Brown is the new black

The return of brown in contemporary interiors according to Cotto d’Este

Warm, deep, sophisticated. Brown is reclaiming its place as a leading tone in contemporary interior design, establishing itself as a refined alternative to black and as a new chromatic key able to convey a desire for authenticity, visual comfort, and materiality. An intense and enveloping shade that, season after season, leaves behind its role as a secondary colour to become a conscious design statement, capable of turning floors and walls into spatial storytelling elements.

From the richest hues—chocolate, bronze, rust—to the softer, brighter tones of caramel and burnt orange, brown defines warm, deep, and harmonious environments. A palette that naturally interacts with light, materials, and surfaces, finding its ideal expressive medium in high-quality porcelain stoneware.

In this context, Cotto d’Este interprets the trend through a curated selection of ceramic surfaces designed for cultured and contemporary design, where aesthetics, technical performance, and material research coexist in perfect harmony.

Ceramic surfaces as a design language

In contemporary design, colour is never merely decorative: it is structure, depth, perception. Brown, with its material richness and natural elegance, becomes a design tool capable of shaping space and creating intimate, sophisticated atmospheres.

The porcelain stoneware tiles by Cotto d’Este translate this vision into tactile, luminous and high‑performance surfaces, designed for floors and wall coverings in residential interiors, hospitality spaces and high-end commercial environments. Large ceramic slabs, iconic formats and differentiated thicknesses enhance compositional freedom, offering versatile solutions with a strong visual impact.

Solaris. When light meets matter

Structured tones like brown find their ideal balance alongside soft palettes—ivory, sand, light grey—that enhance their depth through subtle contrast. Solaris, a 2025 new release, was born from this chromatic synergy.

Inspired by Mediterranean stones, the collection offers four elegant nuances—Ostuni, Trani, Spalato, Rodi—characterised by light, tone-on-tone veining. These luminous and delicate surfaces interact beautifully with the earthy shades of brown, giving rise to harmonious, refined spaces full of charm.

Available in three thicknesses (6.5 mm, 9 mm, and 20 mm) and six formats, Solaris delivers a technical and sensitive ceramic material, ideal for residential and commercial projects where stone-effect porcelain stoneware becomes a central element of architectural language.

Arketipo. Brown as a design statement

An icon of the brand, Arketipo interprets brown as a material and chromatic language of great depth, capable of spanning warm, earthy tones through to cooler, icy nuances. Its surfaces—rich in texture, sands and micro-mineral fragments—reveal a living and sophisticated material that interacts with colour in a natural, never decorative way.

Brown thus becomes a conscious design statement: on the one hand, it reinforces intimate and enveloping atmospheres; on the other, it lends itself to measured contrasts with light, dusty or neutral palettes, elevating the space through a cultured balance of expressive strength and compositional rigour.

The collection is available in Kerlite Solida in both 6.5 mm thickness—ideal for large continuous surfaces—and 3.5 mm colour accents that enhance design freedom and enable lightweight, contemporary and high-performance solutions. An evolved vision of high-end porcelain stoneware, naturally suited to sophisticated architectural contexts.

Allure. The sculptural allure of mineral brown

In the Allure collection, brown takes on a scenographic and almost sculptural dimension. The Alaska variant reinterprets marble in a contemporary key, with intense and deep veining that brings refined modernity into the space.

The 6.5 mm Kerlite large ceramic slabs, available up to the impressive 120×278 cm format, become designer surfaces where visual continuity, aesthetics and technical performance converge in perfect balance. Completing the offering is Protect® technology, the invisible, permanent antibacterial shield that contributes to creating healthier, safer environments without compromising the beauty of the surfaces.

Wood Plank. The primal warmth of wood

Brown immediately evokes wood—its vibrant grain, its authentic tactility. Wood Plank translates its natural nobility into ceramic form, precisely reproducing the knots, grain patterns and cracks of oak in a balanced and enveloping graphic design.

Between alpine inspiration and contemporary comfort, the collection is available in two thicknesses (9 mm and 20 mm) and three formats, offering versatile solutions for floors and wall coverings with seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces. The Natural and Grip finishes, combined with Safetouch technology, ensure safety, durability and a pleasant tactile experience, making Wood Plank ideal for high-end residential and hospitality projects.

Wonderwall. The art of decoration meets earthy tones

With its warm and enveloping intensity, brown becomes the ideal base for welcoming artistic inspiration and sophisticated graphic motifs. Wonderwall interprets this dialogue through 19 ultra-high-definition décors, transforming walls into truly immersive scenarios.

Botanical themes, painterly textures and contemporary geometries come to life on large Kerlite slabs in 100×300 cm and 50×100 cm formats, with a thickness of just 3.5 mm reinforced with fibreglass. Lightweight, durable and versatile surfaces that elevate high-end ceramic wall coverings into decorative elements with strong visual impact.

Where colour becomes design

In a season that celebrates the return to materiality, brown confirms itself as the new code of design elegance. A tone that brings warmth, depth and authenticity to spaces—paired with kindred surfaces or enhanced by subtle contrasts and tone-on-tone harmonies.

Through collections that reinterpret nature with contemporary sensitivity, Cotto d’Este redefines the language of ceramic surfaces and restores to interiors a beauty that does not follow trends, but transcends them.

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