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The tile industry has come a long way since the 1980’s. The biggest evolution is that thanks to technology, porcelain tile is taking the place of ceramic tiles.
Porcelain is fired at higher temperatures and uses a different mix of clays to ceramics. Combine this with newly developed machinery and advanced digital art technology and you have a tile industry that has been completely transformed. Porcelain is superior in strength and more durable then it’s humble counterpart.
Porcelain is now widely available from mosaic tiles, floor tiles, wall tiles right up to very large panel tiles. There is literally a porcelain tile for every surface whether it is interior, exterior, domestic or for commercial use.
Most recently tile trends have been looking back to mid century aesthetics and is particularly focused on the colours and patterns of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as the buildings that were constructed through this period have found a whole new demographic and appreciation.
At Urban Edge Ceramics we see the influence of colours and designs specifically from the 1980’s coming through in a number of tile collections now on offer.
Italian companies such as Mutina have worked in collaboration with Nathalie Du Pasquier, one of the founding members of the Memphis school of design in the 1980’s to develop a collection that is universally unique.
Nathalie has applied her innate flair for visual impact in developing the Mattonelle Margherita collection and her dynamic use of pattern and colour are a standout feature. The base colours that she has worked with – Blue, Green and Terracotta are a perfect fit to the 1980’s pallette. The tiles are made of porcelain, therefore suitable for both floor and wall use.
Mattonelle Margherita porcelain collection
Another new porcelain tile range is Solar. It is available in 148x148mm size in a matt surface finish with a slight undulated surface finish. It comes in 5 muted matt colours that are on trend for those in search of the 1980’s aesthetic. Solar offers a certain sense of restraint mixed with an air of fun. The range consists of plain coloured tile with a matching textured pattern in each colour-way. The textured pattern is named Stones and has a sense of play about it through the random dimpling impressed into the surface of the tile.
Solar porcelain tile collection
Mutina have revisited their beautiful range of Pico porcelain tiles. The Pico collection is characterised by 2 different surface textures – ‘Down’ with sunken dots and ‘Up’ with elevated dots. The designers of this collection Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have intentionally used popular 80’s colours to create a collection that has become a favourite for our customers.
Pico porcelain tile collection
The team at Urban Edge Ceramics regularly travel to Italy to visit our manufacturing partners so we can bring the latest in trends, tile technology and sustainable products into your home. We invite you to visit our Richmond showroom and discover the beautiful new collections for yourself.