Tagina Ceramica Apogeo14 - Anthracite

(image courtesy of Everstone)

Trends

The tile industry of the future

After publishing Tile Today for 22 years, visiting numerous trade
shows, attending multiple international press conferences, observing
industry trends and communicating with industry leaders at home and
abroad, I have formed an opinion of our market for tile, and its future.
I am optimistic about our potential, but remain concerned about our
ability to maximise our opportunities. A lot of people may agree with
some of what follows, or all of it. Time will tell.

n one way or another, the tile industry of the future can be guessed at or
approximated by reading the other
prime features in this particular
edition.
Tile will continue to be produced in
myriad formats ranging from miniscule mosaic tesserae to increasingly
large modular panels of porcelain produced in thicknesses which vary from
3mm to 20mm. Flexibility will be the
watchword, particularly at the upper
end of the market where buyers will

order Laminam and other slim products that are pressed on 32 ton or 40
ton presses in big panels before they are
swiftly cut into smaller, modular formats or shapes prescribed by the buyer
for stock or a specific project.
At the opposite end of the scale,
China will continue to rule our market. Its product quality will rise but
never match European design, and the
Chinese will lag behind in the technology race, which fuels development of
new machinery and products.
Florim Slim/+4 ventilated faade
(image courtesy of Di Lorenzo Tiles)

The principal driver in terms of design will be incredible advances in new

ink-jet printing technologies and inks
which will ultimately create greater flexibility in terms of composition and colour
definition. Manufacturers will be able to
implement shorter production runs and
every digital design, unique or otherwise, will be easily stored for future use.
If the industry joins forces under the
banner of the Australian Tile Council,
or any other body that manages to
promote the inherent benefits of using
ceramic tile, a product that can last 40
years or more with minimal maintenance, then per capita consumption can
exceed two square metres, which countries like China, Malaysia and Brazil
currently enjoy.
To achieve this we must develop
standards that accurately cover the
products we are selling and installing,
and we need to market and sell firstquality products which accord with
AS ISO 13006 2013, Definitions,
Classification, Characteristics and
Marking. This is mandatory if retailers
are selling first-quality products that
comply with the dictates of our relatively new consumer laws.

Where can the growth

occur?
With one in four households in Australia
having a pool, allied with our love of
outdoor entertainment, it is not too
hard to imagine considerable growth
in this particular market segment as
consumers and design and construct
professionals develop a greater appreciation of the possibilities associated with
extending internal ceramic surfaces to
the outdoors, where the same colour
and size can be used with a different,
more slip resistant surface finish.
8 | Tile Today #85 | www.infotile.com/publications

TRENDS

Guess which is real stone (stone, vinyl, ceramic)

In residential interiors there is still

massive potential for promotion of the
benefits of full height tiling in wet areas
and the virtues of extending floor tile
proposals from the kitchen into neighbouring living areas.
The growing availability of antimicrobial technology, which inhibits the
growth of stain and odour-causing bacteria on the surface of a tile, provides
yet another positive that our industry
should be able to collectively promote.
Materials like mosaic can be used on
feature walls in living areas.
In the commercial arena, the sky
is the limit. The aforementioned slim
lightweight panels can be mechanically
fixed to building facades in an endless
variety of colours and, if required, entirely unique designs.
In time, the cost of slim tile products will decrease. Several major companies have acquired Laminams latest
presses, the largest in the world, and I

am informed that several other market

leaders are about to follow suit.
Like it or not, specifiers and consumers are keen to use products which
can be recycled, that have favourable
Life Cycle Analysis attributes, and use
less raw material and energy to produce. Slim tiles meet the criteria, and
where Europe goes, the rest of Asia (and
Australia) will ultimately follow.
Unfortunately, the stone industry may suffer as a direct result of
the gradual emergence of slim panels
which have strength, scratch resistance and low absorption characteristics
that compete favourably with natural
stone. A combination of the products
light weight and a growing appreciation
of these materials will combine to significantly reduce the sales of materials,
like granite and marble, traditionally
used on kitchen bench tops. A key factor
in this transition will be the incredibly
authentic replications of these materials which will be created courtesy
of advances in ink-jet printing
and decoration technologies. Like
the products they imitate, no two
panels or slabs will be identical.

Surfaces, special effects

and the prime issue

Cool Bisazza Mosaics installed by Perini Tiles, Melbourne

10 | TILE TODAY #85 | www.infotile.com/publications

The rapid advance in decoration

processes coincides with a new
tendency to bracket different materials under one generic term
surfaces. Vinyl and ceramic
replications of natural materials
like wood and stone are becoming so convincing that specifiers
might choose a product based on
its appearance and the time it
takes to install, versus its long
term performance.
We constantly promote the fact
that well chosen and well laid tiles
can last 40 years or more, but does
that truly matter, when few commercial projects are expected to
retain the same appearance for a
prolonged period of time?
Tile may last longer, but takes
longer to lay, and the supply and
lay cost will deter some building

owners and developers who are more

concerned with immediate downtime
versus long term performance. A building owner confronted with a high quality
vinyl replication of tile or stone that can
easily be laid over existing substrates in
a fraction of the time, and at a lower cost,
may well value expediency over performance when the floor is going to be replaced sooner rather than later.
Like it or not, some specifiers do not
like grout, and the noise that trolleys
make in hospital wards and corridors
as wheels click on tile joints is another
reason why resilient materials like vinyl are highly favoured.
Remarkably, some of the favoured
vinyl products cost as much as a decent
hard-wearing glazed porcelain tile, the
attraction lies in quick turnaround times.
Should industry focus on marketing
Life Cycle Analysis, performance, longevity and maintenance savings, or should
we propose a new material that can be
rapidly installed, with minimal grout
joints? In theory, low thickness 6mm panels of porcelain could provide the answer.
One way or another, industry needs
to ensure that tile does not become just
another surface. The products prime attributes may be in danger of being undersold and neglected.
On another note, special effect ceramic products and systems, like luminous tiles and mechanically fixed
ventilated facades that feature hydrophilic tiles or photovoltaic panels, provide opportunities for growth.
Modern lightweight slim panels of
porcelain are perfect for application in
foyers and on building facades, on any
surface where restoration costs need to
be minimised and high performance is
appropriately valued.
Ceramic screens, added volume
products and special pieces add a new
dimension to the industrys potential,
which is vast, if it can be properly harnessed and marketed effectively.
Ultimately, the prime issue is provision of an adequately trained labour
force which can install these materials in accordance with appropriate industry standards. Sustained industry
growth will revolve around how this
matter is addressed.

TM

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