florim Stone—digitally printed, large-format porcelain tiles—available exclusively from Archant, that’s never been easier.

Incorporating stone, timber and other natural materials into our interior design schemes is an age-old tradition. However, like a lot of design disciplines, interior design is dominated by trends. Colours, textures and materials that are de rigueur one season, may be on the outer the next.

Luckily, these trends tend to be cyclical and, usually, thanks to changes in technology and materiality, many products and styles find a new lease on life.

“Marble is definitely experiencing an upsurge in interior design,” says Alex Whittle, showroom consultant at Archant. “People are getting braver with their material choices and we’re seeing a lot more of the bolder marble styles being incorporated into design schemes, both internal and external.

“People’s perception of marble as an old-world material best suited to traditional designs has been given a shake-up thanks to our Florim Stone offering of marble finishes and we’re seeing it more and more being picked up as an element in modern schemes.”

“Florim Stone porcelain products are fired to 1200 degrees, resulting in a surface that is 100 per cent non-porous, non-scratch, stain and UV resistant and adheres to all food grade requirements. There is also no risk of thermal shock.”

Archant has added three new marble finishes to its large-format porcelain tile range—Marble Grey, Marble Laurent and Marble Calacatta—each available in 6mm and 12mm thicknesses.

“The 6mm is ideal for use on walls, floors and cabinetry fronts, as well as for creating furniture elements such as tabletops,” says Alex. “The 12mm also works well for bespoke furniture pieces that can be used indoors and out and for benchtops. Best of all, this is a lightweight, highly durable product.”

Available in large-format sheets of 3200mm x 1600mm, Alex says these ‘jumbo sheets’ mean there is minimal wastage also, upping the ESD element of the product.

“One of the more alluring aspects of marble is its grain; ranging from slight, subtle lines to bold slashes of contrasting colour,” says Alex. “This means you can use the irregular yet beautiful patterns inherent in marble to create an interior scheme or one-off piece of furniture that is unique to you.”

Being digitally printed, there are no variance issues in the image quality of the Florim Stone product and all styles can be book-matched to create a mirrored effect or placed in such a way as to create a more random pattern depending upon your own unique design sensibilities.

Additionally, the product’s intrinsic strength and durability means it is ideal for external applications where you’re looking to incorporate the ‘wow factor’—such as cladding on outdoor fireplaces, as a flooring tile or as a bespoke dining table.

Discover the full range of porcelain tile surfaces available through Archant.