It was clear from the start that Cersaie is not just a fair about construction material, and porcelain tiles. It is a major Interior Design Fair, exhibiting the latest trends and developments. Interior Designers, Architects, Retail clients and distributors come from all over the world to witness what the major brands have worked on in the last year and launching to the market.

So many collaborations between major manufacturers and designers, presenting new innovative product designs, colours, and textures. The most important take out from the exhibition is that tiles are showcased as the jewels in design.

Colour was everywhere, It was blatant colour is vital and a vibrant part of design. Pastel colours were presented by all major brands from small size tiles to large panels. The differentiation being texture and finish.

Floral and botanical patterns were well represented, inspired by wallpaper and providing designers with another opportunity to find new applications for porcelain tiles. Some of these collections have been treated with different types of texture, some matt, some embellished with a shine aligned to the art-image.

Still the major breakthrough we witness with all the large brands is a Natural Stone looks. Print technology is allowing the recreation of a large variety of real marbles and precious stones looks. With some presenting the connectivity through vein-matching panels

Polished finish was most represented in natural stone designs as this is the only way to provide such a great depth that mimic’s polished marble.

New exciting finishes were Crystal finish, reflecting crystal quartz in the glaze of the tile. And a Leathered finish, where the engraved texture is aligned with the printed pattern, this was extensive throughout the fair.

Neutral colour’s, such as greys and beiges were seen more in the replications of Natural stones, we saw much less concrete and instead much more limestones, slates, travertines, … with different types of textures in these tones.

As formats of tiles become larger and larger, having the ability to handle it is critical. Therefore, there were 2 major halls called “Tiling Town” dedicated to the equipment and tools to assist tilers with the latest technologies.

Lastly, we gained a clear perspective after having conversations with major manufacturers, we realize that all of them are different, with different values, products, quality, and vision about the future,  they see themselves different as well. “Made in Italy” that we hear quite often is meaningless and generalizes because all these companies are so different.

We see the whole world market becoming more and more mixed with unique variety of styles. We see Asia and Middle east moving away from shine and polished, using more matt in projects, with Europe back embracing polished. Australia as a country of immigrants should  be exposed to all these products.