02-03-2021

Safety and hygiene in the kitchen with SapienStone’s Active Surfaces countertops

Design, Interior Floor, Exterior Floor, ACTIVE SURFACES, contemporary, rivestimenti,

Porcelain Tile, Marble,

tabletop, ventilated façades, ventilated facades, Kitchen countertop, SapienStone,

With their certified antibacterial and antiviral action, Active Surfaces offer a whole series of benefits for spaces covered with Iris Ceramica Group ceramic slabs. 
SapienStone Active Surfaces countertops are particularly recommended for the kitchen, the space in the home where hygiene, safety and easy cleaning are essential every day.
The four refined, elegant SapienStone surfaces go well with many different decorating styles.
A design choice that is also a preventive measure, improving our safety, quality of life and spaces



Safety and hygiene in the kitchen with SapienStone’s Active Surfaces countertops
Health has become the focus of everyone’s thoughts and behaviour over the past year. Aiming to achieve the utmost hygiene and safety is a present need and will be an important key to our future. 
Man has been exploiting Earth and Nature for thousands of years, being totally dependent on them, but in today’s increasingly complex, artificial and virtual society, we spend the majority of our time indoors, which is why it’s so important to ensure that the spaces we build for ourselves respond to challenges of our times.
All companies aiming to achieve good design have been focusing on innovation, aesthetic quality and ecology for many years now; these concepts are now called upon to make an essential contribution toward an absolute shared value, the health of individuals and the community as a whole.
 
The companies in the Iris Ceramica Group, a global landmark in ceramics, have always focused on research and innovation, in a process begun in the early sixties, when the Group’s founder Romano Minozzi became a forerunner of sustainability with the equation "ecology = economy"
Over the past few decades Iris Ceramica Group companies have concretely invested "in efficient use and recycling of materials, in management of water resources, in protection of air quality and in saving energy".
Ceramic materials are in fact made using natural minerals and colourants in a process that must be not only sustainable but ecological and eco-compatible.
Summing up this sensibility and commitment to environmental sustainability, Active Surfaces are photocatalytic ceramics that help purify the air and improve quality of life in spaces by making them cleaner, more healthful and hygienic on both floors and walls.
 
Benefits and advantages of Active Surfaces
 
Active Surfaces transform the Iris Ceramica Group’s ceramics into "eco-active materials" for indoors and outdoor use. 
Slabs treated by this method have a concrete antibacterial and antiviral action, reducing the pollutants that are a constant presence in urban life today. 
Developed in partnership with the Chemistry Department of Milan University, with ISO certified efficacy, Active Surfaces are based on an active ingredient which triggers a photocatalytic reaction.
This method is based on photosynthesis, which, among its many benefits for humans, degrades harmful substances.

Let us see how this photocatalytic reaction works: "the presence of air (and consequent moisture) and light activates a strong process of oxidation leading to the decomposition of the organic and inorganic pollutants that come into contact with photocatalytic surfaces". 
In this case, the photocatalyst is Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), which is now combined with silver to improve its performance. 
Present on ceramic slabs in the form of micrometric (not nanometric) particles, TiO2 involves no risk to human health or the environment in manufacturing, application or final use. 

The photocatalyst is unaltered by time, as it "triggers and accelerates the reaction, but its particles are not directly involved in it, so it is not consumed in the oxidation process".
Substances present in the air alone, in combination with light and moisture, eliminate 99.99% of the bacteria deposited on these surfaces, ranging from the most common bacteria to antibiotic-resistant strains.
Lastly, the silver that has been added to the TiO2 in a patented composition since 2017 offers a series of additional benefits, including continuation of antibacterial and antiviral activity even in the dark or with LED light.
 
SapienStone Active Surfaces countertops
 
Ecoactive Active Surfaces ceramic materials are now also available for surfaces in the kitchen, one of the rooms in which it is most important to maintain cleanliness and hygiene every day.
The Iris Ceramica Group established the SapienStone brand to solve problems with kitchen surfaces and draw on the potential of high-tech ceramics to improve their performance.
This performance is now even more effective thanks to the Active Surfaces method, permitting these special kitchen countertops to provide an antibacterial, antiviral and anti-pollution action.
And that’s not all: SapienStone Active Surfaces kitchen countertops also offer the benefit of preventing odour formation and are also self-cleaning with their super-hydrophilic surfaces.
Non-absorbent, resistant to stress and shocks, they can be cleaned with ordinary soap and water, with no need for aggressive chemical cleaning products.
Easy cleaning and efficacy fighting odours are two obvious advantages in the kitchen, not only in the home but in cafeterias, bars and restaurants.

The Active Surfaces collection now comprises four surfaces, including Calacatta Active and Calacatta Statuario Active.
These surfaces inspired by famous marbles offer the ideal solution for kitchens in a classic style with a contemporary twist, thanks to their original veining varying in intensity.
Pietra Grey Active, one of the darker surfaces in the catalogue, features fine white veining, and helps create a refined metropolitan mood. 
Lastly, Uni Ice Active is a very bright, pure white surface that is particularly versatile and goes with kitchens in any style.


Marco Privato


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