Natural clay for conscious architects and interior designers. Why?

Raw earth is a completely natural, contemporary building material: beautiful, hypoallergenic and versatile. Matteo Brioni’s earth is the result of a meticulous pre-selection of natural clays and aggregates originating from various territories and blended together to obtain chromatic, tactile, and functional qualities that fit.

What is earth?

Earth is the most ancient of building materials. The history of earthen architecture corrisponds with the history of humanity. Earth as a building material is a compound of clay and natural aggregates, simply left to air-dry, with no firing necessary. Local earth, mixed with water, has given shape to entire settlements – built in pisé, in adobe, with structures in earth and wood, in blocks of compressed earth – naturally healthy and integrated with the surrounding context. Earth is a contemporary material: beautiful, hypoallergenic, versatile, responsible, conscious and sustainable.

The difference.

We wouldn’t be LES VRAIS if there wasn’t a huge difference in the materials we bring to our network of architects, interior designers, construction and hospitality companies. Matteo Brioni’s materials are 100% true to our values, beliefs and direction.

Matteo Brioni’s materials are raw earth. 100 percent natural clay plasters selected directly from nature.

Microtopping ?

Matteo Brioni clays are very different from micro-toppings as microtoppings are made from liquid polymers and cement mixtures. Now if cement would be a country, it would be the biggest CO2 emitter in the world (check wikipedia here) We haven’t found which polymers are used in micro-topping on the websites of different brands, but we guess that if these were natural, they would mention it 😉

Mortex?

Mortex products are “mineral micro-mortars, composed among others of natural lime”. Next to this there is certainly a part of… cement

The overall process of cement-production is responsible for about 8% of global CO₂ emissions, as the cement kiln in which the reaction occurs is typically fired by coal or petroleum coke due to the luminous flame required to heat the kiln by radiant heat transfer.^[8] As a result, the production of cement is a major contributor to climate change.

Beton Ciré?

Beton ciré, betonstuc or waxed concrete is made of cement, ground pebbles and sand supplemented with mostly synthetic resins

Tadelakt?

taddelakt or tadelakt is a from original natural Moroccon lime plaster of which the production releases up to 80% less CO2 than other cement based finishes. However as all the above solutions, the word tadelact is used for many products that have little in common with the original tadelakt from the quarries close to Marrakesh. In comparison to Matteo Brioni clay plasters the colours used with tadelakt are almost always non-natural pigments and are far away from the original colours of the lime and the place they were found.

Concrete floor or wall?

Well concrete is concrete, and after water it is the second most used material in the world. Unfortunately it isn’t all natural and depends a lot on how sustainably the cement used in the concrete is produced. For our concrete sinks for example we work with Nood, a young company meticulously conscious on how their cement is produced.

Natural clay for conscious architects and interior designers

Don’t get us wrong! Next to Matteo Brioni, there are other companies making fantastic and natural products to use on your walls, floors, walk-in showers, kitchen cabinets, staircases, ceilings, objects, furniture, shops, hotels and restaurants. However in all these years looking for a similar product that we really love, we haven’t found any that comes so close to the essence of our existence. 14 colours and all the possible mixes with them, don’t come from some chemical pigment, but from the earth. Simply selected by a very true Italian called Matteo Brioni. Blessed with the all the senses to search, find and see and feel how beautiful the planet we call home really is. Earth.