Coverings 2024: Innovations on display at North America’s largest ceramic show showcased the category’s potential – June 2024

By Jennifer Bardoner

Held in Atlanta for the first time in six years, April’s Coverings ceramic trade show showcased new products and innovations from nearly 1,100 exhibitors from 40 countries. Attendance this year was nearly 25,000 eventgoers, which establishes this event as the largest flooring expo in North America. Additionally, there was a marked increase in the number of young professionals at the show, representing 24% of this year’s attendees.

Porcelain panels and pavers are bolstering the tile category’s usage in both residential and commercial environments, and this year’s show illustrated some of the many related opportunities. While porcelain panels are becoming more mainstream in the U.S. in wall and countertop applications, foreign manufacturers are exploring new formats. The use of ceramic tile is much more varied and commonplace in Europe, but the trends that originate there typically make their way to the United States at some point. Tabletops are the current trend abroad, as evidenced by the number of suppliers showcasing related programs in the European pavilions, but there were also some notable emerging formats on display.

Spanish manufacturer Porcelanosa’s booth featured an entire demo kitchen outfitted in its Xtone porcelain panels. Seamlessly blending the countertops and cabinets provides a sleek aesthetic. The panels were outfitted with new through-body veining, as well as sister company Gamadecor’s SmartKitchen induction technology, which turned the counters into a cutting-edge cook and prep station, invisibly powering small appliances and providing targeted heat for pots and pans.

Panels are becoming prized in the U.S. for their near-seamless shower surround installations, but another Spanish producer, Cifre, is taking that a step farther with its assortment of treated porcelain shower trays, which feature matching visuals across the entire surface, including the drain. And Italian manufacturer Casalgrande Padana debuted a complete curbless shower system called Aquatio, which can be fabricated using any of the company’s porcelain panels. The patent-pending offering is complemented by an assortment of prefabricated porcelain sinks in select visuals.

In the North American pavilion, a new show feature, the Outdoor Oasis, showcased some of the category’s outdoor applications, one of the focuses for this year’s exhibition. Created in collaboration with Tributary Revelation, an award-winning collaborative of leading outdoor designers, the space showcased tile from Landmark Ceramics, Sicis and STN Ceramica installed as “outdoor” flooring, seating areas and a pool, creating a unique setting for socializing, learning sessions, awards presentations, and mindfulness workshops in line with this year’s additional focus on health and wellness.

Next year, Coverings will return to Orlando from April 29 to May 2, 2025.

TRENDS
Leading international tile associations were well represented on the show floor, offering a global perspective amid the North American, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and Asian exhibitors, which filled two halls at the expansive Georgia World Congress Center. Coverings’ three main sponsors-Tile Council of North America, Ceramics of Italy/Confindustria Ceramica and Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association of Spain (ASCER)/Tile of Spain-collaborated to identify this year’s tile trends.
• Architectonic: Ceramic brands are partnering with industry designer heavyweights to put their own creative stamps on the classic material, while others are inspired by historic buildings and architectural details, from stained glass to Byzantine cut mosaics.

• Beyond Realism: With texture, sheen and color reflectivity now able to be digitally manipulated, modern tile production is at a stage where artistic expression knows no bounds. The ability to create fine variances in decorative adornments allows for a ceramicist to play with the characteristics of different substances or introduce other elements of interest in tile.

• Contempo Concrete: To complement the raw beauty of contemporary architecture, designers are offering up fresh interpretations of modern concrete in porcelain formats. Exquisitely colored and perfectly sized aggregates give these designs a handcrafted look and feel.

• Organic Grandeur: Innovative glazing technology paired with inspiration from rare natural materials are leading to stunning surfaces that best Mother Nature. The enhancing effects of light and reflectivity are reproduced in luminous finishes, giving the beauty and depth of marble with the durability of porcelain in color ranges wider than those of natural stone.

• Panels with Panache: The world is witnessing and embracing the availability of production-ready versions of full-body porcelain panels, and manufacturers are turning up the volume on this trend with the look, style and allure of natural stone, mimicking the world’s rarest marbles and showcasing evocative amalgamations with bright colors and luminous veins.

• Seeking Balance: While ample textile designs are being translated into ceramic renditions, there was one standout repeated by many this year: stick mosaics. Manufacturers are offering their take on this classic Japanese porcelain style, enhancing new lines with gracefully flowing pottery glazes.

• Set in Stone: These looks draw inspiration from the magnificent beauty of the Earth’s ancient geological past. Masterpieces of nature, like limestone, bluestone and slate, are represented with precision and include characteristics like veining, coal lines and visible fossils.

• Tactile Renaissance: As architects and designers explore a growing interest in outfitting built environments in raw and rugged materials, the incorporation of tangible surfaces enables one to adequately interact with and navigate a space. Tile manufacturers are wholeheartedly embracing the infusion of rich textures throughout new ceramic collections impressed with deep grooves, subtle fluting, billowing curves and scored strokes.

• The Third Dimension: Ceramic tile companies are looking to the third dimension as the next frontier of design. New collections feature a plethora of 3D tiles, from fluted and protruding surfaces to reliefs with explosive patterns. As manufacturers work toward producing tiles that look and feel like natural stone, marble prints are now paired with low-relief veining for an incredibly realistic appearance.

• Trompe l’Oeil: From misty forests to overlapping sheets of corrugated metal, tile manufacturers are producing a range of mind-blowing optical illusion effects on porcelain. Given the technical benefits of porcelain, designers can use these digitally printed tiles to their advantage, creating a shower that appears to be enclosed by billowy drapes or the floors of a spa covered in grooved wood-look planks.

For more on this year’s trends and takeaways from the show floor, check out this podcast with Coverings ambassador Alena Capra, and this one with industry consultant Joe Lundgren.

EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS
Dal-Tile brands American Olean and Marazzi showcased their complementary new offerings in one of the suites on the show floor, rather than a full-fledged display, which this year was set up at KBIS as the company re-evaluates its show strategy.

With format sizes beginning to grow in the U.S., American Olean’s new Urban Essence collection takes a unique approach that offers the best of both worlds: the aesthetic of larger tile without the same installation challenges and price tag. The 15”x30” format “is going to feel like an upgrade, but you’re not going to get that additional cost like you do with a 24”x48”,” said Dal-Tile vice president of distributor sales Jay Samber. “You can still handle this with a single-man crew.”

The collection features a contemporary take on concrete with an oxidized look that provides plenty of visual movement and interest. The glazed porcelain also comes in a coordinating 1”x6” mesh-mounted mosaic.

Under the Marazzi brand, the new U.S.-made Forgehaus collection stood out for its decorative surface texture in the coordinating 12”x24” ceramic wall option, which features a diamond-shaped etched-like linear design. The colorbody porcelain field tiles in large-aggregate stone looks, offered in traditional sizes up to 24”x48”, can also be augmented with a mesh-mounted 2”x4” trapezoid ceramic mosaic.

In line with the trend toward travertine looks, MSI introduced Cordova, one of its first offerings with a 3D surface texture that matches the visuals. The Italy-sourced collection features a vein-cut aesthetic for a modern interpretation of the historical material. Available as pavers, in addition to field tiles in a matching 24”x48” format, the collection also hits on the category’s increasing use outdoors as well as the move toward larger sizes.

Creative director Emily Holle noted the heightened desire among homeowners to personalize their spaces following the pandemic, which is helping move shoppers up to higher price points. Wall tiles are another beneficiary of this trend.

MSI’s new Flamenco collection of 2”x18” porcelain subway tiles allows for personalization indoors and out. The biophilic color palette includes a navy-one of the most popular paint colors right now, reported Holle-and the elongated format provides a contemporary take on the classic offering. Subway tiles are also getting a refresh through herringbone and stacked installations, she said.

Anatolia’s booth focused on its first self-produced offerings, panels of sintered stone that mimic some of the rarest marbles on Earth. The Canada-based supplier is among a handful of international companies producing this emerging subcategory, which uses a slightly different body composition and higher firing temperatures, resulting in products that are denser and even less porous than traditional porcelain. Anatolia’s incorporation of glass gives its sintered stone panels a subtle brilliance that enhances the surface visual and highlights the details.

The result of proprietary scanning technology and Sacmi’s most advanced production equipment, the panels replicate full slabs with such detail that they are nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing, especially in the 63”x126” format. The panels are also cut into sizes down to 12”x24” and are available in a 12mm format for countertops, as well.

Today’s digital printing technology has elevated realism across the category, but Anatolia now has the unique ability to scan full slabs at high resolution, and the difference was notable in its bookmatch display. Whereas most bookmatch offerings are a mirror image of a single face, Anatolia’s feature multiple faces, providing nuanced differences in detail for a more authentic look. Its “continuous bookmatch” program allows customers to choose up to four faces.

Prior to Anatolia’s startup of its own factory in Turkey, the company outsourced production of its designs to manufacturers around the world and will continue to do so to augment its new targeted offerings.

Though Atlas Concorde USA’s new collections showcase distinct visuals, they share a premise. Beyond Calacatta, Beyond Dolomite and Memory Oak each feature a single pattern in various colorways that, while organic, are not natural to the inspiration material. The recolorations target the U.S. market, noted marketing director Davide Saguatti, melding European inspiration from Italian parent company Atlas Concorde with American subtleties. For example, Beyond Dolomite, a best-seller in Italy, was toned down for the American market with less prominent veining, and its original Warm White colorway has been augmented with Cool White and Grey, as well as Black.

For those looking to make a statement, the collection includes a new prescored 12”x24” option for both floor and wall that offers the opportunity to create a unique look through the application of contrasting grout. Similarly, the Memory Oak collection features a prescored version that mimics the effect of wooden slats-a popular theme across the show floor-alongside traditional chevron and plank formats.

Offered in various sizes up to 24”x48”, as well as 2cm pavers-which gained seven new options-Beyond Dolomite capitalizes on the U.S. factory’s recent expansion, which brought a third kiln online. Though citing 24”x48” as the future, Saguatti said there’s not been enough growth in the U.S. yet to justify a dedicated kiln, but the increased capacity will allow Atlas Concorde USA to scale up its offerings in the increasingly popular field tile and paver formats.

The manufacturer also offers a cut-to-order service, which gives customers the opportunity to custom design and custom cut field tile sizes and shapes to spec.

Centered around the theme “Resort Life Reimagined,” Crossville’s booth largely focused on indoor/outdoor options, including several new offerings. Provided through a partnership with Italy-based Del Conca, the new porcelain Marblique collection features Digital Touch technology that provides enhanced slip resistance with a soft feel.

Marblique features three graphic marble visuals, a vein-cut travertine look and a unique decorative blend that gives the appearance of an organic large-scale mosaic. All are enhanced with 3D surface texturing that provides a hyper-realistic visual and come in sizes up to 24”x48”.

Later this year, Crossville will be updating its Argent series of porcelain floor and wall tile with new colorations that are softer, making them more approachable for residential interiors while retaining their appeal for educational environments, as well. Lindsey Waldrep, vice president of marketing for Crossville, noted that the use of bold colors like salmon used to be reserved for times of economic optimism, but the pandemic made people more willing to take risks and personalize their spaces with things they love, without worrying about resale value.

“I thought that would end when people got back out in the world, especially with the economy the way it is, and that we would shift back to something a little safer, but I think it’s here to stay,” she said.

Now a brand of AHF, Crossville will be working with its new parent company this summer as it begins curating best-sellers across the board, one of the first steps in integrating the company’s offerings into a complete and complementary portfolio. Already, the national account teams have been blended, Waldrep reported.

Already offering a comprehensive portfolio of porcelain pavers, Landmark Ceramics expanded and enhanced its lineup. With the new Frontier20 Shapes program, customers select their preferred shape, size and up to three colors from Landmark’s overall assortment of pavers, which gained six new colors this year. They can then either custom create their own design or choose from hundreds of prematched options, which are simplified through basic selection prompts, and within six to eight weeks, they’ll have the material for a curated outdoor area.

The manufacturer also debuted a new collection that spans indoors and out. Available in a variety of sizes as pavers, field tiles and mosaics, Essence draws inspiration from slate-a visual echoed across the show floor-but offers two distinct aesthetics: statement and subdued. The richly colored and contrasting slate of the Southwest lends a dramatic visual, while Northeast’s makes for a calm and sophisticated offering.

Additionally, Landmark introduced a version of its popular Bluestone pavers for use indoors following customer requests. It is available in several formats for floor and wall.

When Portobello America brought its U.S. plant online last year, officials noted the forthcoming wall tiles as a differentiator. Coverings marked the formal introduction of the first domestically produced options, and the manufacturer’s showcased offerings garnered a lot of attention. Architects and designers on the press tour cited Portobello’s introductions among their favorites.

The new Ageless collection features soft white marble looks available in a variety of textural reliefs that stand out against the monochromatic backgrounds. The three-look collection also marks the introduction of an 18”x48” format. And the same geometric reliefs were added to the Lab and Norian collections, originally introduced last fall, enhancing the decorative options of the respective architectural concrete and subtle limestone inspired field tiles.

Though Portobello aims to domestically produce 90% of the tile it sells in the U.S., according to brand manager Veronica Gripp, the Brazil-headquartered manufacturer still plans to augment its offerings with imports. The new Impasto wall collection, imported from Brazil, created a backdrop composed of hundreds of individual tiles in biophilic hues that gave the appearance of layered brushstrokes. The limited collection’s organic colorway is repeated in the new Watercolor collection of Zellige-inspired ceramic tiles, which will ultimately be made in the U.S.

Stonepeak didn’t just unveil new products but also a new logo in celebration of its 20th anniversary and parent company Iris Ceramica’s new U.S. marketing strategy. Earlier this year, the Italy-based company unified and regionalized its brands’ sales team in the U.S. It also celebrated the completion of a $10 million investment into Stonepeak’s factory that added new polishing lines and advanced 12-bar digital printing machines to expand its color ranges and allow for through-veining of its gauged porcelain formats.

The enhancements to Stonepeak’s printing capabilities were showcased in its three new collections: Solumbria, Stellalith and Ikonite. In addition to more nuanced colorways, the collections feature digital texture, and Solumbria incorporates a reactive grit that highlights aspects of the stone look’s veining. The selectively applied new Natural Gloss finish adds dimension and visual interest that are unique to each of Solumbria’s more than 140 faces in the 12”x24” format, enhancing the related design opportunities with minimal repeats. Each of the collections comprise field tile sizes up to 24”x48” as well as a variety of mosaics.

The booth also showcased Iris’ recent technological innovations, including its new Attract magnetic dry-lay system, which allows for installed materials to be reclaimed and reused. Additionally, the company’s proprietary Hypertouch home automation technology was integrated into the 4D through-body countertop and tabletop formats installed throughout the booth, providing seamless control of lighting, device charging and more.

Wonder Porcelain is taking a unique approach to offer the look of porcelain panels while mitigating pain points related to the transportation and installation of the heavy and unwieldy format. The manufacturer’s new ConnecTile offering features several dramatic marble visuals, each with eight faces and placement arrows on the back of the 24”x48” rectified field tiles to mimic the seamless effect of large-scale slabs once installed. The lineup also includes Wonder’s first bookmatch offering, called Constellation Marble.

With a new strategic focus on A&D and specified applications, Wonder also introduced its first 36”x36” format. Launched as part of the new terrazzo-inspired Havana Stone collection, the format will expand to other collections in the future. Additionally, executive vice president Juan Molina noted that terrazzo has been cited by Wonder’s commercial customers as a strong trend. Havana Stone’s visual meets related requests from clients, and the muted monochromatic aesthetic also hits on the trend toward concrete looks.

The other cornerstone of Wonder’s commercial-growth focus for 2024 and 2025 is its new Marmi di Rosso collection. Like Havana Stone, the dramatic rust-colored marble visuals come in a variety of sizes and formats, including new textural mosaics.

Mirage Ceramiche debuted a new brand dedicated to sustainability. ReSource-branded lines will contain at least 60% recycled material, including more than 10% post-consumer material from tiles reclaimed from a variety of sources. And slimming the profile from the standard 9mm to 8mm reduces the products’ carbon footprint, both during manufacturing and transportation.

The first collection is ReStone, a highly speckled limestone look in a variety of sizes and formats, including pavers and panels.

Another new release that contributes to the Italian manufacturer’s sustainability efforts is Nagomi, a collection of unique mosaics designed in collaboration with architect and designer Hadi Teherani. The porcelain wall tiles include 20% post-consumer glass reclaimed from old TVs and monitors.

Though produced in Italy, Mirage’s products are available through a variety of distributors in the U.S.

Having installed Sacmi’s Continua+ technology last year, Florim USA highlighted its resultant “Digital Texture” capabilities through a new wood-look collection called Malibu Plank, installed as the main floor in the company’s award-winning booth. The curated assortment comes in a 12”x70” plank as well as decorative field tiles in a chevron and a broken geometric pattern. The three colors-a bleached, a sandy and a rich brown hue-draw from the top-selling wood looks in Florim USA’s Native collection.

“We keep getting asked for bigger [tile], so we came out with this,” said director of business development Jana Manzella.

Additionally, the company unveiled a 12mm format for its gauged porcelain panel offerings. The new Pre-Fab lineup features mostly swirling stone visuals in a single size: 32”x96”. Designed with versatility in mind, the panels can be used in showers, on countertops and in furniture applications, the latter of which Florim USA is exploring through a new website, porcelainliving.com. The site offers a variety of tables designed in partnership with local fabricators and artisans, who create unique bases for the panels.

As the company works to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, it also introduced two new carbon neutral collections, 4Earth and Net-Zero, bringing its total to seven. The environmental focus is not only helping open doors on the specification side, where carbon neutral offerings are becoming a requirement, it also helped garner Florim USA Coverings’ Best Green Booth Award.

The company’s products go to market through its Milestone brand.

Having recently rebranded in conjunction with the restructuring of its U.S. market strategy, Panariagroup USA presented offerings from its Florida Tile, Panaria Ceramica, Cotto d’Este, Love, Margres and Gresart brands. The consolidation offers domestic access to products from the group’s eight brands, which also include Lea Ceramiche and Bellissimo.

Florida Tile, the flagship U.S. brand, showcased a new collection of exotic marble looks called Indulge, which encompasses more dramatic visuals than is typical for the brand. Micah Hand, director of marketing and product development, reported that last year’s Alustra statement marble looks were some of Florida Tile’s top-selling SKUs, which inspired this year’s introduction.

Indulge is offered in a variety of formats, including a 36”x36” for the field tiles, which is new for the brand, and the polished finish option can now be applied at Panariagroup’s Lawrenceburg, Kentucky plant, foregoing the need to wait weeks for the product to travel from Europe.

The striking marble visuals were complemented by a similarly bold new collection called Perpetual from Panaria Ceramica. Whereas the other brands’ products are imported, Panaria has been producing some of its lines in Kentucky, at what was originally Florida Tile’s plant. The consolidation will provide more visibility between the two so they can work to enhance the group’s total offerings.

Roca was one of a handful of suppliers promoting new magnetic dry-lay systems, as well as site-specific glazing to enhance the visual aesthetic of veining. Roca’s new decorative veining, called Lux, employs a subtle shimmer effect that adds visual texture and movement while highlighting the surface relief of the veining. The technology was featured on three new marble-look products: Marble Dolomita, Marble Lincoln and Port Noir.

Part of Spain’s Lamosa Group, Roca is the U.S. brand, and the new Lux offerings were only offered in 12”x24” and 24”x48”, the most common sizes here. But U.S. marketing manager Rebeca Munoz said she is getting requests for bigger sizes. Roca added a 63”x63” format, as well as 63”x126” panels.

The adoption of bigger sizes in the U.S. has been hindered by installation challenges, but systems like the MagFace dry-lay now available through Roca could help. The magnetic backing can be applied to any product, regardless of thickness, and when combined with the magnetic underlayment, it creates a bond strong enough for use on floors and walls, Munoz said. Eventually, products will come out of the factory with the backing pre-applied, she added.

For its fusion of architectural trends, highlighting the seamless integration of Roca’s diverse product collections, it received the North American pavilion’s Best in Show booth award.

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus 

Related Topics:Stonepeak Ceramics, Daltile, Crossville, Marazzi USA, American Olean, Mirage Floors, CERAMICS OF ITALY, Mohawk Industries, AHF Products, Florim USA, Coverings