FEATURE
BIG WAS BETTER AT CERSAIE
Peter Vann, Director at Ceramique Internationale, tells us what
he took away from this year’s Cersaie - the international exhibition of ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishings, held in Bologna, Italy.
After more than two decades attending Cersaie, there is no doubt in my mind that it remains the most important date in the tile calendar and the 2016 show did not disappoint.
This year’s record attendance of more than 106,000 people was treated to some interesting developments.
A key theme which seemed to be emerging this year was that of ‘bigger is better’, as the major players demonstrated that their newly acquired and ever-evolving technological capabilities lend themselves to massive formats. There were wall and floor tiles from Casalgrande and Marazzi of 1800 x 900 mm and even up to 2400 x 800mm, offering the opportunity to create seamless looks in marble, concrete and stone effects.
And it wasn’t just the stone finishes that were growing in size, longer wooden-effect planks were a natural follow-on from many producers; moving from the 900 and 1200mm sizes currently popular in the UK up to 1800mm and longer.
In terms of prominent finishes and effects, there was a plethora of plain tiles - replicating surfaces such as plaster, cement, concrete and resin in warm tones of grey- alongside the ever-popular stone, with a concentration on the wide variety of limestones from around the world.
In smaller format products, brick replicas and brick shapes were, again, very evident. The colour pallet on show, however, was not reflective of the UK’s favourite red but, what the Italians describe as, ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ grouped colours from what I would describe as the grey spectrum.
— 30 —
“A KEY THEME WHICH SEEMED
TO BE EMERGING THIS YEAR
WAS THAT OF ‘BIGGER IS BETTER’.”
The trend for creating feature walls and floors using textured fabric effects and three-dimensional products is clearly growing and, judging by the explosion of new products this year, we will soon be seeing this applied not only in commercial spaces, such as hotels, offices and public buildings, but increasingly in homes as well. Indeed, three dimensional decorative tiles for the bathroom and kitchen wall market were a big focus, using textures such as waves, linear textile effects and honeycomb to create really stunning feature walls. Indented and relief oblongs and squares were another common sight.
The finish of many of these new textures is also evolving so, in addition to the abundance of stone and marble colours, they are re- emerging in gloss and matt white – could this be a return to form for the UK’s favourite (non) colour?
Many of these textures are also now benefitting from improved production technology to be created in 6mm, rather than the usual 9/10mm.
One of the most interesting innovations was the proliferation of smaller plank formats, for example 70 x 600, 70 x 300, but in stone and concrete styles rather than wood. Many of the stands had used the Herringbone fixing style to demonstrate these – a great suggestion which will look stunning in a range of home applications.
And no show would be complete without a test-showing of a new surface to copy via the medium of digital printing - this year it was the turn of ‘real terracotta’. This is almost certainly to test the appeal to domestic markets in warmer climates for now, but expect more to follow for the wider market.
As ever, Cersaie was a physical challenge – pounding the halls helped me clock up at least 21km over the three days I was there – but I think all who attended would agree it was worth the effort!
www.tilesandmosaics.co.uk www.tomorrowstileandstone.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34