By Louis Iannaco
With all the new technology available today, the amount of ceramic tile offerings continue to increase each year. Whether it’s a realistic slate look, a smoother, more contemporary texture or accents such as borders, metals and glass mosaics, ceramic factories have the ability to achieve seemingly whatever looks they want and whatever designers, architects and consumers desire. And at Surfaces, those in attendance got to indulge themselves in the latest, state-of-the-art designs the marketplace has to offer.

At Dal-Tile, officials were thrilled with the reception the company’s new products received. As for the products themselves, marketing director Lori Kirk-Rolley described the mill’s new Metro Leather series as having a “worn leather look. It has rich color, with deep visualization. The only real movement in the product is in the areas where it looks like the leather has aged and crinkled.”

Metro Leather is a rectified, glazed porcelain designed for both residential and commercial projects. Five colors and five sizes are available. It also comes with accents and a full trim package with bullnose and cove base.
The Vibe series is another new product from the company, featuring a pindot visual with subtle veining. Six colors are available in either an unpolished or light polished finish.

In Mannington’s booth, no new product received more accolades than the mill’s Seregenti Slate, a through body porcelain featuring a dramatic natural slate visual created by the company’s Natural Variation technology. The product comes in three colors and four sizes along with two-inch mosaics.

“We’ve been able to replicate the look of natural slate and yet take out all the associated problems you have with a natural like maintenance, high-low issues and huge shade variations,” said Jay Carpenter, Mannington’s national sales manager of porcelain and ceramic tile. “Everybody has been interested in Serengeti Slate. We have a product, designed for the North American consumer, with the right textures, colors and sizes.”

At StonePeak, the Touch and American Collections were introduced. Touch is a through-color porcelain series that draws its inspiration from genuine leather by reproducing its texture. The collection consists of six colors and two sizes. Touch also adds a frame stitch décor, which reproduces the stitching of handcrafted leather, and two blended mosaics.

The American Collection celebrates the diverse landscapes of America. Alaska represents the variation of colors of the remote northern wilderness, while Arizona replicates the hues of the southern deserts. American is also a through-color porcelain available in four sizes, and is complemented by trims and mosaics.

At Imagine Tile, which returned to Surfaces after a three-year absence, the company created quite a buzz with its colorful collection of tiles called TileArt, a residential product line; bringing themed environments to the home.

“Tile Art captures the very expensive look of hand painting on tile with our state-of-the-art high-resolution graphic imagery, in which the design becomes a permanent part of the tile, allowing us to offer this high-end product at a much lower price,” said Christian McAuley, president.

The line was launched with four themed collections to start. Each will offer a mural as well as coordinating accents and field tile.

The company also offers Flower Power, a line designed by TV gardening and design guru Rebecca Cole. Flower Power is a modern organic line of tiles featuring photo realistic blooming buds and original graphic designs.

At Interceramic, national product manager John Kimmel spoke of the mill’s In Design line, a collection that has “textiles, crystals, leathers, completely different looks from most of our competitors. The metallics and the glass have been gathering a lot of attention. Everybody knows Interceramic is very good regarding the commodity and mid-range products. We needed to show them we could be very aggressive in that super high-end category. But we are bringing it out at prices much less than all the competitors in that range.”

At FritzTile, sales manager John Blanton, mentioned the company’s environmental products as creating quite a buzz at the show. “Our glass and recycled products have been the main focus so far. The comments have been very positive.”

At the Tile of Spain pavilion, companies like Roca showcased its New Look series, a new ceramic-look tile. Made with Roca’s exclusive Rock & Rock technology, it exhibits all the outstanding qualities of ceramic tile. Available in larger formats, this tile comes in an array of different hues.

At Rocersa, the tile talked about most was Krypton Clown, a solid white body tile available in 10 colors.

At Apavisa, the Lava series was the highlight. Designed to mimic industrial poured concrete, it is actually a durable ceramic tile designed to withstand hot and cold temperatures as well as moisture. Applications include use in an outdoor lap pool, hot tub and cabana. It is offered in a large format tile measuring 48 x 52 inches.