DESIGN
SNAPSHOT
Ceramic & Porcelain Tile:
Venue to High Style
T
here is an innovation product war raging on the ceramic/porcelain tile front: Imports ver-
sus domestic. Domestic manufacturers are adding new equipment, new technologies, and
state-of-the-art kilns to ramp up production. Given that, there is a significant amount of new
domestic capacity that is just beginning to hit the market. Imports have been consistent with
high-style innovation, and account for about 60% of domestic consumption. But, a footnote to
that significant percentage is that “imports” also include US based companies with factories in
Annette Callari
Mexico, Italy and elsewhere. The upside to this competitive design war is realized in better tech-
nology, creative aesthetics, and healthy market prices.
Annette Callari is an All the major players have added exciting new collections to their lines for 2017–2018. Shape,
interior design expert color and perceived texture are the driving influences in new tile introductions. To the point made
with over 20 years of about texture, Kristin Coleman, marketing representative for Ceramics of Italy tracks important
residential and commercial trends and had this to say: “Texture is the defining character of this year’s tile collections. Not
design experience. An only does it soften what is an otherwise hard surface, it also creates the perfect complement to
allied member of the
the many textile-inspired collections.”
American Society of
Interior Designers and
a chairholder of the
Color Marketing Group
International, she is
the Southern California
commercial sales specialist
for Karndean Design
Flooring.
32 Premier Flooring Retailer | Q3 2017