When The Spainish Tile Manufacturer's Association (ASCER) had me in Spain last month to see their products and meet their people in person, I had a awareness of a number of Spanish tile brands already. ASCER markets itself in North America as Tile of Spain and I've seen Tile of Spain at Coverings for as long as I've been going to that show. It was at Coverings that I first learned about Spanish tile and that awareness just fed into an interest in tile that I've had for as long as I can remember.
Two brands whose work I've always admired are Keraben and Peronda. One of the highlights of my time in Spain was the chance to tour Keraben's factory in Castellón. My friend Bob Borson was on the Spain trip too and he wrote what I say is the definitive post on that factory tour on his site, Life of an Architect. Bob's report from the factory floor is chock-full of pointers about what makes good tile good and is well worth the read. Tile expert Ryan Fasan provided the technical details in Bob's article and it's a definite keeper.
Keraben is breaking new ground when it comes to high-resolution printing on tile. Their products do such a good job of imitating natural stone and wood that I have a hard time telling the difference between tile and the real stuff. Here's an overview of their new releases for 2011.
Peronda tends to push the aesthetic envelope a bit more than Keraben does and it's great to see ceramic tile enjoying such a renaissance with their help.
If you're interested in finding any of these tile styles for yourself, you can find a lot of information about where to buy these products on Tile of Spain's website.
Crazy about the black and white stripes.
ReplyDeleteLove all the new tile that's coming out of Europe. That first floor looks like water rippled creek bed slate. Just Beautiful! I'd imagine in my home the boys would keep trying to lift them looking for salamanders.
ReplyDeleteLove the wood look porcelain's, too. So practical with life and kids. Fantastic pics, as usual. Thanks for sharing.
I'm with you on the stripes Raina, who thinks to run black ceramic stripes diagonally on a wall? I'm glad somebody did becasue the effect is terrific.
ReplyDeleteLAX: When the wood-look tile first hit the market I was not a fan but the more it improves the more I like it. It makes a lot of sense to go that route over actual wood.
Love the post Paul,
ReplyDeleteNice wrap-up of both manufacturer's novelties this year. I stil have yet to go through my manufacturer's press kits from the show... thanks for reminding me of yet another thing on my to-do list =D
Oh... and thanks for the high praise on the manufacturing piece over on Life of an Architect. It was fun working on that with Bob. I thought it turned out great but it's really nice to have some confirmation.
Can you tell I'm finally getting to my press kits? I popped int he disc from Inalco last night and I was expecting images and press releases but instead it launched their action/ adventure movie. "In a world where tile's getting thinner, one brand emerges..."
ReplyDeleteI have tons of Inalco pics if you need them (I've done a few architectural presentations for them) Ask Amanda and check the Tile of Spain Press-room, but if you don't get everything you need let me know and i can load up my dropbox with a smorgasbord of images to share with you.
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