Ceramic Tile Trends: Coverings, North America’s largest ceramic tile show, delivered new technology and compelling designs – June 2025

By Jennifer Bardoner

Drawing hundreds of international exhibitors each April, Coverings immerses visitors in the cutting edge of the ceramic tile industry. At the 2025 event, which featured 1,000 suppliers from 40 countries, there was a notable shift in the offerings. Europe generally leads the way with new technologies and statement decors, but the North American providers seem to be catching up, as was illustrated by the realistic textures and contemporary looks across the North American pavilion at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

In the Italian pavilion, dramatic stone looks still reigned, but exhibitors showcased more playful options as well, while experimenting with new techniques to make installation and fabrication easier, displaying options with pre-applied adhesive and printed edges, for example. In the Spanish pavilion, technology pushed the envelope of authenticity through handmade looks and unique organic textures.

This year’s show drew roughly 25,000 industry professionals. The Orlando shows are generally better attended. Next year’s Coverings will take place March 30 to April 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PRODUCT TRENDS
Each year, a compilation of tile trends is presented by Coverings’ three leading sponsors: Tile Council of North America (TCNA), Ceramics of Italy/Confindustria Ceramica and Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association of Spain (ASCER)/Tile of Spain. Below is a summary.

Colors of sand: With a warm and often calming palette, the colors of sand are both earnest and neutral, portraying the essence of a natural, earthy and eco-friendly environment. Sand-inspired tile colors extend from off-white and cream to golden beige, tawny, fulvous and tan.

Discreet tech: As AI and smart-home technology advance, the domestic automation sector is also rapidly growing, with a focus on enhancing quality of life and energy efficiency. Modern tiles now incorporate features like pressure-sensitive LED lighting and induction cooking, making it easier to blend cutting-edge technology with elegant design.

Holistic experience: As the integration of technology in residential settings continues to rise, there is a growing desire to incorporate natural elements into built environments. Advancements in digital technology enable the realistic recreation of organic detail, providing a rich biophilic experience.

Lines, lines, lines: Thanks to impressive innovations in 3D technologies, these decorative details-whether striped, ribbed or fluted looks-create dynamic volumes and plays of light and shadow with contrasting materials and colors, adding depth and character into a space, while geometric patterns and bold stripes bring moments of movement and intrigue.

Mineral drenching: Color drenching takes a bold turn with the use of gauged porcelain panels. Enveloping entire spaces in the rich tones and textures seen in marble, onyx or travertine creates a seamless and dramatic effect, from floors and walls to countertops and even furniture.

Mosaic artistry: Mosaic tiles have long combined beauty and functionality, allowing designers to create personalized patterns and artistic statements. Today, mosaics are having a big-or rather, large-format-resurgence. Porcelain panels with stone looks artfully cut together, either in geometric layouts or flowing organic designs, merge traditional mosaic artistry with modern durability and low maintenance.

Re-human: In an age dominated by AI and algorithms, there is a revived longing for the tactile, human experience. As such, tile surfaces are increasingly drawing inspiration from materials like corrugated paper, torn fabric, textile design and handcrafted wooden textures, while showcasing delicate floral engravings and three-dimensional extruded volumes, working to powerfully bridge the gap between high-tech and handmade artistry.

Sensorial design: Interior designers are going beyond the visual spectrum to curate spaces that engage all five senses. Thanks to advancements in digital decorative technology, ceramic manufacturers are now able to perfectly replicate natural textures and patterns, creating tiles with enhanced tactile and visual experiences. Furthermore, many designers are paying closer attention to the sense of smell, and as ceramic tiles are naturally free of VOCs, they do not retain odors.

Veins of gold: The opulence of marble-look tile is elevated to brilliant new heights with a touch of gold. Innovative glaze applications allow for metallic variations that reflect just enough light to strike the balance between dazzling and demure.

Waterworld: Water spurred major inspiration across contemporary ceramic design this season, flooding the scene with color palettes of soft aquas and pastels to deep-sea hues. Patterns, textures and fluid, smooth forms reminiscent of sea waves are brought to life through three-dimensional reliefs, traditional brushstrokes, masterful glazing techniques and distinct shading effects, along with prefabricated ceramic furnishings including blue washbasins and sanitaryware.

EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS
Following last year’s focus on the array of options through Panaria’s global brands, highlighting Panariagroup USA’s domestic capabilities was a key message at the ancillary producer’s booth in the TCNA pavilion this year, where several new technologies were showcased.

Pagosa, a travertine-inspired colorbody porcelain collection, features 3D Plus, which applies dry glaze powder to create surface textures that align with the graphic, providing realistic veining. The new technology has been installed at the Florida Tile plant in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The field tiles are augmented with several mosaics.

Luxe Ensemble, another colorbody porcelain introduction, adds a new size to the Kentucky plant’s lineup, 36”x36”, which will begin replacing 24”x24” as the group moves away from that format with its new releases. Housed under the Panaria Ceramica brand, the striking marble visuals also illustrate the new polishing capabilities at the plant. Previously, polished offerings had to be imported from Europe. The line includes several geometric mosaics that feel vaguely reminiscent of the 1990s-an emerging theme across the international pavilions.

In line with Crossville’s Japandi booth theme, which combines Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics-and which product manager Terri Marion said is seeing an uptick as people seek solace from all the global uncertainty-the AHF brand unveiled Sand Garden. Made at Crossville’s Tennessee factory, the porcelain collection features Visual Touch technology that marries the texture with the visual, offering a contemporary take on the 3D texture trend. The irregular intersecting linear designs take inspiration from raked sand and the concept of wabi-sabi, which celebrates simplicity and natural imperfections. In addition to field tiles and mosaics, the collection includes bullnose and cove base trim for a complete look.

In partnership with Italy’s Laminam, Crossville is also launching Gemini, offering some of the thinnest porcelain panels in the market. The 2mm panels weigh just over a pound per square foot, versus the typical four pounds per square foot for standard thicknesses, despite their 40”x118” size. This makes them easier and less costly to transport while also reducing related emissions. In addition to requiring up to 70% less energy and water to produce, they contain a minimum 30% recycled material. Applicable for interior walls, the panels feature a brushed plaster effect in an earthy color palette, plus two unique decors that appear like shadowy backlit palm fronds. The mesh-mounted panels can be applied over other tile and on some curved surfaces.

MSI’s new Exotika porcelain line illustrates the supplier’s step up in the market. Featuring bold marble and onyx looks in a polished 24”x48” format, the nine-look collection follows in the footsteps of the “upmarket” Regallo collection from several years back, said Jason Andrews, director of sales–national marketing.

He noted that MSI’s production team believes that 24”x48” will soon become the standard size in the U.S., which is migrating from 12”x24” formats as installers become more comfortable with larger sizes.

Similarly, the new limestone-inspired Girona porcelain collection builds on the success of last year’s Malahari and Cordova launches, the first from MSI to feature realistic 3D surface texture. Whereas those feature glossy low reliefs to highlight the texture, Girona flips that formula. Additionally, the new line has a lappato finish, which proved to be a popular feature of the Malahari collection.

With its pre-cut porcelain bath and shower systems seeing success in the market, MSI has branded them Aqua Lume. And in line with the trend toward warmer palettes, it added warm-veined marble looks this year.

In its Best Booth-winning space, Stonepeak displayed its new Mystere porcelain as the floor of a makeshift cafe, complete with cozy booths and a barista in the back.

A contemporary small-chip terrazzo look in a range of colors, Mystere’s textured “structured” format offers the opportunity for outdoor applications, while the semi-polished finish showcases new technology installed at Stonepeak’s Crossville, Tennessee plant. Already equipped with 3D print technology, the recent investment in new polishing equipment allows for targeted and precise polishing to provide variation and highlight the texture.

Stonepeak’s new U.S.-produced Dolcissima panels drew a lot of interest. The seven new dramatic marble, onyx and travertine visuals come in a 12mm 60”x126” format, making them suitable for floors and walls indoors and out, as well as tabletops, counters and custom furnishings.

In a side room, the Iris Ceramica brand showcased new technology from its Italian parent company. Moonlight offers built-in ambient lighting for porcelain panels, highlighting the richness and clarity of the designs. It was coupled with Iris’ Design Your Slab and Hypertouch home automation technologies, alongside Attract, a magnetic lay system that has now been approved for both floors and walls.

Wonder Porcelain is charting a new course, beginning with augmenting the refined marble looks it is known for with the addition of bold decors. This year’s debut of Sunset marks the addition of wall tiles to the Tennessee producer’s line.

Sourced from Spain, the custom zellige-inspired subway tiles were designed in partnership with Casa Symari. The saturated earthy colorways are finished with a bell glaze that imparts crackle effects, color variations and surface undulations.

The firm also offered a sneak peek at other upcoming launches that solidify its new direction, and its stitched and quilted leather looks were unique on the show floor. The realistic texture will require significant investment in “sinking ink” technology.

Additionally, Wonder debuted its first U.S.-made colorbody porcelain collection, Reverence, a soft limestone look in a neutral color palette. The collection also marks the introduction of two new sizes-16”x32” and 32”x32”-which new sales director Dave Godlewski noted can still be handled and installed by a single person while providing a more sophisticated look with fewer grout lines.

Playing to several trends, Marazzi debuted a fresh terrazzo look with the Curation colorbody porcelain collection, while American Olean gained its first zellige-inspired look with the Studio Haven ceramic line. Both invoke the kind of grounded earthy color palette that is now helping to warm up interiors. And Crafthouse, a new textured porcelain concrete look under Marazzi, marks the addition of 48”x48” for the brand, as sizes generally begin to push up beyond 12”x24” and even 24”x48”.

Also on display was Constant, which showcases recent investments in surface technology. Housed under the American Olean brand, the new ceramic collection offers a pronounced stone look full of movement, highlighting the new texture capabilities.

Florim USA’s MileStone brand is continuing its focus on carbon-neutral offerings with the introduction of Earthen. The clay-inspired porcelain collection, which includes a corresponding terrazzo-look paver, brings the brand’s total to nine carbon-neutral lines, making it a leader in the arena.

Earthen features a rich but soothing earth color palette and organic texture. Its breadth of sizes and decors, including a wavy fluted look, offers countless contemporary design options, with a focus on smaller formats. The field tiles range from 12”x12” to 24”x24”.

Conversely, MileStone’s new porcelain Travertine collection introduces a new size at the other end of the spectrum-48”x96”-allowing for near-seamless use in showers, on backsplashes and floors. The 8mm field size options, which range down to 12”x24”, are augmented by 2cm pavers and 12mm “Pre-Fab” formats that can be used for countertops, tables, sinks and vanities. The sharknose Pre-Fab versions offer a simple way to create vanities and waterfall counters, thanks to the angled profile.

Taking inspiration from Cumberland Island’s varied landscapes, MileStone’s new Untamed porcelain collection is the third in its Stories lineup, which gives a platform to budding artists. The decorative options, including grass, driftwood and snakeskin visuals, are unique.

Showcasing recent investments in its wall tile lines, Portobello America’s Omaggio a Venezia introduction is a playful but masterful illustration of the new capabilities. Designed specifically for the North American market, the collection offers a range of visuals inspired by iconic pieces of Venice’s culture, including Murano glass, Burano lace, Doge’s Palace, Sant’Andrea fort and the city’s canals.

The Tennessee manufacturer’s new printing equipment can create reliefs and apply very targeted matte and gloss finishes at the same time, and the precise application of the varied finishes enhances the unique patterns and textures.

With its parent company in Brazil, Portobello draws from global inspiration but tailors its U.S. releases for this market, illustrated in the addition of specific-and often smaller-sizes, like the 12”x24” and 24”x48” field tiles in its new Sintese concrete-look line. The smallest size in its Brazilian Breccia porcelain collection, for example, is 48”x48”. Also on display at Coverings, Breccia won this year’s Best in Show award for porcelain tile at Brazil’s Expo Revestir.

Arca, a limited new wood-look collection, is another example of Portobello America’s targeted focus. Brand manager Veronica Gripp noted that wood is an important material in the U.S., adding that the company plans to invest more in related looks. Arca features a somewhat rustic visual with corresponding fluted panels.

Anatolia debuted its first self-made floor tiles, available in sizes from 12”x24” to 48”x48”. Its state-of-the-art Turkish factory began producing 6mm and 12mm gauged panels in 2023. All the formats share a variety of dramatic stone looks, though additional colors will be available in some of the field tiles.

The crisp visuals offer enhanced clarity, thanks to the Canadian firm’s investment in leading technology and its partnership with stone quarries, where the full slabs are scanned onsite to minimize damage. In the company’s pursuit of authentic visuals, some finishes are only available on select products, in line with how the natural material might be finished. A unique option is the “grained” effect, which mimics bush hammering. The corresponding visual was taken from a bush hammered slab, and even the color is different from that of the same inspiration material in different finishes, reflecting the lightening that naturally occurs with the treatment.

The products are all sintered stone, a less porous offshoot of porcelain that is stronger, due to its repeated controlled firings.

Alongside its Eden and Elements introductions, which debuted at Surfaces, Del Conca USA showcased new offerings from its parent company in Italy, with which it shared a booth in the Italian pavilion.

Offering coordinating decorative options, the Aura porcelain collection features a biophilic color palette that helps warm up Eden’s and Elements’ stone looks when paired. The exclusively small formats (8”x8” and 3”x16”) provide versatility for both walls and floors, tying in with the return to smaller formats for a more decorative flooring design, and the concentric-arched option corresponds with the current trend toward using geometrics to help create texture, though the surface features variegated matte and glossy reliefs.

Mauricio Inglada, vice president of marketing and sales for Del Conca USA, reported that the new collection-which is stocked in the U.S.-drew a lot of interest. It, along with Eden and Elements, illustrates an ongoing evolution for the American producer. Noting that the brand has a good base of bread-and-butter offerings, it is now bringing on more statement looks, he explained.

Roca’s porcelain XL Slabs line got bigger with the addition of 126”x63” and 12mm colorbody formats, allowing for more seamless applications as well as fabrication into furniture, countertops, sinks and vanities. The dramatic stone, metallic and concrete looks, which are enhanced by textured graining, also ushered in a new “soft matte” finish that’s in between a silky “soft touch” and a traditional matte finish to more closely mimic the natural finish of marble.

The porcelain panels that made up the exterior walls of the booth did, in fact, appear virtually seamless thanks to Roca’s new “endmatch” continuous veining, and they include throughbody options for fabricated applications. The panels are all made in Brazil but stocked in the U.S.

Roca’s new Serena porcelain collection spoke to the trend of travertine looks across the show floor. Both the vein-cut and cross-cut looks have a soft aesthetic, complemented by soothing Portland Stone visuals in the same neutral colors.

Though debuted at Surfaces, this was the first time Landmark Ceramics’ new travertine-inspired Trail collection was showcased beyond sample boards. Comprising two different visuals in four colors each, the porcelain collection offers varied design opportunities, which were showcased through vignettes that incorporated the various field tile and mosaic

options. Both the Refined and the Vibrant offerings feature plenty of organic movement, though the latter is more dramatic owing to its different inspiration travertine. They are also available as pavers, and this year, a 24”x48” grip option was added.

Landmark’s paver selection, which marketing manager Davide Scacchetti believes to be the biggest in the U.S., is unique, allowing for different shapes and sizes through its Frontier 20 Shapes program, which debuted last year.

Adding to the indoor-outdoor possibilities is Landmark’s Atelier collection of wall panels, which just gained a 24”x48” XL option in four new textures: flute, stripe, line and chisel. A thicker ribbed “bamboo” option was added earlier this year in the existing 12”x24” format, with corresponding Trail visuals.

This was Polish producer Cerrad’s second time at the show, and national sales director Ryan Smith reported growing interest in its porcelain shower kits. The 6mm porcelain panels are so lightweight, they flex and can be installed by two people in 45 minutes, according to Smith. They are also packaged like shower doors, versus unwieldy porcelain panels, so they’re easy to transport, he noted.

Also highlighted were patented porcelain U-shaped stair treads, which correspond with matching field tiles.

Cerrad is eyeing establishing a U.S. factory, but those plans are currently on hold amid the down market and international uncertainty.

A live demo of a shower install helped to showcase a variety of Schluter’s products, including several new niche designs. The addition of prefinished powder-coated options streamlines installation, since they don’t require tiling and can be easily adjusted to the correct depth via the screws on the attached casing. The company also introduced horizontal LED-lit niches (a vertical version was already available).

Mapei’s Mapeguard shower system offers a complete lineup of prefabricated membranes for everything from benches to niches to curbs. The drains are already in stock, and the rest of the options will be soon.

Mapei’s new Keraflex membrane mortar includes an aggregate to help fill in any type of membrane to create a tighter, longer-lasting bond, and it can be used with heated floors. And its new Mapebond VM lineup of adhesives and mortars, designed specifically for stone veneers, obviates the need for a metal lath backing, and also meets the more stringent new International Residential Code requirements. Mapeplastic air- and water-resistant barriers complete the system.

Mapei already offered a pedestal system for outdoor tile installations but is now adding a gridded option that can be used with alternative materials like artificial turf.

To help facilitate the trend of outdoor living, Laticrete introduced a pedestal system that can stretch up to 211/2 ”. It also introduced several new time-saving solutions. Hydro Ban 1, which will be available in August, is a single-coat waterproofing and crack isolation membrane that meets flood tests in just two hours. And Multimax 1, which will also be available in August, is a ready-to-use adhesive that can be applied straight out of the bucket.

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