Catalfamo Gallery Blog - Articles, tips, tricks and all things related to flooring » fireplace

Pecchioli

Catalfamo Gallery — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:03:13 +0000

Franco Pecchioli was founded in 1897 by the Chini family (pronounced “Keeney”) and the Pecchioli family. Galileo Chini, a master ceramicist and partner of this fledgling firm, opened the original formace (or ceramics factory) and called it LArte della Ceramica in the small village of Borgo San Lorenzo. Chini first worked with decorative stoneware vases, making his work stand out from the rest with intricate glazes and bright colors.

Later, he became one of the influencers of Italian ceramics throughout the early 1900s and 1920s; this daring artist was commissioned by the king of Siam to create large-scale frescos all around the royal palace. Unfortunately, the ceramics factory was bombed in World War II by U.S. bombing raids. This lead to a merging with Pecchioli, who financed the rebuilding and expansion of the company. Today, the Pecchiolis controls the business side of the company, with the Chinis controlling the artistic side.

Pecchioli distributes their products to not just Europe and Asia, but to the U.S., the Carribean, Bahamas, and Bermuda through the forged relationship with Una Terra, Inc. Pecchioli has already started to leave its mark on the United States businesses. Some commercial work that Pecchioli has done include: a Buffalo subway station, the Buell Theater in Denver, The Renaissance Center subway station in Detroit, and a Thai and a Burger restaurant in Las Vegas. Many residential bathrooms, kitchen floors, backsplashes, fireplace surrounds, foyers, and sun rooms have also experienced the artistic touch of Pecchioli through Una Terra.

Experience Pecchioli for yourself! They have a wide variety of tile available. Check out their standard tile collections, such as Water & Sky, Blacks & Whites, Violets & Roses, and more. Each of their standard tile collections are glazed using machine-made Italian terra cotta biscuits in different sizes, thicknesses, and shapes. Pecchioli also sells beautiful plumbing fixtures that will make you (and your guests) gasp with surprise and pleasure. What better way to make a unique statement than to order a vessel sink, shower base, and toilet in matching colors? If you want to make a statement at your dinner party, consider a dinnerware set in rich colors, dipped and fused together with gold, silver, and platinum. The guests wont want to put food on the plates and cover up the glinting beauty winking back at them!

To learn more about Pecchioli, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

Rex Ceramiche Artistiche

Catalfamo Gallery — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:18:21 +0000

Impact. If you want your new room to make an impact, then you have to take a look at Rex Ceramiche Artistiche. This remarkable company based in Italy brings the very best of Italian ceramic tile work to every customer’s order. The elevated quality of Rex’s tile products are the standard for ceramics, and by going with Rex, you put yourself in the company of some elite, discerning customers who want their projects to make a statement that reflects their own passion and tastes.

Rex organizes their products in a combination of categories. You can search for your look by collection. You can select Abisko, which is an amazing hardwood look-a-like but is actually ceramic, or Capitonne, which are 20cm square tiles that when applied to the wall in a diamond orientation actually make the wall look upholstered with “button” indentations. There’s also the porcelain stoneware collection, I Bianchi di Rex, which is your more classic stone/marble look with a white base with blacks, grays and creams running through in a natural pattern. And these are just a tiny sampling of the huge number of collections Rex offers.

You can also search Rex’s products by color, where they take all the individual tiles out of the different collections and sort them by grays, yellows, violets, reds, and so on, so if you have a color scheme in mind for your project, you can simply find your color and then peruse the styles and designs in that color. Rex also displays their ceramic tile selections by room, meaning you can look at galleries of bathrooms, or kitchens, or outdoor areas, and get ideas for how to use Rex tiles in your specific room. You can see what works based on previous installations.

Several of Rex’s ceramic products are LEED certified, which represents the company’s commitment to protecting the environment and using their materials in the most responsible ways possible, including reducing VOC emissions and using a solid percentage of pre-consumer recycled content in the manufacturing of their products.

So take a few minutes to research Rex Ceramiche Artistiche’s amazing collections of ceramic tile for flooring, walls, backsplashes, fireplaces — just about any place in your home or office that needs that extra touch of visual impact.

Unique d’Clay

Catalfamo Gallery — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:16:14 +0000

Stunning is the only word that can describe the collections offered by Unique d’Clay. The most visually enticing ceramic clay tiles are what arm d’Clay in exceptional quality and unique style. As their website says, “No two rooms are alike with our exceptional products.” This would certainly be the case. Take a look at their galleries, and you’ll be sold.

The company specializes in ceramic tiles for backsplashes, fireplaces, accent walls, and accents for floors that are individually handmade, custom arranged and glazed to meet your requirements. It’s difficult to describe in words how unique and stylish Unique d’Clay’s products are. You just won’t see them anywhere else — embossed glazed tiles with geometric raised designs, fireplace fronts that are designed to make the square of your fireplace look like it’s at the end of an architectural tunnel (this design’s collection, In motion, really says it all), and curved architectural elements that bring that professional level look everyone is after.

The colors and finishes Unique d’Clay offers are just as striking as the designs of the tiles themselves. Every color of the rainbow, from fiery reds and yellows, to baby pinks and creams, to dark blues, burgundies, and browns. There’s certain to be a color that fits your look to the letter.

And in addition to the colors themselves, you can get tiles with different finishes. The company offers a Soft Matte finish, which mimics the look of the natural stone; a Glossy Bright collection, and their Opulence Glazes choices, which give that rich glow but that isn’t too glossy.

Unique d’Clay not only offers their ceramic products in tiles, but also in borders, edging, moldings, and corners, all the fine details that make a ceramic project have that sharp, quality look. So if you’re going for the old world look, something you’d see in, say, Tuscany, with soft, muted earth tones …or if you want an ultra modern look with angles and positioning that might even raise a few eyebrows, then look no further than Unique d’Clay. And if you’re really not sure what look you want to bring to your new room, with all of their choices, you’ll find yourself in what Unique d’Clay has to offer.

To learn more about Unique d’Clay, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.