Corduroy, handcrafted

A rib extruded into the clay, not pressed onto it.

Sizes
Three
Body
Half inch red clay
Glaze colors
77 stocked as samples
Made in
Gardena, California

Corduroy collection

Six ways to work in Corduroy

A ribbed surface is extruded into the clay body before firing, so the texture is structural, not applied.

Built on a rich, robust red clay body, half an inch thick with a square edge, a warm and earthy foundation beneath the surface. Because the fluted channels are cut into the raw clay, the glaze becomes dynamic. It pools deep within the grooves, darkening to reveal the clay's underlying depth, while pulling tight and reading lighter on the ridges. The result is a high contrast interplay between the red clay and the shifting light of the room.

Run it vertically for height, or horizontally for breadth. A floor and wall tile in three sizes, 4x4, 2x8 and 4x8, every one of them available in both our Premium High Fire and Signature Low Fire glazes.

Made to order. Corduroy is not one of the in stock Studio sizes, so it is made in the glaze you choose rather than pulled off the floor. Ask us about lead time before you specify a date.

Corduroy 4x4 in Oxford Blue, Rhino and Blue Haze

Sizes

Three sizes, one face

The flute is the constant. The size decides how often it repeats across a wall, and how the light breaks over it.

  • Corduroy 4x4 laid as a field, ARTO

    Field tile

    4x4

    Corduroy

    The square. The rib repeats most often here, so a wall of 4x4 reads as the finest of the three. Turn a tile and the flutes cross.

    Nominal 4x4
    Actual 3 7/8 x 3 7/8
    Glazes High fire, low fire
    See this size
  • Corduroy 2x8 laid as a field, ARTO

    Field tile

    2x8

    Corduroy

    The plank, and the narrowest face. Long and low, closest to a brick proportion, with a joint every eight inches to break the run.

    Nominal 2x8
    Actual 1 3/4 x 8 1/8
    Glazes High fire, low fire
    See this size
  • Corduroy 4x8 laid as a field, ARTO

    Field tile

    4x8

    Corduroy

    The largest face and the fewest joints. The same rib over more surface, so the texture carries and the grid recedes.

    Nominal 4x8
    Actual 3 7/8 x 8 1/8
    Glazes High fire, low fire
    See this size

Corduroy is a Studio field tile with the flute extruded into its face, so everything Studio wears fits it. Same half inch red body, same square edge, and the same trim set. Sizes are nominal and actual, the name a tile goes by and the dimension a caliper reads.

Corduroy 2x8 and 4x4, laid together

Glazing

Two programs, seventy six colors

Two firing methods, two palettes. All three Corduroy sizes are open to both, so the choice is the color and not the range.

  • Signature Low Fire Fifty six colors The broad palette. Whites, greys, browns, the whole spectrum through to the greens.
  • Premium High Fire Twenty colors A shorter, earthier range. Ash, May Gray, Black Diamond, Leather, Pueblo Red, Copper, Elder Green.

Finish Gloss, Satin and Matte across the two programs. Forty seven of the colors are gloss.

Body Corduroy is made on the Monrovia red body bisque, the same body as Studio, Oleson, Monrovia, 3D Ceramic, Scirocco and Peninsula.

The difference The two programs are fired by different methods. Nothing in the range is limited to one of them.

Availability Any color in the palette below can be run on Corduroy. The size pages carry a shorter list, because photography for the rest is still being made. Order the chip and ask us.

Working from an older sample board

  • Ice Storm is now Celeste Blue
  • Aqua is now Sea Foam
  • Turtle is now Tortoise
  • Alabaster is now Linen

No image of a glaze is the glaze. Order a chip before you commit a wall to a color.

Ceramic glaze colors

Seventy six colors, order the chip

Laid out so a family reads as a family. Click any square to order that color as a chip.

Signature Low Fire Fifty six

Premium High Fire Twenty

A screen is not a glaze. These squares are photographs of fired samples and they shift with your monitor, the room and the light. Order the chip, put it on the wall, and look at it at three different hours before you specify it.

Trim and accessories

Forty two pieces for the edges

The trim is where a tile job stops looking like a tile job. All of it in both glaze programs, all of it on the same red body.

  • Surface Bullnose

    Eight pieces

    A finished edge where the tile stops.

    6x6, 4x4 and 3x3, each with a matching corner, plus a 3x6 in long side and short side.

  • Cove Base

    Eight pieces

    The transition from floor to wall.

    6x6 and 3x6, flat top or bullnose top, with inside and outside corners, plus base moulding plain or with a cove.

  • Liners

    Eight pieces

    A thin line of color to break up a field or cap a run.

    Pencil in five eighths and one inch, square, grooved, Pinnacle in one and two inch, the P liner and the staged liner.

  • Mouldings and Rails

    Twelve pieces

    Relief and shadow where a wall changes plane.

    Moulding A and B, five numbered profiles, two chair rails, Waterbury, Cornice and Rutland.

  • Quarter Round and Beak

    Four pieces

    A soft return on an outside edge.

    Quarter round and inside quarter round, the quarter round beak, and the inside beak corner.

  • V Cap

    Two pieces

    A capped edge for a counter or a step.

    The cap and its corner.

The trim is the Studio trim, unchanged, so the pieces are smooth. The flute is on the field tile and the trim runs into it plain. It is the same set that serves Studio, Oleson and Monrovia, so a piece you find here will turn up on those pages too. We will send nominal sizes with a quote.

Applications

Where Corduroy can go

Seven ratings, and Corduroy carries all seven. Ask us before you specify a floor or an exterior, because the glaze matters as much as the body.

  • Floors Floors Rated to walk on, glazed or unglazed.
  • Walls Walls Interior and exterior wall work, the series' most common use.
  • Indoor Indoor Kitchens, baths, hearths and any interior surface.
  • Outdoor Outdoor Exterior walls, courtyards and covered outdoor rooms.
  • Pedestrian Pedestrian Foot traffic, including commercial floors.
  • Pools Pools Pools, fountains, and any surface that stays submerged.Requires an overglaze
  • Freeze / Thaw Freeze / Thaw Holds up where water freezes in the surface.

The overglaze is for submerged work only. A bath, a shower or a splash zone does not need one; a pool or a fountain does. Ratings describe the tile and not every piece around it, so a liner is not a floor tile and a chair rail is not a stair tread. Send us the drawing and we will tell you what the trim can take.

Custom is the standard

Two pieces or ten thousand

We started as a custom shop and we still run that way. Send a chip. Bring a swatch. Show us what you're building. We match a glaze to a color you already have, cut shapes that do not exist yet, and turn your own artwork into a handpainted design. A sample is fired before any production commitment.

  • Custom Color
  • Custom Shape
  • Historical Match
  • Color Match
  • Two Pieces
  • Two Pallets

The material

Built to outlast the install

The craft is in the maker's hands. The performance is in the fired clay body. ARTO publishes CSI 3-Part specifications and installation guides so architects and designers can specify with confidence.

  • The mix

    Red Body and Blonde Body Ceramic

    Handcrafted in Gardena from high fired terracotta. Most of the line is a red body at half an inch. CLARA and the Tierra Madre decos are a blonde body. Every piece is made by hand, so thickness and size vary across a run.

  • The color

    Ceramic Glaze Palette

    Signature Low Fire, Premium High Fire and Metallic glazes, with seventy seven stocked as samples. Shade variation runs from V2 to V4 depending on the glaze. Four series carry a range of their own.

  • The documentation

    Specs and Downloads

    A CSI 3-Part master specification covers clay tile, 09 30 13 Quarry Tile. Cleaning, efflorescence and sealing guides are in the technical library.

  • The application

    Walls, Floors and Wet Areas

    It varies by series. The Studio field is rated for interior and exterior walls and floors, and for wet and freeze thaw conditions. Scirocco, Peninsula and Silk Road are interior. CLARA is a wall tile.

  • The industry

    Industry Standards

    Member of TCNA, NTCA, and CTDA. Custom products are available with project-specific testing on request.

  • The decision

    Sampling

    Always order a sample before you commit. What you see on a screen is not what your hand will know in the room. Samples ship from our Gardena facility.

Material truth

Rustic Elegance

Rough and refined at the same time. A handcrafted edge where no two pieces are exactly alike. Glaze fired over handmade clay, in a palette that reads differently at every hour of the day.

It is not a marketing phrase. It is a material truth. Far from perfect, and that is the whole point.