As lovely as paintings

From wall covering to work of art: in a luxury home, Grande range large ceramic slabs were used both as a floor and wall covering and for the artistic decoration of the interiors, rather like ceramic paintings. The home, in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, features a predominance of marble-effect surfaces in all rooms, from the living area to the bathrooms, by way of the entrance corridor.


In the project by SIIN Architecture, led by Simona Pielikytė, the colours of the Baltic Sea and the surrounding natural world inspire the materials and shades chosen for the home. The pine trees, sand dunes and sunsets over the sea are reflected in the interior design details, the veining of the marble-effect coverings and the fabrics.


The apartment has a large living area that incorporates the kitchen, dining-room and lounge: the latter is the only to have a dark wood parquet floor with a Chevron herringbone pattern. Throughout the rest of the home, the chosen flooring is the slimline marble-effect stoneware of the Grande Marble Look collection, in various shades and textures.


In both the corridor and the rest of the living area, the architects have used the 120x120 cm slabs in the warm matt Golden White version, with its exquisite golden veining. The choice of 6 mm slimline porcelain stoneware as covering material throughout these zones is emphasised by the use of slabs as decorative ceramic pictures, which transform the two interiors into a private art gallery with two Grande Marble Look Capraia Book Match slabs, with their distinctive dark, striking veining, displayed in 160x320 cm size on the walls, laid seamlessly in “book match” style for a very sophisticated mirror-image effect.


When the slabs are installed on the walls as a large picture to be admired, the perfection of stoneware’s interpretation of and homage to the characteristics of the finest marbles is even more apparent. There could be no better indication of the architects’ appreciation of this material, so versatile and eclectic that it merges art into architecture.


Similar design strategies were adopted in the bathrooms. In the master bathroom, Grande Marble Look alternates in the glossy Saint Laurent version (floor and two walls) and the natural/matt Statuario variant (the other two walls). In the guest bathroom, on the other hand, the floor is in glossy Capraia finish (the same as the decorative slabs on the walls of the living area), while Capraia and Statuario have been combined on the walls. In all cases, the size is the large 120x120 cm in 6 mm thickness.


Simona Pielikytė Siin Architecture Studio
Photos: Leonas Garbaciauskas