Terrazzo, the speckled, indestructible flooring of airports and previous residence lobbies, is a inventive reuse star: it was developed within the fifteenth century by Venetian marble employees who embedded stone remnants in clay to pave terraces—therefore terrazzo. In twentieth century America, the end was made from stone chips and cement polished with an electrical grinder—look down at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor, the Washington Monument, and the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. In recent times, epoxy and polyacrylic binders got here in, making the fabric extra versatile and widespread once more—if much less environmentally pleasant.
We just lately featured a West London kitchen–see Social gathering within the Again—that opened our eyes to a sustainable, newish terrazzo spinoff composed of wooden scraps certain in bio-based resin. Two UK corporations presently supply what one calls Timber Terrazzo and the opposite TreeAzzo. Made by hand to be used as counters, backsplashes, and flooring, they’re obtainable in a variety of colours, all sturdy, scratch-resistant, and patterned in a confetti of wooden castoffs.
No two sheets of wooden terrazzo are precisely alike. After the resin and wooden are blended, they’re left to remedy then sanded to show the wooden, polished, and completed with a food-safe, pure arduous wax oil or lacquered to be used in high-traffic space. Not like stone-based terrazzo, wooden terrazzo might be drilled or lower to measurement with wood-working instruments. Foresso makes use of a CNC machine to make tongue-and-groove flooring and wall paneling.
It comes with a backing of plywood or fiber cement (to be used as ground or wall tiles); pricing on request. Havwoods is UK-based however obtainable within the US and has an open-to-the-public NYC showroom at 151 West 18th Road.
