Coverings 2011 - April 2011

By Darius Helm & Kemp Harr

This year, Coverings was held for the first time in Las Vegas, at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and though the location was new, the design of the show reflected past conventions, with ceramic and stone producers grouped largely by country or region, with the biggest spreads for the Italian, Spanish and North American producers. The show used both levels of the Sands Center.

Coverings was busy, though crowds weren’t as thick as they were before the slowdown, and there was no shortage of new products, many using cutting-edge technology and others based on craftsmanship and design. This year, there were 804 exhibitors at the show, coming from more than 50 countries and taking up nearly 300,000 square feet of exhibition space.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, total domestic tile consumption was up 6% last year, marking the first year of growth since 2006, with imports up about 4.6% and exports down a hair—so domestic production made share gains last year as well.

For the complete Coverings 2011 coverage, see the April 2011 issue of Floor Focus Magazine.