The eternal beauty of Cotto: Classic Collection
Cotto is a fascinating product right from its origin. It was born from the same elements that are the basis of life: earth, water, air and fire. Of all the materials that man has used for the construction and covering of his homes, cotto is certainly the most ancient. And it is the one that more than any other evokes ancestral memories and qualities that still today refer to its ancient past.
The origins of terracotta
Already the civilization of Mesopotamia built using baked bricks, simply mixing sand, clay and water, then left to dry in the sun. Always considered one of the best building materials of easy availability, the cotto is still produced by craftsmen in many sizes, color and surface finish.
Etruscan tradition in Italy
In Italy, the Etruscans enhanced the characteristics of this material, linking them to the peculiarities of the territories in which they settled. For this reason, we have different cooked dishes such as Tuscan, Umbrian and Lombard. The variety is due to the availability of the raw material, clay, which, depending on the place of extraction, changes color according to its chemical and physical components.
Fangorosa has chosen to create with Umbrian craftsmen a quality of cotto made with new and unusual aesthetics for surface finishes and new colors.
What Emotions does terracotta transmit
Cotto is one of the main materials used for flooring and made by Italian artisans. It represents the reassuring warmth of an embrace, the same warmth we expect to find within a family environment. Metaphorically speaking, it embodies the safety of our comfort zone, our daily homecoming and domestic life. It tells of a product that belongs to us as history and as the present. All of us have had, or still have, jugs, pots and utensils made of terracotta. Containers for wine and oil were made of terracotta, and still are in some areas of our peninsula. Just as bricks, floors and roofs are made of terracotta.
Terracotta owes its long tradition of artisans to the high demand and varied use. The furnaces did not know a break, they worked all day long. Over time, communities of kiln workers developed, custodians of a complex manual skill, artisans very dedicated to their work and very present in the kiln because there is always something to do.
The furnaces were the prelude to real villages. They were born only in places that had certain characteristics: the presence of a river – as essential for cooling and mixing water – and the forest to feed the fire of the furnaces. As soon as the season of oil and the realization of terracotta amphorae ended, they started with bricks for building, and then again bricks for containers.
It is in all of this that the charm of cotto is enclosed.
The colors of the Classic Collection
The colors of Fangorosa’s Classic Collection of terracotta tiles are original, refined and available in variants little known to the general public. They have been created by artisans respecting the primary recipe and mixing different clays, obtaining different chromatisms and colors, experimenting with different degrees of oxygen subtraction during the firing phase.
An unconventional laying. Firmly rooted in tradition but with a desire to interpret unusual aesthetics, Fangorosa also proposes the laying of cotto in reverse. This choice highlights the unrepeatable vigor and body of hand-working. Moreover, the choice of the joints is also crucial to characterize the aesthetics of the rooms.
The colors of the Classic Collection are:
· Classic Bianca
· Classic Grigia
· Classic Nera
· Classic Rosata Grezza
· Classic Rossa
· Classic Vissuta
· Classic Vissuta Burrattata
· Classic Velata