Thanks to the incredible, high-performance qualities of ceramic and porcelain tile - such as extreme durability, stain- and scratch-resistance and a 50+ year lifespan - the material’s installation potential is continuing to evolve well beyond traditional floor and wall surfacing applications, allowing endless prefabricated possibilities throughout interior spaces, especially in the kitchen and bath. Large slabs like those from Materia, Del Conca, and La Fabbrica’s AVA - ranging from 12 to 20mm - are becoming a popular surfacing option on kitchen counters and table tops in lieu of stone, while in the bath, various Italian manufacturers have begun producing their own lines of bathroom furnishings, like Casalgrande Padana’s Aquatio, Atlas Concorde’s Habitat and Fondovalle’s Shape lines, which include wall-mounted ceramic washbasins, drawer-vanities and sinks. Additionally, ceramic tile continues to expand to the outdoors, from the most complex surfaces - such as Cercom’s slim slabs in their Cosmo collection used for ventilated facades and Monocibec’s pool coping materials in their Dicta line - to pavers from Dado Ceramica, Verde 1999, and Pastorelli for indoor-outdoor terraces and patios.

For more information about Patagonia WOW from Abkstone (pictured above), please visit www.abkstone.com. For more on the past summer trends visit www.ceramic.info.