Telling The Tales Of Time
Part of the enduring fascination of the world’s oldest cities is the way we can read time in the surfaces of their buildings and streets. The worn-down treads on a stone stairway or the weathered texture of a stone wall speak of centuries of use and set the mind on a journey of imagining the past and all its tales.
The richness and visual appeal of aged, weathered stone is at the heart of the Rue De St Cloud collection of ceramic floor and wall tiles, produced in Italy by Ascot Ceramiche and carried exclusively in Singapore by Hafary.
The Rue De St Cloud collection was inspired by the ancient cobblestone roads that lead from Lyon to Paris. The natural, time-induced imperfections in such weathered, well-worn stone are celebrated for their aesthetic qualities. Translated into ceramic through Ascot’s high-definition digital production technology, these mesmerising details are the heart of a collection of three beautiful styles: pale and warm-toned Blanc, the cooler mid-toned Greige, and dark speckled Graphite.
The strength of the collection is the detail that brings the surfaces to life. Chromatic variations create the effect of rich surface texture, which can be enhanced by the selection of surface finish and edge style.
Two surface finishes are available: the natural finish conveys the feel of natural stone, and the honed finish alludes to the texture of ancient, well-trodden stone. Tile edges are processed in three ways: ‘Naturale’ where the straight-cut edge is enhanced with an aged, antique effect; ‘Rettificato’ with a contemporary clean-cut edge; and ‘Fiammato’ with the look of a worn, uneven edge. For the latter, Ascot’s exclusive edge-machining process results in no two tiles being the same.
Rue De St Cloud is available in large-format square and rectangular tiles, as well as smaller mosaic squares, batons and brick-effect sizes. Two-centimetre-thick large-format outdoor tiles are also produced for a seamless flow to the outdoors.