About

About Us

ARNO EXPORT IMPORT

ARNO EXPORT IMPORT has had numerous years of involvement in the natural handmade terracotta.

The reputation of our company has developed throughout the years by having a profound information and enthusiasm for natural terracotta product to fulfill the client's needs.

Our exclusive handmade terracotta is manufactured in our owned factory.

We use our own clay from land owned by us, the unique colour variation in our terracotta is not available elsewhere.

We have been manufacturing hanfmade terracotta since 2001.

We hold over 100,000m2 of stock. We replenish our stocks as often as we can, especially when stocks are getting low. In the unlikely event that we don't have stock, ask us when it'll be coming; we're confident you'll find our lead times quite reasonable.

• All our Terracotta Tiles are suitable for indoor and outdoor use.
• All our tiles are suitable for underfloor heating.
• All our tiles are handmade and to the highest quality.

What is handmade terracotta?
Handmade terracotta differently from the industrial one is a product which is difficult to be found on the market. Since it takes long time to be manufactured, it dose not combine with the modern market logic becouse of its production expenses and time. Manufacturing process dates back to ancient times and is extremely complex: handmend terracotta is baked in an oven by lighting a fire using about 7000 kg of wood faggots. The wood-fired oven is placed in a kind of farmhouse: on the ground floor is located the combustion chamber where wood faggots while bursting into flames expand the furnace. The baking chamber placed upstairs on the first floor containing ties, vases, and other objects is connected downstairs with the combustion chamber through some slits which enable flames to reach the right temperature and bake the terracotta manufactures. The door is walled up, thus causing a temperature increase. The various clay objects are left inside for four days. The first day temperature remains constant then it starts decrease. The whole baking process lasts 10 days.
Even if this process is still long and we consider this wood baking technique still important. For this reasons we have our experts in order to produce handmade terracotta items according to this ancient traditions, thus creating a selection of unique pieces whose sizes and shades can change.
Your handmade terracotta floor tiles will become a unique pattem recalling the flavour of anciennt times.
Do our handmade terracotta tiles resist even to very low temperatuures?
Handmade terracotta tiles like all the other handicrafted clay floor tiles are not provided with the European anti-freeze certification that certifies the frost-thaw-resistance of the floor up to 100 kg. thus guaranteeing that its surface remains unaffected by craters and clefts. For this reason these regulations are not valid, since they refer to a handmade product that is unique and unrepeatable. Only do industrial machine-pressed terracotta tiles resist to such extreme conditions, because they are machine-pressed. Whereas handmade terracotta tiles also called "soft paste terracotta" are a kind of hand-pressed terracotta tiles that develop some little craters and clefts on their own surface after the 50th freeze-thaw cycle. Handmade terracotta tiles however have always beenn used for external flooring and also for typical Tuscan roof covering, thanks to their high resistance to frost. As a matter of fact if installed on a slight sloping surface they resist to stagnant water and to water infiltration's. For this reason Terracotta tiles are frost proof suitable for outdoor use.