Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind ““Wood-Look Tiles Are Like a Fake Louis Vuitton B”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
We currently have many trends running in parallel: large-format tiles are still popular—and tiny natural stone mosaics, for floors, for example. Overall, we notice that customers have become bolder and are eager for colorful handmade tiles, often with exciting textures. Many want a vacation feeling—perhaps because times are a bit uncertain right now. Bright, handmade, unglazed cement tiles in 20 x 20 cm formats and mint-colored Moroccan Zellige tiles are very much on the rise. We almost always combine large-format tiles with smaller formats to break up the monotony. Many people have grown tired of the greige (a mix of gray and beige) aesthetic, which was once a major trend.
Tiles Are Her Thing: Kamilla Sandberg
Can you renovate in a timeless way? And why is the imitation of a natural stone sometimes better than the original? Kamilla Sandberg primarily sells handmade tiles for bathrooms and kitchens and knows exactly what matters.
Kamilla Sandberg displays thirteen tons of handcrafted tiles from Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy in her showroom in Cologne's Belgian Quarter. Also natural stone, porcelain stoneware—meaning industrially manufactured tiles—wallpapers, wall paints, fabrics, and bathroom accessories—all carefully curated. But the heart of the collection is the tiles from small family manufactories. Anyone who wants a "couture" and not a simple hardware store bathroom is in the right place with the trained archaeologist. As soon as someone walks through the door, she has an idea of which type of tile suits them.
WELT: Many people want to design their bathroom to be as timeless as possible. What do you think of that?
Kamilla Sandberg: Timeless! I don’t like that word. We are all bound by time. The timeless beauty of a Botticelli painting was only recognized by people after several hundred years. Many people wish for timeless tiles, but in conversation it usually turns out that behind this lies insecurity and disorientation. A classic sentence: What happens if I don’t like it anymore in a few years? Often customers are afraid of getting tired of a color. Such nonsense! You’ve liked green all your life? Then you’ll still like green tomorrow. You’re not 16 anymore—yesterday goth, tomorrow hippie!
WELT: In recent years, interiors in milky coffee tones were modern. Is beige also in demand with you?
Sandberg: It wasn’t long ago that very many customers wanted a very plain, beige bathroom. Of course I can implement that, but my job is to show that there is more. Once a couple came in who wanted a beige bathroom. In conversation, I noticed that the two just weren’t aware of what was possible. I suggested a very creative design to them: tiles with an opulent floral pattern, paired with a matching green washbasin. And they immediately said yes. Such spontaneous agreements are rather rare in my daily life because people are afraid of making the wrong decision—unlike in Italy or France. Once I was at a colleague’s in Paris, a man came in and spontaneously decided on an orange bathroom.
Tile Expert Kamilla Sandberg in Her Showroom
WELT: How does German tile taste differ from French?
Sandberg: A concern for many Germans is often that something is “too much.” When I put materials together into a collage, customers then sometimes exchange some tiles for a much more boring combination. Then I sometimes get cheeky: Imagine you have a Ferrari—now we unscrew the wheels and replace them with some others. Do you think that’s good?
WELT: Are there other differences?
Sandberg: You can’t expect Germans to have the same understanding of natural stones as the French, Italians, or Spanish, because they didn’t grow up with them. If a natural stone breaks, it’s a catastrophe for many people. This expectation towards natural materials is partly unrealistic. That everything always has to be super perfect seems very ingrained. In the Louvre there are rooms where many stones are broken. No one would think of taking out the floor and redoing everything. A stone is allowed to break. After all, we don’t stay 20 forever either.
WELT: What distinguishes handmade tiles from porcelain stoneware?
Sandberg: Our handmade tiles come from small manufactories where they are still produced exactly as they were hundreds of years ago: a paste is mixed and pressed into a mold—similar to what you did as a child in the sandbox. During the process, the material is handled ten times, baked in the kiln, glazed, baked again. Take Italian Cotto tiles, for example. The manufacturing process is almost the same as 3000 years ago. The only difference is that the Etruscans used to have a wood-fired kiln.
You’re not buying a simple tile, but cultural history! Every handmade tile looks a bit different, and of course it doesn’t have the same price as an industrially manufactured one. Porcelain stoneware refers to fired ceramic, industrially manufactured tiles. They usually come in larger formats like 60 x 60 cm. They also exist in 30 x 60 cm, but that format has gone out of fashion.
Tiles in Kamilla Sandberg’s Showroom in Cologne
WELT: Which formats are in demand now?
WELT: Do your "couture tiles" also make sense for renters?
Source: Read the original article | Published: May 16, 2025