Two families of ecological, recyclable and virucidal materials.
Solid Surface
With their famous “soft touch” effect and their beauty similar to polished natural stone, our solid surfaces consist for the most part of mineral fillers – aluminium trihydrates above all – bound by natural Biobased® resins derived from corn of controlled origin. The exclusive formulations, created in our laboratories, make them hygienic, silky, resistant, printable and easily workable, if necessary, for cuts and punctures.
Our core business has always been bathroom fittings – shower trays, bathtubs and washbasins – although over the years these materials have been used by the most important brands of high-end furnishings for tables, modular walls, accessories and kitchen sinks.
Our solid surface materials are:
– Cristalplant®
Cristalplant® is known for its beauty similar to natural stone with a soft touch effect. It is a material consisting mostly of mineral fillers of high purity aluminium trihydrates, bound by resins of vegetable origin (corn) Resistant and printable even with important variations in thickness and undercuts, it can be easily processed on site using standard tools. Cristalplant® was created in our laboratories and, thanks to the new 2020 formulation, has acquired virucidal (tested with Sars-Cov-2), antifungal and self-cleaning properties. For over twenty years it has been used in the production of shower trays, bathtubs and washbasins by the most important international designers for high-end bathroom fittings.
– Solid®
Solid® is a state-of-the-art technical material, consisting mainly of aluminium trihydrate mineral fillers, bonded by high purity acrylic and polyester resins. Solid® is easy to work with wood tools and, created in our laboratories, thanks to the 2020 formulation it has become a bactericidal, antifungal and self-cleaning material. For years it has been appreciated for its excellent quality/price ratio for the production of standard shower trays, bathtubs and washbasins.
Cast Marble
Our cast marble materials are available in multiple finishes, both matt and glossy. They are much more performing materials than ceramic – which they are replacing on the market – because they have superior technical characteristics: they guarantee greater resistance even with lower thicknesses, in addition to having the possibility of obtaining dimensions unthinkable for other materials such as ceramic, glass and acrylic.
The high-quality finishes in the glossy version are comparable to glass, while maintaining exceptional technical performance. The production flexibility also allows for chromatic variability and unparalleled repetitiveness, with minimum tolerances.
Our cast marble materials are:
– Ceramilux®
Ceramilux® is a material made up mostly of mineral fillers (stone powder from the Friulian Dolomites) and polyester resins which can also be mixed with recycled PET resins. The technical enamel film that covers the surface can be both matt and glossy and is a polyester acrylate that allows to obtain very high scratch resistance. Thanks to the new formulation, developed in 2020, it has the characteristic of being bacteriostatic. The aesthetics, in addition to the mechanical and chemical properties, make Ceramilux® ideal for bathroom fittings, ensuring a wide versatility in the development of washbasins, bathtubs and shower trays.
– Mineralmarmo®
Mineralmarmo® is a mineral compound which, in an opaque finish, is similar to natural stone, while high-gloss it has a brilliance of 80 gloss and a mirror polish. Furthermore, for shower trays, thanks to an application in the pre-molding phase, it can be colored. Mineralmarmo® is coated with a technical enamel film called Gelcoat, which makes it extremely resistant and the internal part produced with calcium carbonate powder from the Italian Dolomites, bonded together with polyester resin which can be mixed with PET-based resins recycled. It is also widely used for the production of washbasins and shower trays for public spaces, resisting daily steam sanitization, so as to guarantee the regulatory standards of the most demanding countries, such as Germany. Thanks to the new generation technical enamel film – both glossy and opaque – the scratch resistance is unparalleled; also the possibility of having a technical enamel with virucidal properties (tested with Sars-Cov-2).
Technical features
The qualities common to all our materials
For designers
For users
For the environment
Not just pure white
Our materials are painted externally according to the customer’s request – from the RAL scale or from a sample – with finishes ranging from the rubbery soft touch effect to the embossed, to the satin or special finishes such as corten.
In 2016 we launched the shower trays in the 5 trendiest colours on the market, while in 2020 we have introduced the possibility of creating coloured washbasins based on samples supplied by the customer, in combination with the colour of the cabinet in which the washbasin is fitted.
Green materials
All our materials are eco-sustainable thanks to three unique qualities
Biobased® formula and recycled PET formula
We are the only company in the world to produce Biobased® solid surface: the origin of the resins is derived from corn.
Furthermore, the weight reduction of the Biobased bathtubs – 30% less than the competitors – also allows a lower consumption of CO2 generated by transport.
For Mineralmarmo, the resins that were previously of fossil origin have been replaced with eco-sustainable recycled PET resins.
These values have allowed our materials to obtain the Gold Certificate Green Guard by LEED® (the US classification system for energy efficiency and ecological footprint): we are the only ones to propose these 2 innovations.
100% recyclable materials
Already today, 8% of the mineralmarmo used to produce Nicos washbasins and shower trays is made up of its own processing waste, (sprues and casting waste) which are reintroduced into the production cycle.
At the end of their life cycle, our materials are reused as a construction fund, but in the future, as soon as European legislation and logistics allow it, they can return to be 100% recycled to be reborn in new products according to the C2C logic. (Cradle to Cradle).
The ratio between waste produced and raw materials introduced into our production departments is equal to 12% and today 30% of this waste is already recycled. The goal is to recycle 60% of it by 2022.
Virucidal anti-COVID-19 materials (tested with SARS-CoV-2)
From September 2020 nicos can produce materials (defined CF = covidfree) bactericidal and virucidal: the virus elimination mechanism of our materials is given by their catalytic action: irrefutable laboratory tests highlight the ruptures of the membrane and cell walls of bacteria and viruses, including coronavirus when they come into contact with the surface.
On August 28, 2020, the test report released by UOCMV confirms that “the surfaces of the “COVID free” Nicos International materials showed virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2 after a contact time of 30′ and 60′“.
Target
The positioning of our materials in the market
– Cristalplant®
ultra matt solid surface
– Solid®
matt solid surface
– Ceramilux®
polished or matt cast marble
– Mineralmarmo®
polished or matt cast marble