Turkish tile

Recently, my mother went to Turkey and brought back these photos of the interior of some of the mosques she visited. I love all the abstract designs and the bright colors.

Ultra-Thin Technical Porcelain

For several years, tiles have been getting larger and larger. This year, several manufacturers have introduced ultra-thin, high-performance, large-format porcelain tile. These tiles are very light, minimizing transportation burdens and reducing installation costs, which is great for the environment.

Here are some of the new introductions:

SlimmKer by Inalco is 4 mm thick porcelain, available in 18” x 35.” It is easy to cut or perforate, and is lightweight. A new anchorage system allows for easy replacement, reducing landfill waste and demolition mess.

Ceramiche Ceasar offers large format porcelain, 3m x 1m and only 4.6 mm thick, mounted on fiberglass, with 40% recycled content.

Lea North America introduced SlimTech, a 3mm thick tile. According to Cesare Cabani, "The tile has all certifications for eco you could possibly get." Slimtech is the result of a rolling and compression technology, which totally modifies the traditional production process, the tile is extremely resistant, easy to install and flexible.

Provenza's EcoMood is a very thin tile for walls and floors with texture available in large format. It consists of 40% certified recycled content.

Kerlite by Cotto D'Este offers a range of colors and sizes in 3mm thick porcelain tile for interior and exterior cladding. Optional fiberglass backing adds one half millimeter to the thickness. The tiles are available up to 3m x 1m.

Villa Lagoon Tiles

These cement tiles were designed by Lundy Wilder, who built a hurricane-proof house in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The house survived direct hits from major hurricanes, Ivan and Katrina.

Doesn't the pattern look like a stylized representation of radar images of the eye of a hurricane with spinning clouds? Maybe that was Lundy's intention? Either way, it is a classy pattern and these tiles would look just as great outside of hurricane alley.

Up next

I've been interviewing lots of interesting people for my next article about tile. More information and some gorgeous images coming soon.

Crossville's recycling program

Word has it that Crossville has begun its newest recycling program.

Marketing manager Laurie Lyza explained the process to me at Coverings, "We're going to be able to recycle fired tile. This is a huge investment, but it will solve the problem of how to make new tile from old tile."

Previously, it was not possible to recycle post-industrial and post-consumer tile. Crossville already reused scrap powders and unfired tile (as do other manufacturers.) Still, hundreds of millions of pounds of damaged tiles went to landfills each year.

"We'll implement a tile take back program for previously installed tiles, resolving the issue: 'What do you do with a product that was designed to last forever?' Well, we're working out the details and this summer we will start productions with our fired tiles," said Lyza.

Tiles that should come in green, but probably won't

Several companies announced new product lines slated for late 2009 production. These tiles will use clean air technology to fight pollution. Ceracasa Tile's 'BionicTile' cleans the air by converting nitrous oxide to inert nitrates. StonePeak's new photo catalytic titanium dioxide tile uses nanotechnology to clean the air.

They both sound like a fabulous idea. If they work, let's clad all our buildings in them!

Coverings

Well, I survived a busy week at Coverings in Chicago. It was less hectic than usual, but my impression was that the people who were there were pretty serious. There weren't as many folks there who were just looking. Manufacturers and vendors seemed happily surprised that there were a considerable amount of orders. Maybe because fewer people were there, there was less competition?

I'll be posting images later this week, so stop back for a look!