Mockrock

by Emilie Sommerhoff

August 2006 Under the weight of a viscous summer heat, it is soothing to consider the cool, hard surface of ceramic tile. When one imagines plodding barefoot over a fired-clay plane, however, there is no need to envision traditional ceramics. These days, such surfaces may appear to be of African wengé, oxidized copper, Montana granite, or Italian travertine. Tile manufacturers have attempted to capture the aesthetic qualities of materials like wood, metal, and stone for several years, but advances in imaging and cutting technologies have recently come together to make these faux treatments truly believable.
With photographs of thousands of square feet of original material as a guide, Colorker’s proprietary Tecktonia digital printing system translates the spontaneity of stone to the tile face with rigorous detail and consistency, covering the entire top surface (earlier screen technologies often fell shy of the tile edge) and printing high and low reliefs simultaneously for better continuity. Large image files minimize pattern repetition, formerly a dead giveaway of ceramic tile incognito. Other manufacturers like Tau Cerámica, which successfully realized the trend with a popular tile product approximating the rich texture of Cor-Ten (without the problematic leaching of the real thing), offer designers an increasingly creative range of metallic possibilities: silver, white bronze, rhodium, patinated copper, and others. “Once manufacturers could replicate one texture flawlessly,” says Patti Fasan, an independent ceramic consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia, “then any texture became fair game.”
Such imaging feats combined with updated cutting techniques have made wood look-alikes particularly convincing. Previously limited in size, tile can now be cut into large “planks.” Porcelanosa’s Woodtec line, for example, features 44-inch-long options, including an anti-slip wengé stand-in. Rectification—a process whereby the tile is trimmed on all four sides to ensure consistent size and eliminate the pressed, or pillowed, edges—permits a tight joint, like that achieved with wood boards. Imagine an exotic wood floor that doesn’t need sanding, is suitable for wet locations, and spares a Brazilian rainforest.