Coverings, North America’s largest international tile and stone exhibition, has unveiled its top tile trends for 2024. The release of the trendsetting tile styles commemorates National Tile Day, Feb. 23, 2024, and the timeless role ceramic tile plays in architecture, design and installation around the world. The official industry holiday shines an important spotlight on the sustainability, durability and beauty – among many other benefits – of ceramic tile in residential, commercial, hospitality, industrial, indoor and outdoor design.
Coverings 2024’s top tile trends offer a sneak peek of the mesmeric product exhibits being planned for this year’s show, happening April 22-25, 2024, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
Architectonic: With tile being a historically integral part of buildings, it is no surprise that architecture is a muse for tile manufacturers. Ceramic brands are partnering with industry designer heavyweights to put their own creative stamps on the classic material, while others are inspired by historic buildings and architectural details, from stained glass to Byzantine cut mosaics.
Beyond Realism: Modern tile production is at a stage where artistic expression knows no bounds, even when taking on a natural reproduction. The layers of detail that are possible with printing techniques evoke truly visceral experiences. The ability to create fine variances in decorative adornments allows for a ceramicist to play with the characteristics of different substances or introduce other elements of interest in tile.
Contempo Concrete: To complement the raw beauty of contemporary architecture, designers are giving us fresh interpretations of modern cement in porcelain format. Exquisitely colored and perfectly sized aggregates give these designs a handcrafted concrete look and feel.
Organic Grandeur: Innovative glazing technology paired with inspiration from rare natural materials results in surfaces so stunning you’ll lose your gaze in them. Enhancing effects of light and reflectivity are reproduced in luminous finishes, giving the beauty and depth of marble with the durability of porcelain in color ranges wider than those of natural stone.
Porcelain Panels Panache: The world is witnessing and embracing the availability of production-ready versions of full-body porcelain panels. These full-body pieces offer the remarkable qualities of heat, stain and scratch resistance, while being sustainable and free from toxic chemicals. Distinguishing them from vying materials is their capacity to be worked with, using traditional fabrication techniques, making them a cost-effective and versatile choice for exceptional architecture and design applications.
Seeking Balance: When balance and complementary interactions are fleeting, tile makers look to the birthplace of yin-yang and wabi-sabi for inspiration. While we see ample textile designs translated into ceramic renditions, there is one standout repeated by many this year, “stick mosaics.” Manufacturers are offering their take on this classic Japanese porcelain style, enhancing new lines with gracefully flowing pottery glazes.
Set in Stone: These looks draw inspiration from the magnificent beauty of the Earth’s ancient geological past. Masterpieces of nature, like limestone, bluestone and slate, are represented with such precision and include characteristics like veining, coal lines and visible fossils. The visual richness of their textures, nuances and details are maintained and paired with the practicality of ceramic.
Tactile Renaissance: Tile manufacturers are wholeheartedly embracing the infusion of rich textures throughout new ceramic collections. As architects and designers explore a growing interest in outfitting built environments in raw and rugged materials, the incorporation of tangible surfaces enables one to adequately interact with and navigate a space. Tiles impressed with deep grooves, subtle fluting, billowing curves and scored strokes are meant to be experienced both visually and physically.
The Third Dimension: Ceramic tile companies are looking to the third dimension as the next frontier of design. New collections feature a plethora of 3D tiles from fluted and protruding surfaces to reliefs with explosive patterns.
Trompe L’oeil: From misty forests to overlapping sheets of corrugated metal, tile manufacturers are producing a range of mind-blowing optical illusion effects on porcelain. Given the technical benefits of porcelain, designers can use these digitally printed tiles to their advantage, creating a shower that appears to be enclosed by billowy drapes or the floors of a spa covered in grooved wood-look planks.
The top 10 ceramic tile trends, and many others, will be on display throughout Coverings 2024. For more information and to register for Coverings 2024 at no cost, visit coverings.com.
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