April 23, 2024

Terrific Terrazzo

With its entirely customisable colourways, composite materials, and chip sizes, terrazzo is as aesthetically versatile as it is physically durable.

With its entirely customisable colourways, composite materials, and chip sizes, terrazzo is as aesthetically versatile as it is physically durable. In interior design, terrazzo is a common sight on floors, countertops, backsplashes, sinks – you name it.

Writing:

Kate Kolberg

Photography:

Terrazzo

Colours

Bathroom

Red Kitchen

Heritage

Before

After

Top

This pretty in pink Athens apartment is friends with colour. A lively palette of pink, yellow, and burgundy cleverly balances existing features like the rich, burgundy-flecked terrazzo floor in the kitchen.

Terrazzo as we know it today was first developed in the 1500s when a set of Venetian mosaic workers realised they could repurpose marble remnants to create new surfaces. Now, it is a common sight on floors, countertops, backsplashes, sinks, walls – you name it.

"The personality and appearance of the client were a great source of inspiration for us. She loves colours, textures, materials, fabrics, so we tried to integrate all of that into our design".

– Katerina Chryssanthopoulou, MoY Studio

Elena Zabeli and Katerina Chryssanthopoulou of MoY Studio distributed the burgandy into one of the bedrooms to unite the space, making it feel more cohesive and intentional.

Terrazzo lovers will also enjoy the green terrazzo strip left in the threshold of a door separating the hallway and bedroom. *Images by* *Nikos Alexopoulos.*

Only 44sqm/474sqft in size, the apartment only had room for a narrow bathroom off of the bedroom space, disguised behind a set of sliding, fantasy glass doors.

"We covered the bathroom from floor to top in terrazzo, so you can have a feeling of a wider space while you're inside".

Carol Burton, Carol Burton Architecture

Carol Burton of Carol Burton Architecture made the most of this ensuite bathroom by completely covering it in terrazzo – we’re talking floor to ceiling, sink and shower – so that it felt like a wider space.

Prior to renovation, this **bright and airy home** in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires was a small and dark office space.

The same terrazzo is carried on downstairs in the kitchen as the backsplash and benchtop for continuity. *Images by* *Gonzalo Viramonte.*

The young family of three living in this 40sqm/431sqft home requested a calming, natural colour palette. Design studio Absence from Island selected wood and rattan as their primary materials for this **Hong Kong apartment**, applying terrazzo as an accent for some additional texture in the living room.

The neutral-toned terrazzo begins on the entryway landing and then wraps along the lower edge of the living room’s wall and door, reaching up to the exact height of the built-in sofa.

The terrazzo was also placed on the rise of the stairs as well as the sides of the custom TV cabinet, also of a uniform height. *Images by Tang Chi Chun.*

Urban planner Alex Antoniadis was drawn the heritage elements of his building and surrounding neighbourhood when he selected his **42sqm/452sqft Melbourne apartment**.

The space itself was rather ordinary but had great bones, so Antoniadis set about making some straightforward but impactful modifications that made it contemporary while highlighting its existing attributes.

"The flooring throughout the whole apartment is locally sourced terrazzo grey tiles. This provides a seamless design and makes the apartment feel larger".

– Alex Antoniadis, owner

Terrazzo is a great choice for small space design in particular for a couple reasons. Its unique speckled pattern adds visual interest without overwhelming the limited space, while its resistance to stains and scratches make it ideal for floors that are bound to be high-traffic — because, let’s face it, in small spaces there’s only so much floor you *can* use.

Antoniadis placed locally sourced, grey terrazzo tiles throughout the entire space; a seamless design that makes the apartment feel larger and allowed accents like the original burgundy balcony balustrade to shine.

The grey terrazzo tiles work nicely with the green tiles in the bathroom as well. *Images by Hanna Połczyńska.*

The Alexander Calder–inspired partition may be the showstopper of this **colourful Warsaw apartment**, but the fun details definitely don’t stop there.

Interior designers Kalina and Robert Juchvenic cleverly applied the terrazzo in the most high-traffic areas of the home and used it as a zoning device in the small living, kitchen, and dining area.

Dividing the living room from the kitchen and then leading all the way to the bathroom is a terrazzo floor, selected to mimic the similar shade used in the building’s staircases.

The same terrazzo continues all the way from the kitchen and entry into the bathroom – including the shower. The seamless flooring gives a nice continuity throughout the space, which can actually make it seem larger.

Even more cleverly, however, was how they stained the three vintage 1970s Bruno Ray dining chairs in a green shade that matches the green flecks in the terrazzo.

UK-based studio Smile Plastics is taking a new approach to terrazzo with its 100% recycled and recyclable material made entirely from plastic scraps. Watch **our short feature on Smile Plastics** from our award-winning documentary series Wonderful Waste to learn how they do it.

“I love this idea – and we need this idea – of having a zero-waste world in which everything is reimagined into something new”.

– Rosalie McMillan, Co-founder of Smile Plastics

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Speck-tacular

Apologies to those not partial to puns, but it needs to be said: terrazzo really is speck-tacular. With its entirely customisable colourways, base materials, and chip sizes, the composite material is as aesthetically versatile as it is physically durable. Terrazzo as we know it today was first developed in the 1500s when a set of Venetian mosaic workers realised they could repurpose marble remnants to create new surfaces. Now, it is a common sight on floors, countertops, backsplashes, sinks, walls – you name it.

Terrazzo in Small Space Design

Terrazzo is a great choice for small space design for a couple reasons. Its unique speckled pattern adds colour and visual interest without overwhelming limited spaces, while its resistance to stains and scratches make it ideal for floors that are bound to be high-traffic (because, let’s face it, in small spaces there’s only so much floor you can use). For the very same reason, this low-maintenance, high-impact material is great in the kitchen and the bathroom and handles the many things life throws at it with ease.

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Writing:

Kate Kolberg

Photography:

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