Imoges, in general is famous for its porcelain/ceramics. Im sure there
must be a tile manufacturer there too, but no idea what it might be called.
Most largish towns have tile warehouses/showrooms or just go to your local Bricodepot to have a look. Personally, I wouldn’t consider “porcelain” tiles, just a non-glossy normal ceramic.
Very hard (shiny) surface, not so easy to work with, cut, drill etc (and expensive ). It’s always a personal thing, go take a look and get the ones you like and don’t worry too much how they’re made, as long as they’re fit for purpose, like don’t put thin cheap shiny white wall tiles on the floor (or anywhere for that matter)
They don’t have to be shiny. And shouldn’t be - that’s just plain dangerous in a bathroom
We laid black porcelain tiles in a bathroom in the UK. They looked great because the black of porcelain is very black. And they weren’t shiny.
Regettably, one can. The tiles in the shower room of the hostal I used to stay in in Valencia were like ice when wet. Lethal. You’d think el patron would know better but like everything else in the place, they were probably a cheap job-lot.
Over thirty years ago, I put a marble floor in the bathroom of my new apartment - super smooth and absolutely lethal when wet. Incidentally, I think walk-in showers have just become obligatoire in France - no more stepping downfrom a raised shower tray onto a wet, tiled floor.
Colin Richards, a leading S African artist and academic had a mishap from such a manouevre a couple of years ago, banged his head and very sadly died the following day.
On the other hand tumbled antique finish travertine isn’t slippery, feels great underfoot; and is even better with an underfloor heating mat. Had that combo for fiteen years in the UK and am installing similar in our new en- suite and will probably also use it when we refresh the original bathroom. It’s also much cheaper than you might expect and the price compares well with that of decent tiles.
There are anti slip coatings you can get to stop the Torville and Dean antics. A good one available in France we used around swimming pools for obvious reasons. I can look out the details if anyone’s interested.
There is so much to love about France, I suspect the reason most of us are here is because it’s such an incredible place, but I have to say more and more one of my favourite quirks is that 80% of websites look like they’re from 1998. It never fails to make me smile!