Surface: lapped (LAPPATO)

Lapped surface, or Lappato

The lappato technique is used to smooth the surface of the tile with fine irregular grinding. On the tiles, there is an effcient contrast of gloss and matte that highlights the top relief or printed structure. Unlike classical polishing, the surface is polished only at the thickness of several tenths of a millimeter, which makes it possible to use this technique primarily on glazed sintered tiles. With lapping, we encounter relief ceramic tiles where there is a contrast between the trapped top and the unpainted bottom, but also in finely printed micrograph surfaces, which can be reminiscent of satin natural stones after lapping.