Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “CEVISAMA 2024 in Valencia: All the Trends in the”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
During the press conference of the Tiles of Spain association on Tuesday, February 27, we were able to gauge the importance of the Spanish tile industry: 394 million m² produced in 2023, with a turnover that decreased (the explosion in natural gas prices played a role) but still reached 4.864 billion Euros. 57% of the value of Spanish tile production is sold in Europe.
In 2023, France closely trailed the United States as the top export market for Spanish tiles.
At the small Spanish manufacturer Unitiles, all tiles offered are in color and most use glazing to give the surface a glossy appearance while increasing durability.
A significant portion of Unitiles' production receives digital printing at the end of the production line. Virtually any pattern can be printed, although manufacturers remain relatively conservative. Marble imitation, wood reproduction, … are digital prints, sometimes paired with surface textures to give the tile an even more realistic look.
The other major trend observable at CEVISAMA is relief. Again at Unitiles, to give an even more realistic look in imitation, the manufacturer works on relief textures.
Spain is the leading tile producer in Europe and CEVISAMA, the annual tile fair in Valencia, is an excellent vantage point for aesthetic and technical trends in tiling.
Even though Spain is the leading tile producer in Europe, it has lost the top global position to India, followed by China. In 2022, Europe produced only 8% of the world's tiles.
Digital printing has become the rule
Color takes over
At CEVISAMA, colored tile, matte or glossy, dominates the offerings of various manufacturers. At VIVES Azulejos y Gres, for example, the new Micra Micra collection is based on an intense palette of colored concretes inlaid with tiny fragments of different intensities.
Micra consists of a wide variety of porcelain stoneware and wall coverings with very uneven pieces, cheerful in their excess of colors and graphics. A relaxed and discreet porcelain stoneware in the most neutral tones.
Micra offers large-format porcelain stoneware, Micra Blanco and Micra Basalto in 120x120cm matte finish CL 1 and in 119.3×119.3cm glossy polished. As a decorative complement, the Triza piece in two formats and finishes complements this format. The basic Micra range expands only in matte finish CL 1, with the colors Blanco, Crema, Siena, Umbra, Verde, Índigo and Grafito. All available in formats 80×80, 60×60 and 59.3×59.3 cm, the Micra hexagons of 51.9×59.9cm and the Micra mosaics 30x30cm to complete the bases of the collection. In 20x20cm porcelain stoneware format, the base Micra is available only in Blanco and Graphito colors, with five pattern designs in blanco and graphito colors. They are all found in CL1 and in anti-slip R10 CL2 to facilitate their use both indoors and outdoors.
The Cuark series in white body in 32x99cm is the faience that coordinates with the Micra porcelain stoneware floor tile. The Cuark-R Blanco piece, as well as its relief decoration Gluon-R Blanco, its Pizca-R Blanco decoration and the finishing piece Genti-R in the colors Crema, Siena, Umbra, Vert, Indigo and Graphito complete it.
Imitate, reproduce with total realism
Again at VIVES, the most faithful reproduction possible reaches a high level of realism. The Oslo collection from the VIVES ATTICO series offers porcelain stoneware woods with a strong character, whose naturalness gives the spaces they cover a particularly comfortable atmosphere. The delicacy of the slight incisions in its veins gives great veracity to the piece.
The Oslo series are rectified pieces in brown. Two formats, 26×180 and 19.4x120cm, in two finishes C1 and C2/R10. Three sets that give the series versatility. A current decoration in 80x80cm: the Hudson, which combines Oslo wood with New York natural cement. A classic decoration in 80x80cm: the Camden, which mixes Oslo wood with London Natural stone in 120x120cm. The Lambeth decoration combines Oslo wood and London Natural in a much more contemporary way.
Source: Read the original article | Published: February 27, 2024