Cement Design: the cement that offers endless decorative possibilities

Its hallmark is decorative eco-cement and its wide range of textures. Cement Design, the Spanish company founded in 2005 that works internationally in the continuous coatings sector, stands out for offering a wide range of eco-formulated cement coatings that take on many forms and finishes.

In this article we explain what a continuous decorative cement coating is and what to bear in mind when designing with it, look at Eco Cement, the brand's most established collection, with its four grain sizes, and present the other collections Cement Design was working with when we published this article in November 2020.

What a continuous decorative cement coating is

It is a thin layer of decorative cement applied by hand, with a trowel, directly onto the substrate, with no joints and no limit on extent. In its catalogue Cement Design gives a thickness of just 1 to 3 mm, and on its website a range of 1 to 8 mm depending on the product. As it needs no pieces or cuts, the material follows the geometry of the space and unites floors, walls, ceilings and furniture in a single surface.

According to the manufacturer, its products adhere to any substrate —ceramic, wood, mosaic or plaster, among others— without the need to remove the existing material, so the work is clean, fast and produces no rubble. They can be applied indoors and outdoors, including on façades.

Cement Design's cement, conceived as an eco-friendly material, is formulated with eco-cement, minerals, water-based resins and selected aggregates, mostly of recycled origin, such as glass, textile or wood waste, among others. It is applied by hand, and maintenance requires only water and pH-neutral soap.

Beyond floors and walls

Cement Design's coating goes beyond floors and walls. The decorative cement can also be applied to different supports such as furniture, sculptures or paintings. Cement Design works with specialist furniture companies, lighting companies and also with artists such as sculptors and painters, and on any type of surface, whether outdoors or indoors. The material therefore aims to be a natural, distinctive decorative solution that fits any space.

We would also like to highlight its great versatility, as it is a material that can be customised to the client's needs and tastes, with good results both aesthetically and functionally.

What it brings to a project

These are the criteria worth weighing up when specifying a Cement Design continuous coating:

• Seamless continuity: because it is applied continuously, no joints are created, and joints are usually the main point where dirt and bacteria accumulate. The surface is easier to clean and reads as a single plane.
• Clean work over what is already there: it is laid over the existing finish without demolishing it, a clear advantage when refurbishing homes, shops and hotels that remain in operation.
• Minimal thickness: a few millimetres are enough to cover floors, walls, ceilings and furniture with the same material and the same finish.
• Custom colour: according to the manufacturer, more than 1,500 colours. Its own colour card has more than 120 references, which can be mixed with one another, and is completed with 980 interior and 322 exterior NCS colours.
• Low emissions: according to the brand itself, Cement Design holds the EMICODE label, which guarantees very low emissions of volatile organic compounds from building materials.

As the colours on the card are indicative, the manufacturer itself recommends a colour test on site before applying the coating to the whole surface.

Eco Cement, the benchmark collection

Four products, from ultra-fine to coarse grain.

Eco Cement is the company's most established collection. It has a very elegant cementitious texture and offers endless decorative options. Through different grain sizes, it brings together four products with different finishes and uses: Eco Cement Classic, Eco Cement Concret, Eco Cement Transit and Eco Cement Rustic.

The choice depends mainly on use. Classic and Concret are the finest finishes and are associated with walls and surfaces where a smooth texture is sought; Transit and Rustic, with a larger grain, are designed for heavily trafficked floors, such as shops, offices or public spaces.

Cement Design's other collections

When we published this article, Cement Design had seven collections —Eco Cement, Microterrazzo, Porocret, Nature, Glass, Metallic and Textil— and an innovative range of finishes and metallic glazes. These are the other lines, as the manufacturer presented them.

Metallic

It reproduces the appearance of metals and their alloys with six products: Acero, Cobre, Zinc, Bronce, Latón and Aluminio. Acero recreates oxidised Corten steel and, according to the manufacturer, its magnetic properties allow magnets to be attached. Cobre is based on the patina left by the spontaneous corrosion of copper and suits surfaces, sculptures and furniture.

Glass

Eco-cementitious coatings with shiny, reflective effects inspired by minerals. It consists of four products —Diamante, Zirconio, Turmalina and Pirita— distinguished by their stone-like texture and their sparkle.

Microterrazzo

A reinterpretation of Venetian terrazzo: a cement-based coating with glass aggregates, suitable for floors and furniture. It comes in the Veneziana, Pietra, Murano, Mate and Fluor lines; the last of these incorporates a photoluminescent effect that glows in the dark.

Porocret

It reproduces exposed concrete in a thickness of just 2 to 3 mm. Porocret Floor covers interior floors in dry areas and has a fast-drying version, Rapid, designed for furniture. Porocret Wall achieves the effect of board-formed concrete on interior or exterior walls and ceilings, also in dry areas.

Nature and Textil

Nature takes nature as its reference and incorporates recycled particles in five products: Rattan; Mukali, with wood shavings; Raphia, with recycled natural aggregates; Hebra, with plant fibres; and Quercus, with recycled wood. Textil, inspired by fabrics and urban fashion, includes natural fibres of recycled origin in Denim, Tricolor, Natur Tex and Jeans; Tricolor is reserved for interior walls and furniture.

Finishes and glazes

They complete any of the brand's coatings. The Plata, Oro and Cobre glazes add a metallic sheen, and the Pizarra finish allows the surface to be written on with chalk and, according to the manufacturer, also made magnetic.

The manufacturer

Cement Design was founded in 2005 by Jorge Hernández and Carolina Valencia. It started out in high-end construction and refurbishment and, with the crisis in the Spanish construction sector, specialised in decorative cement. It manufactures at its own production facility in Pantoja (Toledo) and, according to the company, is present in more than 60 countries, with applications totalling over 3 million square metres.

A continuous coating is best understood by seeing its texture, colour and finish up close. At Matter we help you compare continuous coatings with other floor and wall materials and choose the right solution for each project.