Faux is a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 word for "false".

When manufacturing faux objects or materials, an attempt is often made to create products which will resemble the imitated items as closely as possible. However, some products are intentionally made to look "faux", for example, faux furs made for prospective buyers who want their fur to be recognizable as imitation due to controversy over the use and manufacture of real animal furs.

Faux materials are produced in a variety of ways, for example faux finishes, such as Terrazzo

Terrazzo

Terrazzo is a composite material poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of marble, quartz, granite, glass or other suitable chips, sprinkled or unsprinkled, and poured with a binder that is cementitious, chemical or a combination of both...

 and scagliola

Scagliola

Scagliola , is a technique for producing stucco columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inlays in marble and semi-precious stones...

, generally made with marble dust in a plaster binder, yielding a hard material that will take a polish. To imitate marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

s, porphyry

Porphyry (geology)

Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...

, and other stones, "faux finishes" are often painted using spatterdash, sponging, and feather-streaking techniques on gessoed

Gesso

Gesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these...

 and painted surfaces.

See also

• Faux painting
  Faux painting
  Faux painting or faux finishing are terms used to describe a wide range of decorative painting techniques. The naming comes from the French word faux, meaning false, as these techniques started as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has subsequently come to...
  
   (also called faux finishing)
• Faux chateau
• Faux pas
  Faux pas
  A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...
  
   (literally false step) as in a misstep or more usually a social gaffe
• Fauxbourdon
  Fauxbourdon
  Fauxbourdon – French for false bass – is a technique of musical harmonisation used in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, particularly by composers of the Burgundian School. Guillaume Dufay was a prominent practitioner of the form, and may have been its inventor...