Smooth clay plaster

The quietest of the Clayworks classic finishes. A flat, even mineral surface that reads as depth of colour rather than texture, trowelled tight so the movement sits in the pigment and not in the relief.

Smooth is the finish to specify when the wall should recede. It is an unfired natural clay plaster, hand-applied in thin coats and closed tight with the trowel to a flat, even plane, with no deliberate relief and no polish. What you see is the clay itself: a matt mineral surface with colour carried through the body of the material rather than painted onto it. It is available across the full Clayworks colour range, from the whites and nudes through to the terracottas, browns, greys and blues, and it is an interior finish for walls and ceilings.

Smooth is the least forgiving of the classic finishes, because nothing hides in it. Every ripple in the substrate, every board joint and every change of suction across a wall will read once the light crosses it, so preparation matters more here than on any textured finish. The plaster goes on thin, then is compacted and closed while the clay is still open, and the timing of that final pass is the whole job. It is quiet work that takes a practised hand, which is why our applicators are on Earth Layers' own payroll rather than subcontracted.

In light it behaves nothing like paint. There is no film and no plastic sheen, so the surface absorbs and diffuses rather than bouncing light back at you, and the colour shifts gently through the day as the sun moves — a Nude NUD-03 wall reads warm in the afternoon and almost grey at dusk. In Dubai interiors, where the glazing is generous and the light is hard, that softening is often the reason Smooth is chosen over a flat emulsion. The surface is breathable, buffers humidity and helps hold a room between 40 and 60% RH, and has nothing to off-gas.

It ages by settling rather than degrading. Clay plaster does not yellow, and because the pigment runs through the body of the material, a knock or a scuff can be made good and re-trowelled into the wall instead of painted over. The finish contributes to WELL, LEED and Mostadam submissions.

Built work runs from the domestic to the retail and the institutional: Villa 515 in Dubai in White WHI-03, Dulong in Copenhagen, Dome House in London, Ffern in London, Omorovicza in Mayfair, Nipotina in London in Smooth Nude, Balmore House in London in Smooth NUD-03, and Massara in New York in Smooth BRO-03. Earth Layers is Clayworks' sole authorised distributor and approved applicator across the Middle East, and we both supply and install.

We will make as many trial panels as it takes to arrive at the surface you want, on the substrate you are building on. Send the finishes schedule, or come to the showroom in Riyadh and put a hand on the range.