Where a clay red comes from
Terracotta and clay make up a substantial part of this range, and their color arrives by a chemical route rather than a decorative one.
Clay dug almost anywhere contains iron compounds. Fired in an oxidizing kiln those compounds turn to the reds and oranges that everyone recognizes, and the exact tone depends on how much iron the pit held and how hot the kiln ran. Two terracotta floors from two regions are two different reds for that reason.
The rest of the page is imitating it
Glass, porcelain and ceramic are the other large materials here, and all three reach red by being told to.
A glaze mixes a red and reproduces it exactly; a glass carries it in the body. Both can be any red at all, including ones clay never produces. What they are usually asked for, though, is the terracotta range, which is why series names on this page run to cotto, brickstone and rustic.
Natural is the second finish
Glossy leads the finishes here, but natural sits close behind it, which is unusual on a color page.
Natural on a clay tile means unglazed: the fired body with nothing over it. That is the finish terracotta has had for two thousand years, and it is why a terracotta floor reads matte, slightly porous and warm where a glazed red reads as a hard bright surface.
The thickness split says the same thing
Two thickness groups dominate this page: 3/8 inch and 3/4 inch, with almost nothing between them.
Three eighths is ordinary tile. Three quarters is hand-made clay, which had to be thick to survive drying and firing. The two numbers are a clean division between the manufactured half of this range and the traditional one. Spanish reclaimed terracotta is the salvaged end of it.
Brick formats and why they recur
The size list runs to 12x12, 8x8, 6x12, 6x6, 3x12, 4x4, 4x8, 2x8 and 5x10, which is a list of small and brick-like pieces.
Red has been a brick color for as long as bricks have been fired, so the proportions follow. A red tile in a long narrow format reads as masonry whether or not it is pretending to be, and a square one reads as a floor.
Red is the hardest color to photograph
A saturated red renders badly on a screen more often than any other color, because displays reach the red end of the range less accurately than the middle of it.
The practical consequence is that a sample matters more here than on a beige or a gray. Two reds that look identical in two photographs can sit visibly apart on a wall, and the difference between a clay red and a glazed red in particular almost never survives a photograph.
Where red works
A kitchen floor, a hall, a garden room, a courtyard, a fireplace surround, a backsplash and a band inside a neutral field. It sits naturally with warm wood, iron, brass and cream, and it is the traditional floor of warm climates.
Terracotta tile is the material in full, and brown tile and mosaic the neighboring color.
