From the architecture and design fairs and salons, the new, active trends for next season are born. Thus, at the last Cersaie fair, the Habitat Trends Observatory (OTH), together with the Ceramic Observatory of the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC), released the report containing the main trends that will affect the ceramic tiles sector for the coming years.

The OTH affirm that manufacturing technology has marked the trends in the sector in recent years, so, thanks to the digital printing of inks and enamels, we have achieved increasingly accurate reproductions of neutral materials such as wood (which, thanks to the enhancement of the design, has had both the finish and the design and placement updated), marble, cement, and stones, which will continue to be highly relevant given its timelessness. These are joined by noble materials such as pure metals, terrazzo, steel, and Stracciatella finishes (salt and pepper).

This report highlights the fact that large-format tiles continue to grow in the market while their price decreases, making it more competitive. In contrast, the small format tile, as it was seen in previous years, becomes increasingly more relevant due to its decorative function.

There are six trends detected by the Habitat Trends Observatory in relation to ceramic products: metallic finishes, the return of terrazzo, surfaces with volume, the return to origins, New Memphis style, and a growing boom of formats that range from large to very small dimensions.

METALLIC FINISH:

It is the trend that resembles metals, alloys, brightness…which has the fundamental characteristics of iridescence, transparency, or colour blurring. Each metallic reflection radiates the character of a modern decoration created with the force of elements, art, and technology. Clean lines, decided and sharp. A metallic effect is created with metallic particles embedded in the ceramic and the lapping finish.

Aged and rose gold, brass and copper are the finishes that stand out in the latest design fairs. For some years, companies and designers have been looking at the past to reclaim the tools and materials that have worked well historically. In ceramics, we are returning to the most classic uses of metallics with full decorations in PVD or plasma in which combinations of textures and the mixture of matt gloss and subtle volume play become allies in the design of these collections. Mirror effects, shimmer inlays, and metallic and opalescent shades make up this type of ceramic proposal.

Within this trend, some placements with a clearly decorative function are updated, such as the use of metallic profiles that are combined with reproductions of other noble materials, such as stone, but also cement and baked clay.

In its most commercial version this trend is also presented with slight touches of wear, typical of the wave of industrial inspiration prevalent in today’s market. Metallic pieces that reveal worn and semi-gloss surfaces, even with scratched effects like brushed metal.

Design Lux 60 – Azteca

Design Lux 90 – Azteca

STRACCIATELLA PASSION

One of the traditional materials that is making a big presence in many interior design projects are the stone-derived agglomerates. Terrazzo is undoubtedly the most relevant one, since interior designers and architects value it as a material with a natural character. However, some alternatives such as Trencadis, acrylic stone, or solid stones that replicate that salt-and-pepper or Stracciatella effect also come into play.

Terrazzo is a construction material composed of conglomerated stone pebbles with cement. Its use dates back to 15th century Venice, but it is in Spain’s real estate boom of the 60s and 70s that it is used profusely.

There are two great advantages: one is playing with the sizes of fragments in the incrustations, allowing us to combine them and create different designs; the other is the colour variety of both the binder and the agglomerated particles.

Although the fundamental applications of this trend are in floors, it is increasingly common to see these elements applied in other manners, thanks to the material’s ease of modelling.

Sweethome 60 – Azteca

Sweethome 60 – Azteca

TACTILE SURFACE

It is a trend associated with the body, finish, and volume that we can achieve through three-dimensional effects thanks to the technological advances in the sector. Reliefs create unique spaces with personality. It is not a new feature, but rather an application in constant development and that has not stopped reinventing itself until it became a trend.

The focus is on the user’s perception. Tactility is present both visually and physically in the search for coatings with a marked character that demonstrates progress towards a ceramic with greater decorative importance, although with fewer traditional decorations.

The basic resources will be geometry, microreliefs, volumes, and surface textures.

Unik R120 – Azteca

RETURN TO ORIGINS

The last few years have been clearly marked by a minimalist industrial style, with a predominance of neutral ceramics that this requires. But both interior designers and decorators are pushing this style aside more and more to explore the possibilities of small format artisan ceramics as a way to give unique personality to the spaces.

In this way, we go back to product categories where ceramics take on a more decorative dimension, where colour once again takes importance and where artisan models shine. In this way, baked clay, revised artisan motifs, and classic ceramic are recovered references. It is a trend in which small format is king and it does not apply only to ceramics, but seems to have invaded the realm of surfaces in general.

Small format is the common denominator in this trend, characterized by collections specially designed for play and combination. This way, we look for sets of pieces that allow us to create thousands of compositions or simple resources that turn a basic element into an unprecedented, creative one.

Gallery -Azteca

SMALL, LARGE

We are immersed in a period in which XXL formats are reaching productive excellence, but despite the fact that innovations in the sector have advocated large formats, the return to small formats in home decoration is unstoppable.

Large formats are finding new scenarios in which ceramics come into play and occupy a different role than that which was traditionally reserved for it. It has definitely come to stay, especially in the institutional and commercial field, since it is there where ceramic products have a large space and are required by builders and interior designers.

But the XXS format once again takes centre stage, where designers can contribute their most personal visions. Thus, tiles as a fundamental element of decoration, customization, and manufacturing on demand are now realities that re-emerge in interior design.

The versatility of ceramic makes it a material in which everything is possible.

Da Vinci Lux 90 – Azteca

Wellness – Azteca

NEW MEMPHIS

A few decades after the dissolution of the Memphis group that marked the era of the 80s with its colourful designs and great formal spectacle, current designers look back searching for answers in the movements of the past. New Memphis is consolidated as a reaction after a few years clearly dominated by the absence of colour in interior design particular to minimalism and industrial and Scandinavian aesthetics.

The graphics and geometries of this revitalization have been adapted to current tastes, with somewhat more synthesized and sophisticated decorations and less pure colours located on the lower scales.

Bright finishes and the use vibrant colours can be found, even achieving fluorescents. In them, geometric shapes have a protagonist role and in general we will see products influenced by a stream of cheerful and fun graphic design.

Funny – Azteca

From Azteca, we invite you to browse our website where you can find multiple ideas to decorate your home according to the latest trends we have just seen. Different textures, sizes, colours, reliefs… www.azteca.es