Where to get unglazed porcelain ceramic tile — to use as a solid or to combine in a multi-color mosaic design — in a retro bathroom? Here’s a new source: Studio Tile & Stone of Melbourne, Florida, carries “Cinca” mosaic tile, made in Portugal for decades and available in 24 colors, including a number that could suit a vintage bathroom quite nicely.
The owner of Studio Tile is Lisa Bogo. A regular reader of the blog, she reached out to me because she recognizes the retro-worthiness of these tiles. On the sample card it says these ‘unglazed vitrified porcelain mosaics’ are:
- Great for historic restoration, re-interpreting classic mosaics and fresh modern interior design; it has color-through performance, frost resistance and natural slip resistance. Perfect for floor and wall, indoors & outdoors, spa & pool, in public or residential settings.
- Ideal for curved surfaces, it’s produced in 12″x12″ sheets mounted on fiberglass mesh.
- Lisa added via email: “The mosaics edges are straight & flat — like historic porcelain ceramic tile — not beveled like Dal & American Olean…. These mosaics are manufactured in Portugal. It’s an ongoing line of tiles produced in Portugal, although this factory has been producing 1 x 1 porcelain mosaics since 1964.”
Lisa said the tile wells for $4 to $8 per s.f., depending on the color, with the more muted colors less, the brighter colors more. I presume there would also be shipping.
There are no bullnose or other trim pieces, so that could limit how you use the tiles unless you wanted to turn to a modern trim solution from a company such as Schluter. In the photo above, You can see that the bathroom was designed so that no trim pieces were needed. Notice the curved edge stepping up the the shower 🙂
For more information including samples and how to buy this product, contact:
- Lisa Bogo or Betsy Bianchi or Studio Tile & Stone, phone (321) 242-5780, email: info@studiotileandstone.com
- Website: Studio Tile & Stone
Want more tile ideas?:
- See all of our bathroom tile stories by clicking here.
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Rick G says
Thanks for sharing this Pam, I’ll be looking into it for the downstairs bathroom project
Laurie says
I have used a grinder on porcelain to create edge and corner pieces for a bathroom, and shower.
Might want to practice first though, to determine how rough a grinding wheel you would need.
My pieces turned out great, and looked like I bought them.
Joel Shapiro says
Go all the way up the wall and skip the trim. I love that look. You can even tile the ceiling.
LJ says
i am remodeling a spanish bungalow that had a mid century addition on it so i decided to go with the daltile 1×1 on 12×24″ sheets in the bathroom. the nice thing about daltiles sheets is that they are more rigidly attached (said my contractor). it is not on a mesh sheet which tend to be more difficult to install and rather attached by single globs that snap off easily.
as amazing as these tiles look above, for me it was a budget question. i was able to get the daltiles at around $3.75 / sq ft (not including shipping).
i agree to skip the trim!
Candice McCouch says
Studio Tile says that these are no longer available. 🙁