Shadow & Texture: custom-made designer materials for outdoor use

In contemporary outdoor design, functionality and beauty intertwine in solutions that tell stories of material, innovation, and culture. Among the most captivating new features highlighted by Elle Decor in the Blow Up section stands out a project that reimagines Sicilian tradition with a contemporary sensibility: Campo, the lava stone tile collection by Nerosicilia, designed by Giuseppe Arezzi.

Campo is an abstract tribute to Sicilian majolica, but instead of traditional glazes, it uses glass made from recycled old monitors. Each compact 15 cm tile becomes a small landscape blending tradition, sustainability, and material experimentation. The lava stone, resilient and ancestral, comes to life with glassy textures and plays of light, making it ideal for creative coverings both indoors and outdoors.

Alongside this poetic vision of material, the article presents a selection of highly technical solutions for solar protection and the definition of outdoor spaces, such as the vertical awning T-Zone by Pratic, powered by solar energy, or Quad by KE, with a clean design by Studio Christian Grandi, combining minimalist aesthetics with cutting-edge mechanisms.

Completing the picture are other cladding materials that highlight texture and tactility: the Spaccanapoli cement tiles by Forma\&Cemento, made with natural pigments and hand-finished, and the Calle tiles by Patricia Urquiola for Cimento®, designed for striking walls in cement-based composite.

The result? Private landscapes to be built piece by piece, with materials that speak to both touch and sight, and with custom solutions that transform any outdoor space into a unique, livable, and identity-rich environment.