Smartstone Porcelain Product News

06 Jan Smartstone Porcelain Product News

Smartstone and Stone Solutions welcomes you to the refined world of Atlas Plan Italian porcelain. AVAILABLE TO YOU NOW!

Porcelain. It seems to be the word on every designer and renovator’s lips right now. The finest quality porcelain is made in Italy, where it’s called porcellana (pronounced porch-elana). And while the Italian word gently rolls off the tongue, there’s nothing soft about this virtually indestructible surface material.

Porcelain has been a hugely popular material globally for the past few years, particularly in Europe, seen in many award-winning indoor and outdoor designs, from dream kitchen benchtops to idyllic poolside patios. Italy’s Atlas Plan has been at the forefront of the European porcelain surface trend, renowned for its sophisticated and innovative replications of marble and natural stone-look surfaces. An Atlas Plan Collection has now been curated for the Australian market, tailored to local style and tastes.

Atlas Plan’s recent arrival in Australia quickly boosted porcelain’s popularity locally, and it’s already become an in-demand material among architects, interior designers and homeowners here. Interestingly, the design approach to Atlas Plan porcelain in local recent architectural projects has shown a strong direction of using porcelain surfaces on many applications throughout a home, indoors and out, well beyond just kitchen benchtops.

For those not familiar with porcelain, we answer some of the most often asked questions to help you get on top of this major trend.

What is porcelain?

Porcelain is an extremely hard ceramic product which, put simply, is made using innovative technology that fuses raw materials at intense temperatures and extreme pressure. The result is a permanently hardened, ultra-compact and lightweight surface that is non-porous, NSF-approved and heat, chemical and stain resistant. Atlas Plan porcelain is also an environmentally friendly is also an environmentally friendly and fully recyclable product.

Where can porcelain be used?

Being able to use such a hard-wearing surface inside our homes and for exterior spaces is huge news for interiors professionals and homeowners alike. Its list of applications is astonishing. Atlas Plan’s durability and UV stability make it ideal for outdoor areas, including building facades, paving, stairs and wall panelling, as well as the most demanding, high-traffic interior spaces such as kitchen benchtops and kitchen splashbacks, sinks, tables, bathroom vanities, baths, shower walls, fireplaces and many more applications.

Porcelain’s technical performance and refined aesthetic come together in Atlas Plan’s versatile large format 1600mm x 3200mm porcelain panels. The thinner slabs also allow seamless use across cabinet facades and drawer fronts for a visually uniform result.