Formatech is a collection born from the collaboration between Florim and Gensler, two companies that share a common vision: to create surfaces that go beyond mere products and become design tools capable of narrating matter, its transformation, and its permanence over time.
Emerging from an intense technical and creative dialogue, the collection explores the natural inclination of matter to change, capturing its different phases and crystallizing its evolution. It is a reflection on transformation, durability, and sustainability: a delicate balance between authenticity and innovation, where porcelain stoneware becomes both expressive and functional.
Formatech stems from the desire to investigate how ceramic surfaces can rigorously and sensitively convey the essence of raw elements such as concrete, metal, and plaster, restoring their formal truth in a dimension that is both accessible and enduring. The result is a collection that interprets three material archetypes, each portrayed at a specific stage of its lifecycle. Not imitation, but interpretation. Not decoration, but architecture.
Product Design Consultant Gensler translated its design needs into a valuable tool for architects and designers: a finely tuned palette that defines a consistent style, versatile enough to adapt across multiple applications without losing its identity. Offered in three distinctive finishes, Cast, Forge, and Cure, and in three thicknesses, Formatech provides flexible solutions through complementary formats.
Florim contributed its industrial expertise and its commitment to sustainability to transform this vision into matter. The result is a collection that celebrates the essence of foundational materials, translating them into durable, responsible surfaces designed to last.
A meditation on material truth. A collection that preserves the traces of time, the marks of tools, the patina that tells the story of lived experience. A manifesto of design honesty: not perfect, but true in its aesthetic nature.
Gensler and Florim share core values: responsibility toward the planet, a pursuit of sustainable solutions, and a commitment to creating environments that enhance quality of life. This synergy has led to a collection that does more than reinterpret surfaces—it reflects a shared ethic, where design serves both people and the spaces they inhabit.
Range
A system of finishes designed for multiple applications, able to integrate seamlessly and fully meet every design requirement. The range includes: Cast – concrete with inclusions and aggregate mixes, Forge – metals marked by the passage of time, and Cure – minimal plaster in its curing phase. Formats range from 30×60 cm up to 120×280 cm in various thicknesses, depending on the product.
Technological innovation The Formatech collection showcases Florim’s most advanced decorative technologies, combining high technical performance with outstanding aesthetics. Colored body tiles, pad-printed textures, graphic designs, and both chromatic and three-dimensional digital applications come together in a single product made of fine technical porcelain stoneware. In the Cast finish, the body is enriched with tone-on-tone granules that interact with the surface decoration, created using 3D materials. The result is a richly detailed texture, featuring variations in gloss and depth—without compromising the product’s durability. This makes it particularly well-suited to the demands of large-scale architectural projects. In Forge, the focus shifts to color, aiming to replicate the natural oxidation and nuanced tones of metal. This approach works in synergy with the development of the tile body to achieve the desired effect.
Sustainability
The Formatech collection is the result of a careful, environmentally conscious process, manufactured in facilities where all raw production waste, as well as all wastewater, are recovered and reused. Florim – a Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp – generates up to 100% of the electricity required to power its Italian production plants. When additional energy is needed, it is purchased exclusively from certified renewable sources. The collection contains up to 50% recycled material and is also part of the CarbonZero project: Carbon Neutral surfaces that offset all CO₂ emissions over their entire lifecycle.
