Ascale Labradorite Royalblue

Named for labradorite, quarried in Canada and Finland and known for the light that seems to move inside it: a very deep blue ground that reads almost black from across the room, with bronze and rust-brown areas opening across it like crystal fractures. There is an unexpected warmth in it — which keeps it from being another cold dark surface.

Ascale is large-format sintered porcelain from the Spanish maker TAU Cerámica: a blend of minerals fired under high pressure and heat into a dense, non-porous slab. It absorbs nothing and never needs sealing, and resists scratching, staining, heat and UV, so it works on a worktop, on a floor and on an exterior façade alike. Supplied polished or in the Velvet finish, in 1.2 cm on a 162 × 324 cm slab and 0.6 cm on 160 × 320 and 120 × 280 cm slabs. The polished finish is what brings the bronze out; in matte it stays but reads quieter. Like any dark surface, it shows dust and fingerprints more than a pale one.