I recently attended the Coverings trade show in Orlando. It was a terrific show with so much to see. Exhibitors come from all over the world to display the latest in colors, trends, manufacturing and technology.
There were a few stand-outs in design trends this year. Here’s the rundown.
Shape: Hexagon
Once considered more “retro” in design, hexagonal tiles are making a huge comeback; adding a unique element in designs modern to traditional. These tiles come in all sizes from small to large. 11″ tiles in porcelain seemed most popular at the show followed by 6-8″ wood-look porcelains.
Hexagon 2.0
It was pretty clear to this designer that the popular hexagon shape is transforming into new modern and geometric forms. Referred to as “cube” or “tumbling block” tile. Originally this pattern was made with three shapes of tile but technology allows a single tile to be printed or molded into 3-d reliefs for walls.
As part of my hexagon 2.0 trend I want to mention that many booths showed elongated hexagonal tiles, similar to the shape below, in stone-look porcelains and glass.
Shape: Lantern
The lantern tile is a softer take on the traditional arabesque tile. This tile became popular at previous shows in glass. This show I noticed a trend toward mixing smooth and textured porcelains with stone.
Material: Mirror Mix
If stone and metal mixed mosaics were popular last year, the new favorite for mixed material mosaics at this show was Stone and Mirror using water jet technology. How gorgeous is this?
Wood: Textured
The faux wood tile trend is still going strong. At this show I saw tiles that were more realistic with a hand hewn feel. The wood tones were more taupe and gray with bleached tones to round out the collections. Can you see the hand-scraped texture in the picture below?
Texture: Matte
Porcelain tiles in concrete textures were everywhere. What really stood out about the decorative tiles was the softer matte texture mixed with small decorative relief. And of course, all of this is shown on the most popular shapes for 2015.
Color: Grays
If it weren’t obvious by most of the photos used, the most popular colors were grays and taupes. Expect to see an increase in the use of matte black tiles as 2015 continues.