Porcelain tiles for outdoor pavements: solutions for open air living

In the spring, many people discover that their homes have an extra room: the garden!  An open air room in which to cut out your own personal space, for gardening or relaxing in the sun; a space to be enriched with plenty of accessories (tables, chairs and stools, shades, gazebos, mini-pools...), many of which are now available in vintage style. The pavement has an important role to play in these open-air rooms. Porcelain outdoor paving materials are featured in a series of fascinating settings by IRIS Ceramica which draw their expressive power from the relationship between “inside and outside”, in that borderline area that helps determine the appearance of our homes and perfectly defines their identity.

In choosing the best tiles for outdoor pavements, the first consideration is structural and technical, as tiles for outdoor spaces must be non-slip, resistant to abrasion and temperature excursions, and perfectly waterproof.  This makes porcelain tiles a very good alternative to other materials commonly used outdoors, such as wood, marble and porphyry, because of their extraordinary effectiveness and long-term inalterability. In aesthetic terms, once you have assessed the type of surface (terrace, arcade, swimming pool area, pathway), you can choose to maintain continuity or semi-continuity with the home’s interior or to make a sharp break with it.

The Quarziti collection, for example, is a miscellaneous group of products for both indoor and outdoor use. This porcelain tile is available in a variety of colours ranging from grey to red and from neutral to veined, creating timeless atmospheres perfect for furnishings in all styles.
The Shire line features the typical hues and evocations of Pietra di Luserna, the stone on which the line is based.  Inspired by the British tradition (and the English garden, an archetype of modern landscaping), Shire porcelain surfaces have the strong points of “elegance and discretion” and represent an ideal point of contact between the traditional and the contemporary.
The Flows collection, on the other hand, features soft, flowing colour schemes available in fully 13 different hues (organised into two moods, Artic and Tropical). They are natural varieties in warm Mediterranean hues, recalling all the colours that may be found in the open air: the colours of earth, sky and water, guaranteeing “visual continuity” and semantic associations between natural and artificial elements.  Light is an additional consideration in our overview of top quality paving materials: IRIS’s porcelain tiles for outdoor use reflect and enhance natural light thanks to the multitude of different hues and veins of the stone, making every single tile unique, like every element in nature.

Marco Privato

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