The Complete Tile Collection.

 All the looks. All the luxury.

 How dull life would be if one size fitted all. If only one tile was available to all, for floors and walls. In one colour. If there was only one couch style, or one chair. Every home would look EXACTLY the same. We would lose our individuality and personality. We would all start to think bland thoughts – in fact, we would stop thinking altogether - and sensory deprivation would shut down our joy, our hopes and our dreams forever. Pretty bleak.

 Impossible to imagine? Well, it’s a description of life once upon a time in East Germany, actually. Only one car was available; it was called the Trabant. It took up to ten years from the time you ordered it, to the time you received it. So you jolly well looked after it and drove it for the rest of your life. If you wanted to decorate your kitchen or bathroom in your mass-produced state apartment, you ordered from the ‘East German Housing Program’. Months later, you received your consignment of tiles. They were the same as the tiles in every other apartment in your district. If you needed to replace tiles, you accepted whatever was sent, even if the new batch did not match.

 Right. Let’s wake up from this gruesome nightmare. Back to ItalStyle and beautiful living full of variety and diversity. One of the many joys we can promise, cross our hearts, is choice. Arguably South Africa’s widest range of luxury porcelain tiles for walls and floors, indoors and outdoors, slip resistant, imported and local. Stone look. Wood look. Screed look. Oxidised metal look. Majestic marble look. Patterns, textures, aggregates. All waiting for you to adore them.

 Beauty comes in many different forms, so which tiles are right for you? Let’s see…

 Go into the woods.

The wood look is forever on trend and will never go out of fashion. Wooden items are part of mankind’s collective memories, and we have always loved bringing a sense of nature into our homes. There’s a naturalness and glow about wood, with excitingly random patterning in the grain that just gets more beautiful over time. Of course, real wood floors are not only expensive, they are unkind to the planet and unsustainable, unless you go for bamboo, which is, in actual fact, a fast-growing grass. Wood look tiles offer a sustainable option too, and we have partnered with international and local tile masters to bring our customers a breath-taking array of options, with varying lengths, textures, treatments and colours.

Moda Vinile. If you’re after beauty on a budget, your best choice is our brand new wood-look vinyl ‘planks’. All the good looks of hardwood without the price tag. This range consists of a stone/plastic composite board base with a surface finish that mimics wood grain. Moda Vinile comes in 5 colourways and is resistant to stains, moisture, heat, scratches, termite action, and full sun. With careful installation and maintenance, your slender vinyl ‘timbers’ will give you up to 25 beautiful years.

ColorArt by Ceramica Sant’Agostino. Reclaimed, upcycled and repurposed wood items have been trending for years. Italian tile masters Sant’Agostino have used incredible technology and digital technology to produce a porcelain range that mimics the richly textured and story-soaked personality of reclaimed wood, complete with burnt, worn and painted expressions. ColorArt is a highly individualistic choice, magnificent on both floors and walls, and will enhance boho eclectic living, add texture to modern interiors, and authenticity to that industrial or reclaimed warehouse vibe. Add interesting copper or brass finishes, lush plants in woven planters, jute or coir rugs, or some matt black drama, for an interior with talkability.

Local, lekker Legno. Proudly South African to the core, Ceramic Industries produce gorgeous tiles with a reduced carbon footprint, and they take care of the communities in which they work; you can choose their tiles with fierce pride, because each one is beautiful at heart. Legno is one of our most popular wood-look sellers. These are elegant ‘planks’: 195 x 1195mm. They’re durable, low maintenance and will offer you lasting loveliness with their multiple ‘faces’ for a truly authentic wooden floor feel.

Maryland from Spain. Say ‘Olé’ to these ecochic Spanish beauties. Lay them in an offset pattern for a true wooden floor look that pays homage to the real thing. The silky finish and subtle tones offer a refined surface, and a slightly more generous slat at 200mm in width. This is a relatively hardwearing indoor option that can take high traffic, but also works very well on walls.

Epic Barkwood. This large scale wood look tile works in really big spaces. Barkwood is what’s termed a wide-plank look. It mimics one of the oldest types of wooden floor and offers a more rustic, classic feel, showing more wood grain and other signature details. (FYI, if you are wondering whether you should opt for wide-plank vs slim-plank: slimmer, narrower ‘planks’ work better in smaller spaces with a clean, sleek, contemporary feel.) 

Beautifully weathered Barnwood by Dom Ceramiche. Each tile is an Italian work of art. These grainy timber looks seem to bear the marks of time and the handwork of craftsmen; the result of world-class digital remastering. They’re slender, simply lovely… and best of all, sustainable.

Rock our stones.

Wood is classic, but stone takes us back to the very roots of civilisation; to what the world wore before we appeared. We’ve sourced the most extraordinary remastering of this ancient, timeless look; from tiles that mimic the rock that clads the slopes of the Italian alps, to fascinating slates and honeyed stone.

Slate by Gryphon of Ceramic Industries. Slate has been a favourite for centuries, thanks to its beauty and hardiness. This local porcelain remastering brings drama and personality to outdoor spaces with its variances and colouring (called ‘foliation’, created when the rock is struck and split).

Klif by Atlas Concorde. This magnificent range reimagines the muscular and striated beola stone from Val D’Ossola in the Italian alps. Klif carries an innate expressive strength and timeless elegance; simply the most gorgeous tiles with an unbeatable finish that handless high traffic with ease.

Millenia. Sandstone is a South African natural wonder. A huge chunk of it sits in Cape Town; you’ll know it as Table Mountain! Millenia reworks that honeyed magic into a raw, earthy tile with a uniquely natural, random patterning that really comes to life in outdoor installation, with the added bonus of a slip-resistant finish.

The need for screed.

Cement floors became common around the time of the Industrial Revolution; factory floors and ceiling beams were wooden, and were fire hazards. And so developed the industrial look of exposed metal and brick, with cement floors, much loved as a style choice today. Join the Industrial Evolution, style comrades!

Tough Torre. This locally manufactured screed-look porcelain tile range offers an authentic mottling variance and a matt finish for interior floors and walls; it is also available in a slip-resistant finish which is perfect for wet outdoor areas.

Spazio. These locally manufactured newcomers were an instant hit from the moment we unpacked them. They’re available in three colourways, and created with 8 faces and a shade variance of 3V. What this means is you are guaranteed a very authentically varianced set of tiles; in other words, the design and amount of colours differ from one tile to the next.

Magnum. Another local lovely, Magnum is a great favourite with both our commercial and residential customers. It is what we call a screed compilation, which offers interesting smoky mottling variances; each tile in a set has a slightly different face. This is a hardwearing range, in three different colours, which creates an almost seamless effect across a floorspace. 

Terrazzo razzle dazzle with NewDeco. More a celebration of Venetian life than a floor or wall covering, our new and exciting NewDeco by Sant’Agostino offers our

on-trend customers an incredibly authentic, lively interpretation of terrazzo. Traditionally created for northern Italian nobility, terrazzo was the aggregation of a cement substrate and chips of granite, marble - sometimes mother of pearl – which were then polished smooth into a dazzling surface that sparkled in the sun. You’ll have seen the terrazzo trend expressed on side tables, coffee mugs, stationery, even bedlinen. It is one of the most exciting design trends and we think it will move from fashion to an established look.

Oxidised metal.

Another dynamic design trend is the emergence of mixed metals, which includes the powerful oxidised metal look. Nox rocks the second life aesthetic of oxidised sheet metal, recovered from a boatbuilder’s yard. If that excites your senses, imagine this look covering the exterior of your house to create a modern ‘full metal jacket’!

 Magnificent marbles.

Nothing creates instant glamour in a home quite like marble. It speaks of Italian opulence and has an indefinable sense of timeless style. Of course, true marble is rare, and unsustainable in the 21^st century. Our ecochic marble-look porcelain stunners offer all the majesty and luxury you’re dreaming of, without:

- the price tag,

-sensitive surfaces susceptible to stains and chipping,

-and most importantly, the damage to the environment.

Some of our marble-ous lookalikes:

Marvel Pro. Lift your bathroom or kitchen design to new heights by covering your surfaces with Marvel Pro’s marbled Italian ‘coolth’. Large format, full body, high gloss slabs are enhanced with high-tech digital printing to create all the depth and luxury of authentic marbling, but without the natural flaws and porosity of true marble.

London marble. Another large-format marble-look tile that brings living warmth to floors with veins of brown and salmon.

By now - apart from being exhausted after a long read – you’ll have identified a look that resonates with your kind of lifestyle. But if you need to see more and feel for yourself, all our showrooms are open again and ready to welcome you back. So put on your shopping shoes, pack a mask, and head out for your nearest Italtile showroom. We can’t wait to take you around our ranges: all the looks, all the colourways… and remember, there are patchworks, décor tiles and mosaics to match.

Stay safe, live beautifully, and let’s bring your renovation plans to life.

Ciao.