Dune wood effect with mosaic

News
Spanish tile producer Grespania is opening a new UK subsidiary in Yorkshire. The site will include a showroom and a distribution centre, aimed to stimulate trade in the UK.

The sales staff will be trained in Holland, where a Grespania centre has been functioning successfully across the Benelux countries for almost 15 years.

Trends
A noticeable trend at Cevisama was the number of manufacturers that previously only targeted consumers now offering products aimed at the world of major projects.

After years of wall and floor tile ranges being matched as complete series, 2008 sees them going their separate ways.

Cevisama in Spain highlighted this division with wall tiles in florals, colours and luxurious wall paper imitations to dress the room. In contrast, floor tiles have gone for a natural look, dominated by the colours of sand, stone, dark earth tones or concrete. Special effects are achieved using LED lighting built into the tiles, glass and crystal inserts and glitter effects, both on tiles and as part of the tile joints.

The Italian brand Novabel even offered tile joints with sparkling grout.

These joints between tiles, whether for commercial projects or domestic use, seem to become narrower year on year.

Arpa Luce

This is due in part to a trend for rectified tiles, whose edges are ground square after firing and also to the current popularity of tiles that mimic natural stone or wood that would be butt jointed.

Ibero calls its new floor series Architect, a porcelain inspiration that looks like marble with the potential to etch a company logo or name into the surface, as a marketing plus for commercial users. Architect was shown on both wall and floor with a matching décor tile offering an elegant metallic stripe to create a warm atmosphere.

Knock on wood
Wood-effect tiles in every format ranging from parquet to planks to antique weathered boards were at the show, in maintenance-free, hard wearing porcelain stoneware, ideal for commercial premises.

Spanish company Dune impressed show visitors with tiles in gold, coconut, mango and wood imitations.

The ceramic industry is looking for new areas for its products, especially porcelain ranges in wood finishes.

Dune suggested porcelain-like wooden planking not only for the bathroom but also for outside areas like swimming pools, using the frost, stain and weatherproof properties of porcelain to good effect. Dune raised plenty of interest with architects at the show by relieving the wood effect with interesting mosaic designs.

This company is not the only one with perfect wood imitations. The whole industry is pointing in that direction.

Aparici has different wood designs in all sorts of sizes and we thought that the new range Jungle had a touch of genius, it looked so much like the real thing.

In addition, Porcelanosa and sister company Venis had their wood collections called Par-ker and Model Vintage in their own showrooms at Castellón where visitors were surprised to discover that the tiles were not really made of wood.

Why is this new development important? Over the years the tile-market has struggled with the cold image of floors, especially natural stone imitations.

With the increased popularity of underfloor heating, the natural insulating properties of real wood become a drawback. The tile look-alikes offer the same cozy atmosphere as wood, but with a more durable surface and this trend is even extending into the bedroom, where underfloor heating is beginning to see tiles take over from traditional carpet.

Some new fitting systems are coming to the fore, and in particular for fixing floor tiles without mortar or adhesive.

Tau moved in this direction with its own version of non adhesive tiling called Dry System, featuring a slim framework beneath the tiles. Roca also promoted this idea, calling it Prêt a Porter. These are click together floor tiling systems with the added advantage of reducing the echo effect and sound transmission associated with conventional tiling.

As dark shades of near to black and beige dominate floor tiling, the classic black and white chequer-board pattern has made a comeback. Pamesa combined this with the series Relieve Tokio. As floor tiles are often used on the wall, some producers are thinking in the opposite direction. One such is Vives, offering a shiny linen effect for a walking area. The whole range at this factory is called Fusion de Estilos and that sums up what has happened in Spain: a complete fusion of styles; the same direction that haute couture has gone in recent years.

Classic and modern designs are matched, wood goes with metal, mosaics counterpoint large tiles and so on. Great innovation may not occur in floor tiles, as its place today seems to be to stay natural and neutral. It is however – as the advertisements say – size that counts, with porcelain formats finished in light oak planking that measure 16 x 98.2 cm in the Woo series seen at Ceracasa and also the 45 x 90 cm Stardust range at Edilcuoghi that combines the look of wood and cement.

Arpa is promoting its larger sizes into the UK and local opinion is that these are gaining in popularity. Their series Luce in modular sizes also makes a tempting combination for both walls and floors.

Showroom presentation has become an increasingly important part of the marketing mix, with better literature offering high quality images and more information; not only at the fair but also for clients. Britons at the show agreed that the UK is fast coming into line with the rest of Europe in terms of sizes and new designs, commenting that the success of the new series offered at the show will depend upon how they are presented in our showrooms and of course, with the right marketing back up.

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