FEATURE FIGHTIN


Peter Vann, Director of Ceramique Internationale, looks at how Spanish tile manufactu by introducing unique,


The economic crash of 2008/09 had a devastating effect on many industries and the Spanish tile market was among them. Having previously had a tight grip on the mid-to-low markets for bathroom wall tiles, Spanish producers were hit for six and, because they were not exporting less than countries such as Italy, the losses were magnified. The crash in Spain devastated both the home and UK markets.


In the run up to the crash, Far Eastern imports had already come in at prices lower than Spain could offer and, although the material wasn’t as good either technically or aesthetically, it suited the price polarisation that happened in the UK, and this also contributed to the Spanish volume drop.


The economic hits were also coupled with the fact that decorative trends had already moved away from value- adding elements, such as separate border tiles and inset feature tiles, to just plain walls – and the additional value available was also removed from the manufacturing opportunity.


The race-to-the-bottom on price was accelerated when Eastern bloc nations like Poland and Bulgaria saw an opportunity to offer products that were easily accessed, on shorter lead times than the Far East and did not require whole containers to be purchased.


Like the Far Eastern tiles, the Eastern bloc products did not set the world on fire in terms of fantastic designs and effects, but were just about good enough to keep people away from buying in Spain. Jazzing up these plain tiles


with the myriad of bling-style mosaic mixes helped them to look more attractive.


Value-adding techniques such as lappato polishing of glazed porcelain, which had commanded price premiums from Spain, were also offered at much lower levels by the Eastern bloc producers, and the 2017 devaluation of sterling further contributed to Spanish bathroom wall tile misery.


So how have the Spanish producers responded? Well, in essence, they are being clever – using techniques and materials to add value and points of interest rather than trading downwards to compete. Rather than reducing technical specifications for the mid-market bathroom wall tiles market, they are doing the reverse.


They are using clever digital printing technology and concentrating on “better” range content - such as structured decorative feature tiles, or lower priced printed feature tiles (both of which could replace the bling mosaic accents) - to allow customers to create larger feature areas at lower costs, as well as offering “anglicised” colour palettes, including wider spectrums of grey tones which are aesthetically ‘warm’ as opposed to ‘cool’.


They are also reappraising their ex works selling prices in order to stimulate UK demand and account for the unstable post-Brexit Sterling-Euro conversion rate. The products reaching the UK market now, as opposed to four years ago, are bigger, technically better and more aesthetically-pleasing, but with only a marginal price increase – meaning our money goes further.


A great example of this is one of the new collections from Azteca – Ground. The wall tile is produced in a higher value white clay, as opposed to the classic, locally sourced red clay of the Castellon region. The key benefit of white clay is a much higher grade and smoother surface on which to incorporate the latest digitally printed images of the material being emulated – a perfect combination for the shiny marble effect of the Ground series.


Due to white clay being a harder composition than red clay, it has also been possible to rectify the tile edges to enhance the appearance and give the consumer tight close grout joints. This not only looks very cool and on- trend but is easier to maintain because the narrow nature means that the grout doesn’t form the V shape in the joint, as it would on tiles with pressed edges, where the opposing slight bevel of two edges being aligned naturally creates a wider space to be filled with grout.


Azteca also recently launched the Beta range – rectified and polished floor and wall tiles that replicate the chic Italian Statuario white marble with random grey veining that is making a real impact in the UK market currently.


— 18 — www.tomorrowstileandstone.co.uk


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