Hi Everyone – I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving – whether it was virtual or a bit smaller than usual, I still hope it was a good one! I’m blaming turkey fatigue for the reason this post is coming to you in December and not November.
It has been an interesting and unusual year to say the least. It has definitely molded and changed my perspective on things that I took for granted. I have a greater appreciation for the ‘little’ things that are helping me through the $hit storm that is 2020… like being invited to build Lego castles and play Mario Kart; having the technology (Zoom + FaceTime) to connect with friends and family and meet my new fur-nephew; my niece that makes technology even more entertaining when she is running away with the phone and laughing; the change of seasons in the Northeast and the beauty that comes along with it; finding ways to still eat great food, cocktails and beer, even it means sitting outside in one’s car (btw deviled potatoes with crispy onion bits are glorious!); or my new favorite experience – couch concerts. I miss the energy of a live show, but don’t miss getting pushed or hit by a crowd surfer.
Finding new products, trends and inspiration has definitely been a challenge this year. It’s difficult not seeing the tile in person, but this is nothing new to my fellow designers, with working from home and not having access to your library. Colors and textures don’t always show the best online or in photographs. Thankfully, we have some amazing manufacturer reps and agents that have created video presentations and sample boxes.
It’s also challenging trying to figure out what the trends are when you’re not seeing everything at once and in one place. You don’t have that AH HA moment of ‘yeah, that’s the it color or look this year,’ or the 4 shots of espresso either. 😉
Despite all of the challenges, I was able to piece together 5 trends/design inspiration I found from Virtual Cersaie. I invite you to take a look at them and hope this gives you some new inspiration and ideas for your projects.
(Just a reminder, if there is something you don’t see, but are looking for our Product Sourcing team is here to help!)
EMERGING COLORS – We are seeing the continuation of deep, saturated colors like burgundy, dark green, brown, black with brown undertones, ochre, burnt orange and blue greys for both floor and wall tiles in a variety of finishes and textures.
NEW INSPIRATION FOR STONE LOOKS – HALITE – Halite is the mineral name for Salt, and a rock composed mainly of Halite is known as ‘Rock Salt.’ (Sorry! I’m a rock and minerals nerd, and like learning about their compositions.) So why Halite? Well in recent years, gourmet salts are the ‘it’ culinary seasoning, anything from smoked, to flake, to grey to pink; and slabs of Pink Himalayan Salt is where this tile collection is drawing its inspiration from. In our virtual presentation, we saw a slab of Pink Himalayan next to the pink tile colorway and it was spot on. Personally, this is not my favorite look, the pink is too much for me, but I appreciate that they are exploring other mineral compositions and not just showing the next greatest calacatta.
UNLIKELY TEXTURES – Throughout the years, we’ve seen different textures in stone and concrete porcelain aesthetics that are mimicking the natural weathering to those that are mechanically applied. This new texture is intriguing. They are recreating the look (with some artistic interpretation) of what happens when a block of stone is split with feathers and wedges. This technique creates a split face texture on the stone broke up by cylindrical indentations from the feathers and wedges. Granite splits well with this technique, but this manufacturer chose a more minimalist look for their collection. Pretty cool look!
EMBRACING MAXIMALISM – Gauged Porcelain Tile (GPT) is becoming the new tile wallpaper with fun biophilic designs, intricate geometric patterns, etc. This year we are seeing Gauged Porcelain draw from Maximalism with bold, loud, exaggerated designs. Some of the designs are wild; my personal favorites are Animal Terrazzo and Fish, a nod to the Cole & Son Acquario Wallpaper that I’ve been obsessed with! These bold patterns would pair well with some of our smaller geometric tiles and patterns. (Spoiler: You may see some of these in our 2021 Spring Summer Featured Collections! ;D)
CONTEMPORARY ART DECO – We are seeing more of this design aesthetic in tile, through the use of oblong formats, arching/curving/fan shapes, with gold elements, all a nod to the Art Deco time period. It’s contemporary, in that the color palettes are reflecting what is trending right now in design. This aesthetic is being created on Gauged Porcelain like the Maximalism looks, as well as small format shapes like hexagons that can be arranged in variety of patterns.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday season! I will see you in the New Year! (And I hope I will really see you IRL!!)
Until next time…
E