By Megan Salzano
Fashion and home trends have long inspired tile design. In fact, tile’s ties to these industries can be traced back centuries while also seen represented on the hottest runways and inside the trendiest homes of today. It’s a love affair that has not waned and is projected to live into the future indefinitely.
As such, today’s tile makers often keep a close watch on evolving fashion and interior designs in order to develop coordinating collections that reflect those changing inclinations. “As a solid starting place, we keep a close eye on the fashion industry,” explained Laura Grilli, lead product designer for the Daltile brand. “Looking at the fashion of other cultures is another great source of inspiration. We are also attentive to current and upcoming trends in the world of interior design—and then we creatively think about how to translate these looks into tiles.”
However, the need to seek out new fashion trends and interior styles is not only important for the tile maker, but the tile retailer as well. “It is always advantageous for a retailer to be educated on fashion and style trends and how tile is the ideal medium to replicate these designs, patterns, textures and colors,” said Mara Heras, vice president of marketing, Emser. “Customers are often looking for something stylish and highly desired that will add value to their space as well as meeting their own personal look.”
Below are just a few of the latest tile looks with links to this year’s fashion/interior design trends.
Seamless, continuous design
Daltile’s Panoramic Porcelain Surfaces: Calacatta Topaz
“Creating seamless, continuous design is currently one of the hottest trends in interior design. New homes feature large, open floor plans that are perfectly served by the level of style, design and luxury that extra-large format tile and slabs provide.”— Laura Grilli, Daltile
Boho style
MSI’s Kenzzi line
“[One] fashion trend is the boho style. Very casual yet modern, very similar to the modern farmhouse style we are seeing in home interiors.”—Emily Holle, trend/design director, MSI
Foundational pieces
Emser’s Borigni Beige
“For many, their fashion statement is built around foundation pieces accented with more trend driven accents. We see that in tile as well, neutrals are a constant in both warm and cool tones. This creates a nice base for a design.”— Mara Heras, vice president of marketing, Emser
Curvilinear shapes
Crossville’s Cursive wall tile
“A couple years ago, we noted the trend of curvilinear shapes—shifting away from predominantly rectilinear shapes. We observed this shift across interior and runway fashion. This inspired us to envision a new collection with these unexpected circles and curves that could be used to design elegant or more whimsical spaces.” —Scott Jones, director of product management and development, Crossville
Floral forms
Artistic Tile’s Garden Party
“One connection between our world and that of the couture is that we inhabit the same world, with the same clients. Hand detail, hand sculpting, dimension, a continuing fascination with geometric forms and with foliate and floral forms—all of these we have in common.”— Roy Marcus, brand ambassador, Artistic Tile
