Natural-effect tiles: introducing True Touch and why it makes all the difference

With the True Touch technology, natural-effect tiles don’t imitate nature: they evoke it, with discretion, character and a refinement obvious at the first touch.

In contemporary design, natural-effect tiles are more than just an aesthetic choice: they’re an intentional architectural statement, a way of bringing matter - genuine, flawed and vibrant - into the centre of interiors.

This is enabled by leading-edge technologies like True Touch, the Fap treatment that transforms the surface into a sensory experience, which speaks to the eyes and the fingertips with the same intensity.

Natural-effect tiles: the surface becomes experience

With True Touch, stone-effect and wood-effect tiles, big interior design favourites, acquire a new depth.
Surfaces don’t merely imitate nature; rather, they interpret it with amazing accuracy.

In aesthetic terms, the tile and the inspiration material are almost indistinguishable.
Every slab reproduces the consistency of the natural stone or the genuine wood with a precision that reveals itself to the touch.

In fact, it’s when we caress these surfaces with our eyes closed that the magic becomes apparent: our fingertips seem to feel real stone or a real piece of timber.

Stone and wood-effect porcelain stoneware: natural aesthetic, state-of-the-art performance

The great value of natural-effect porcelain stoneware tiles lies in their perfect blend of beauty and performance.
This combination is embodied to the full in collections such as Plein Air and Vento del Sud by Fap ceramiche.

Plein Air interprets the essence of wood in an elegant, contemporary language, celebrating the connection to nature becoming more and more fashionable in design projects.

A collection of wood-effect stoneware tiles with soft surfaces, defined by knots and veining, that unite beauty with performance.

An excellent, durable, sustainable, contemporary alternative to natural wood.

Vento del Sud expresses a warmer, more Mediterranean vision of natural stone, which becomes soft, glowing and welcoming, perfectly imperfect.

A collection of stone-effect tiles that recall the mood of white-stone southern Italian farmhouses standing amidst sunny gardens, ideal for indoor and outdoor locations with an authentic character that merge tradition with contemporary design.

In both collections, the True Touch technology acts in depth: every detail, from the patterning to the surface texture, is astonishingly realistic.
The resulting surface conserves the expressive power of the natural materials but with the technical performance of stoneware: strength, durability and easy care.

The tiles seem to be made of real wood or real vibrant, expressive stone, like that of the travertine-effect stoneware floor coverings of the Materia Classica collection, which captures the beauty of stone with profound realism.

In the case of Materia Eclettica, the natural stone effect is enhanced by mineral inclusions, rocky fragments that make the surface even more organic and authentic - almost surpassing the genuine stone itself.

The grooves, cracks, grain and tiny flaws of the Materia collections create an intense sensation that amplifies the material’s visual emotional charge to give the interior even greater depth, warmth and authenticity.

From bathroom to living-room: natural-effect tiles in design projects

Natural-effect tiles become a unifying thread in contemporary design projects.
From living-room to sleeping area and on to the bathrooms, this material accompanies space without interrupting it, creating visual continuity and a profound connection to the natural world.

In bathrooms, stone-effect surfaces transform interiors into home spas, with exciting textures to be emphasised by dim lighting, plants and wood features.
In the living-room, wood or stone-effect stoneware becomes a neutral yet rich background, able to dialogue with contemporary furniture and materials.
Nature enters the home with delicacy, but makes a decisive contribution.

Because these material-effect surfaces maintain an impeccable appearance for longer.

As well as their beauty, material-effect surfaces provide a benefit that’s often underestimated: they tend to mask any imperfections left by daily life.
The reason is entirely due to their structure.

The colour variations, veining and irregularities typical of stone or wood-effect tiles create “visual noise” that camouflages dust, finger- or footprints or minor stains.
Unlike glossy finishes, their matt surfaces don’t reflect the light, concealing the smears or marks left by daily use.
Last but not least, the three-dimensional textures break up the visual continuity to ensure that surfaces are always attractive, uniform and impeccable. The result?
Interiors that retain their beauty for longer, with less and easier maintenance.

True Touch: the Fap technology for greater sensory impact

True Touch is the game-changing detail.

A technology that captures the spirit of natural materials, with their mix of flaws, the signs of time and the wear and tear of life itself. And when all these features are enhanced by gleaming highlights, the magic of Materia Pura Sassi Tortora is born (seeing is believing)!

The light flows over the surface, creating constantly changing luminous interactions.

Natural-effect tiles that are lovely to look at, delightful to touch.
And when design engages with the senses, spaces cease being merely beautiful and become memorable.