Durat speckles

The possibilities

Date: 11.08.2024

Sample swatches of Durat overlaid with large black speckles and minerals from a paint mill for the Palace collection

Endless colour combinations

Durat is available in hundreds of vibrant colour bases, including the RAL Classic chart, and the multidimensional surface can also be custom tinted. With nine standard patterns that can be mixed in, Durat can have clear, white, black or multicolour speckles. The speckle colour and pattern can effect the look of the base colour, often appearing deeper or warmer depending on the speckle.

Here is a breakdown of the speckle options:

Classic speckles

Small in size, classic speckle patterns are available across Durat Classic and RAL colour bases. The subtle terrazzo look is achieved by mixing in crushed flecks of recycled plastic in production. Classic speckles are the base price level which includes a mix of clear, black and white, grey, grey mix and sparse or dense multicolour speckles. The dense multicolour speckle is made with production surplus and recycled sheets of Durat.

Explore the images below showing the difference between the 00 clear speckles and the effect of adding standard speckle patterns with the related colour codes.

Durat D0840 840-00 sage green with clear speckle swatch showing 00 code, next to D030-01 (031) grey showing black speckles and 01 code.

00 Clear speckles | 01 Black speckles

Durat 080 + 02 D0080-82 (082) blue solid surface plus sparse multicolour speckles with 02 code. Durat RAL7040-03 a warm grey with white speckles overlaid with a 03 code.

02 Sparse multicolour speckles | 03 White speckles

Durat pink with clear speckles vs 04 adding white and black speckles. Darker colours showing 05 means adding grey speckles

04 Black and white speckles | 05 Grey speckles

Durat darker colours with 06 speckles means adding light and grey mix speckles. durat 650 purple plus 08 dense multicolour speckles

06 Mix grey speckles | 08 Dense multicolour speckles

Helping speckles

Darker and more vivid colours usually need contrasting speckles to improve how the surface performs and shows wear. Often called helping speckles, they create a more varied appearance that's easier to care for. For example a dark blue base colour like Durat D0700 or RAL5003 would not be produced with 00 clear speckles, but works better as D0700-04 (704) or RAL5003-02.

The most common helping speckle patterns are 02, 03, 04, 05 and 06. Even small scratches can be more visible in darker colours, so those colours are better suited to applications that aren't subject to heavy wear.

Examples of speckle patterns on Durat RAL5003 base with 02 multicolour speckles, 03 white speckles, 04 white and black speckles or 05 grey speckles.

RAL5003-02 | RAL5003-03 | RAL5003-04 | RAL5003-05

Large speckles

Large speckles are produced by crushing waste plastics to a larger granule size, around 10mm. Because of the larger size and different production methods, sheets and sinks with large speckles or speckles from the Palace Collection are in a higher price group.

Large speckles and the Durat Palace Collection colours are less visible in sink basins because of the way washbasins are cast. Depending on the design intent they can still be specified and will match in tone and colour but won't look the same as the work surface. Alternatively sinks can be cast in the same base colour with a standard small speckle or a contrasting colour to highlight the difference. If a uniform appearance is needed, sinks can also be fabricated from sheets, typically clad on a stainless steel sink base which is also useful for accommodating boiling taps.

Durat D0740-00 blue with clear speckles vs -50 with large clear speckles. Durat 7047 with 00 speckles versus adding large black 51 speckles

50 Large clear speckles | 51 Large black speckles

Durat white D0100 with 00 speckles vs. adding 52 large multicolour speckles creates a colourful terrazzo on a white background made of recycled plastic. Next to light blue plus large white 53 speckles.

52 Large multicolour speckles | 53 Large white speckles

Durat Palace sink in Gin daisy, showing the visibility of the large speckles

Large speckles less visible in cast sink basin

Durat contrasting sink basin in turquoise against Durat Palace Martini worktop

Contrasting sink basin colour integrated with sheets

Durat P001 Greyhound worktop with Durat D030-00 sink basin

Wash basin in D030-00 the same base colour as DP001 worktops

Custom speckles

It is possible to mix small and large speckles to create custom patterns from existing granules. The Durat Palace Collection is a range of 16 curated colours using shimmering minerals from a 17th Century paint mill. These colourful shimmering speckles can be also used to customise speckle patterns. Any customised speckle pattern will be made to order at a premium price with additional production and sampling time.

Gold speckles from the palace collection P001 Greyhound, P006 Black Velvet, P010 Blue Hawaii and P010 Midori Sour all show Red Palace speckles.

Gold Palace Collection speckles | Red Palace Collection speckles

Turqouise and Green Palace Speckles from Durat P009 Mint Julep and P005 Cuba Libre vs P014 Kombu Milk and the most popular Durat Martini 007

Turquoise Palace Collection speckles | Green Collection Palace speckles

Durat D0100-50 plus Gold Palace speckles

Bespoke R&D

Beyond customising patterns from existing speckles, designers can specify small or large speckles tinted, cast and granulated from RAL classic colours. If standard Durat or RAL base colours don't quite suit, the base can also be custom tinted to match a Pantone colour, tile or paint colour. These need a sample for production to colour match against, and are made with an R&D process to achieve the closest possible match, which requires an additional charge, time and sampling.