Terracotta coverings: functional and long-lasting elements

The handmade terracotta brick, by its nature and tradition, is used in multiple areas of construction and building renovation. It can be used both as a load-bearing element (solid brick walls) and for infill, but above all, in modern architecture, it finds its natural use in the creation of terracotta cladding, that is, as an element capable of enriching and furnishing, expressing its beauty in material simplicity.

It is understood that in addition to the aesthetic function, terracotta cladding is also very functional and durable over time and often boasts being above any fashion or trend with its own unique and unmistakable style.

Terracotta cladding can be for interiors or exteriors. Externally, it can be used as a face brick to cover the walls of a curtain wall house or simply to embellish details capable of enhancing the entire building (terracotta cladding for thresholds, terracotta cladding for stairs). The same can be proposed internally: a terracotta cladding of a face brick wall (New York loft style) or if we think of the terracotta cladding of a staircase or internal thresholds. For the creation of modern and characterful cladding, terracotta strips are used, raw or glazed according to taste. These are details capable of furnishing and enhancing the entire environment with warm and welcoming colors.

The advantage of terracotta cladding is certainly the craftsmanship and the possibility of customizing the product in relation to spaces, dimensions, etc. Cladding a terracotta staircase means making modular elements (in print) capable of perfectly covering the step (without cuts) or even better making a single piece of terracotta that covers the entire tread (a terracotta monolith). The same concept can be proposed in terracotta cladding for fireplaces or even for internal or external thresholds or even for windowsills or copings: these are all elements made exclusively to measure capable of integrating perfectly with existing structures.

In the bathroom and kitchen, handmade terracotta finds its application in glazed terracotta cladding. This is a totally handcrafted double firing: handmade terracotta base, glazing with a hand airbrush and subsequent firing in electric muffles at high temperatures. Glazes and crystals, solid colors or color mixtures, glossy or opaque nuances capable not only of cladding but of enriching with value and personality the most intimate places of our home.

Making glazed terracotta cladding means not only covering but giving value to our environments, having the possibility to choose from a wide range of colors (strong and decisive colors or soft and neutral colors) as well as customizing it in terms of nuance, size and finish.

Fornace Bernasconi is and represents these possibilities. It has been producing handmade terracotta bricks, both natural and glazed, for decades capable of tastefully cladding the environments of our home, whether they are internal or external. The craftsmanship of the product allows for customizations of color, size, thickness, finish capable of fully satisfying the needs and wishes of the client with particular attention to the aesthetic and functional result and the cost.

Thanks to the great versatility of shapes and the thousand colors to choose from, you can diversify the environments while keeping them harmonious. This is a handcrafted product that will allow you to obtain perfect solutions: the cuts are made by hand and cover walls, floors and stairs to the millimeter.

Glazed terracotta gives its best in environments such as bathrooms or kitchens. Let’s see what it is and how to use it to get the best results.

For bathrooms, you can use glazed terracotta tiles in solid colors or mixed colors. You can decide whether to use glossy or opaque finishes and, in any case, you will obtain cladding of undisputed value that will give a definite personality to the most intimate place in your home.

Glazed terracotta cladding can be used in any style: being handcrafted products, they allow you to vary the shape, color and pattern to adapt to the environment and furnishings. Among the most well-known and used styles for the bathroom, some stand out for their originality.

The first is the minimal style which, as the term itself says, fits into a context that instead of adding ornaments and objects, works by subtraction. Its purpose is to reduce the bathroom furnishings to the essential, in a modern setting. The main feature that must catch the eye is sobriety, in the structures and decorations. Through very linear geometric shapes, an environment must be created in which there is a lot of empty space, to allow freedom of movement. To be faithful to this style, everything that is superfluous, decorative and impractical is renounced.

For the cladding of the drawers, the most modern materials are used, such as plexiglass, corian, stoneware and resins of various types. For the choice of glazed terracotta cladding, we will direct you towards natural and soft colors, such as white, gray, sand, to be chosen in the glossy or opaque version.

Of a completely different tenor is the English style, for which 1920s-style ceramic sanitary ware is used and all the furniture must have a retro taste for trunks, lamps and taps, the latter with an unmistakable design. The cladding will consist of small terracotta tiles with a glossy glaze, rectangular and with small cubes also in the shape of a rhombus. Navy blue and white are the most suitable colors.

The English bathroom can also be proposed in a more contemporary version, where there will only be details to recall its style.

The “oriental” design, with its wooden screens, furniture decorated with a thousand arabesques, requires glazed terracotta tiles in bright colors. The most popular are red, emerald green or floral decorations, always glossy and bright.

For the furniture, it will be necessary to obtain handmade furniture that can be found at collectors or antique shops. Being a very popular style, there are many elements that can best decorate your bathroom.

Also in this case you can opt for a more contemporary variant, focusing on details and colors that recall this style and glazed terracotta sinks.

Masonry kitchens are the ones that lend themselves most to the use of handmade terracotta: terracotta bricks will be the ideal solution both for the walls and for the cladding of the hob. Furthermore, it is possible to create decorations on windowsills, shelves, drawers suspended in the air, to draw attention to specific points in the environment.

If you are a lover of rustic and country houses, handmade terracotta with warm colors will be the ideal choice and you can also use it for terracotta floors, completing the furniture with raw wood furniture and objects.

For a kitchen with a contemporary style, on the other hand, we recommend glazed terracotta: it will then be only your taste and your imagination to find the right cladding for shape, color and decoration.

For a lively and colorful kitchen, you can choose cladding with bright tones, or alternate some decorated tiles with others in solid colors. If you want to add an unusual touch, stone sinks that go perfectly with glazed terracotta are very fashionable.

In conclusion, we can say that terracotta cladding has an extraordinary versatility. They can be declined in an infinite number of different styles, but they always manage to make the environments exactly as you had imagined them. Handmade terracotta products are adaptable to any surface. Being handcrafted products, the application of the glaze is never identical: each tile is unique, with different tone variations.