Crossville’s Barbara Schirmeister and Frank Douglas

By Louis Iannaco
Las Vegas—While there remains no doubt that one of the main reasons for the popularity of ceramic tile the last few years has to do with bringing nature indoors, tile producers seem to be offering a more refined, subtle look of late. Urban contemporary styling and finishes mixed with a palette of natural, darker colors could be seen in many of the booths at Surfaces 2007.

Also quite prevalent at the show was the trending toward larger format tiles, smaller and thinner grout lines, more rectified product, mosaic tiles, glass and metal offerings as well as more floor and wall combinations than ever before.

At Daltile, several product lines were added to the company’s portfolio, as well as new elements to three of its existing collections and two slab colors. “These new products, which range from stained concrete looks to beautiful medallions, fit perfectly with the current demand for modern, contemporary looks and linear sizes, said Lori Kirk-Rolley, marketing director.

“There are four major trends happening right now,” she explained. “The first we see is a more modern, contemporary look. It is a little more mono-chromatic, sleeker, linear look. The second is the use of rectalinear sizes—12 x 18 inches, maybe 6 x 20 inches A little bit more elongated sizes. The third is the use of metal and glass. Glass in design with a ceramic or natural stone. The last one I would say is patterns or patterning, using different sizes together in designs, whether it be on the floor or in the backsplash.”

At Crossville’s booth, the word was Mood or, Buenos Aires Mood to be correct. The company touted the launch of its new Porcelain Stone tile series that “outperforms Mother Nature’s best—while paying homage to Argentina’s famous city and its people.”

Using Multistrato, a proprietary technology three years in the making, Mood was created to allow for subtle shading and flow from tile to tile in each of the colorways.

“There is fluidity and movement within this tile—think tango!—that has been virtually impossible to capture using more traditional manufacturing methods,” said Barbara Schirmeister, Crossville’s color and design consultant.

Frank Douglas, Crossville’s new vice president of business development, said of Mood, “there is no tile like it anywhere in that no two pieces are the same. It’s got a real natural stone visual to it and in colors not always found in nature. It gives you a nice variety.”

At Graniti Fiandre, minimalist looks dominated. “Our NewGround materials, which feature a soft appearance and smooth, honed finish, is our hottest seller right now,” said Jeanne Nichols, vice president of sales and marketing for Graniti Fiandre operations in the United States.

“We’re finding a real trend toward minimalistic,” she explained. “We believe much of this has to do with urban living such as lofts. People are looking for something smooth and calm. What we did with our NewGround is we’ve used it to expand our GeoDesign Projects collection. It uses the same elements that created our four new geometric patterns.”

Graniti Fiandre also debuted its NewCo.de Contemporary Design Collection at the show. NewCo.de plays upon the modern trend of utilizing understated, reclaimed materials in sophisticated interior design settings. “NewCo.de consumers are minimalists who prefer unobtrusive, yet stylish surfaces,” said Nichols. “NewCo.de meets and exceeds their desires for sophisticated appearance and simplicity in a refined style created with the utmost environmental sensitivity.”

Also new for the company was its Platinum collection, characterized by a “shapes-in-motion” aesthetic created through a succession of textured check or triangular wave patterns. “Platinum actually originated from one of our national accounts,” said Nichols. “We developed this particular product from Fiat. From that technology they’ve expanded the line to include four colors in grid and chevron patterns. It’s a spin of the metal look many are doing in Graniti Fiandre style.”

With technology playing such an increasingly large role in the ceramic tile and stone arena, the buzz at the Questech booth had to do with its Q-Seal process. Questech’s new tumble marble with Q-Seal technology was being touted as the only tumbled marble with a factory-applied lifetime sealer.

“Q-Seal is a permanent factory-applied sealer that is guaranteed for life to protect Questech’s new tumbled marble tiles from the effects of water and stains,” said Gary Marmer, vice president of marketing. “The addition of Ultra-Fresh inhibits the growth of stain and odor-causing mold and mildew. This mold inhibitor is also factory-applied and will not lose its effectiveness over time.”

Azuvi, based in Spain with four distribution locations in the U.S., made contact with more than 30 new dealers at the show. “The stone look is still very popular,” said Howard Jackson, vice president of Azuvi USA. “The direction manufacturers are going in is trying to create products that emulate natural stone even more. What you’re looking at is, a way to make a product that does not have the same look in every tile but has as much of a color range and style range as possible.”

At Mexico-based Vitromex, industry veteran Massimo Ballucchi, the company’s new director of marketing and product development, said “we’ve had record sales at the show.” According to Ballucchi, the reasons for this included many introductions, including several in both “porcelain tile with its Artemis brand and in ceramic tile in the Vitromex brand.

Like many other manufacturers, Vitromex brought the whole package to Surfaces, meaning its offerings include much more than just field tile. “We have brought many complete series,” he said, “with different sizes, different colors, complete with mosaics, trims, bullnoses and so on. Everything is cut by us.

“What we’ve seen is, people have been asking us for more stronger colors,” explained Ballucchi. “We have actually anticipated this demand and we have created colors that really complement the home. We have added some grays which go with stainless steel appliances, as well as several warmer tones to complement other floors in the house, such as wood floors. Even the beiges have become stronger in color than they were in the past.

“Remodelers in the U.S. are now looking for something unique,” he noted. “She is buying from an emotional experience and she wants to find a floor she loves, a floor that will make her feel good and distinguish her home from others.”

(Editor’s note: Look for more detailed coverage on ceramic tile and stone from Surfaces 2007 in upcoming issues.)