In celebration of National Tile Day, Coverings, North America's leading tile and stone exhibition, has announced the top 10 tile trends for 2024. These trendsetting styles offer a glimpse into the innovative and exciting tile designs shaping the industry.
This year's trends were chosen by Coverings' sponsors and international tile associations, highlighting the most sought-after looks from across the globe. The chosen styles showcase the diverse possibilities of ceramic tile, from sustainability and durability to beauty and endless design potential. These trend forecasts will be on display at the upcoming Coverings show in Atlanta, April 22-25, 2024.
Top Tile Trends of 2024 Unveiled by Coverings
The following 10 tile trends of 2024 are summarized in alphabetical order:
1. Architectonic
With tile being a historically integral part of buildings, it is no surprise that architecture is a muse for tile manufacturers. Ceramic brands are partnering with industry designer heavyweights to put their own creative stamps on the classic material, while others are inspired by historic buildings and architectural details, from stained glass to Byzantine cut mosaics.
2. Beyond Realism
When texture, sheen and reflectivity with color can be digitally manipulated, it is not only possible to recreate anything through ceramics, it is also easy. Modern tile production is at a stage where artistic expression knows no bounds, even when taking on a natural reproduction. The layers of detail that are possible with printing techniques evokes truly visceral experiences. The ability to create fine variances in decorative adornments allows for a ceramicist to play with the characteristics of different substances or introduce other elements of interest in tile.
3. Contempo Concrete
To complement the raw beauty of contemporary architecture, designers are giving us fresh interpretations of modern cement in porcelain format. Exquisitely colored and perfectly sized aggregates give these designs a handcrafted concrete look and feel. Beautifully brutalist and understatedly elegant, these creative concrete looks embody modernity, sophistication and the bustling tapestry of urban living.
4. Organic Grandeur
Innovative glazing technology paired with inspiration from rare natural materials give us surfaces so stunning, you’ll lose your gaze in them. Enhancing effects of light and reflectivity are reproduced in luminous finishes, giving the beauty and depth of marble with the durability of porcelain in color ranges wider than those of natural stone.
5. Porcelain Panels Panache
The world is witnessing and embracing the availability of production-ready versions of full-body porcelain panels. This achievement signifies a momentous milestone as it fulfills a longstanding request from fabricators and specifiers since the mainstream adoption and installation of large-format tiles. These full-body pieces offer the remarkable qualities of heat, stain and scratch resistance, while being sustainable and free from toxic chemicals.
What’s more, manufacturers are turning up the volume on this trend with the look, style and allure of natural stone, spanning many collections mimicking the world's rarest marble and showcasing evocative amalgamations with bright colors and luminous veins. Distinguishing them from vying materials is their capacity to be worked with, using traditional fabrication techniques, making them a cost-effective and versatile choice for exceptional architecture and design applications.
6. Seeking Balance
When balance and complementary interactions are fleeting, tile makers look to the birthplace of yin-yang and wabi-sabi for inspiration. While we see ample textile designs translated into ceramic renditions, there is one standout repeated by many this year, "stick mosaics.” Manufacturers are offering their take on this classic Japanese porcelain style, enhancing new lines with gracefully flowing pottery glazes. The appeal of fragmented pieces lies in the delicate interplay between precise straight lines and a gracefully undulating imperfect charm of the coatings.
7. Set in Stone
These looks draw inspiration from the magnificent beauty of the Earth's ancient geological past. Masterpieces of nature, like limestone, bluestone and slate, are represented with such precision and include characteristics like veining, coal lines and visible fossils. The visual richness of their textures, nuances and details are maintained and paired with the practicality of ceramic.
8. Tactile Renaissance
Tile manufacturers are wholeheartedly embracing the infusion of rich textures throughout new ceramic collections. As architects and designers explore a growing interest in outfitting built environments in raw and rugged materials, the incorporation of tangible surfaces enables one to adequately interact with and navigate a space. Tiles impressed with deep grooves, subtle fluting, billowing curves and scored strokes are meant to be experienced both visually and physically.
9. The Third Dimension
Ceramic tile companies are looking to the third dimension as the next frontier of design. New collections feature a plethora of 3D tiles from fluted and protruding surfaces to reliefs with explosive patterns. As manufacturers work toward producing tiles that look and feel like natural stone, marble prints are now paired with low relief veining for an incredibly realistic appearance.
10. Trompe L’oeil
From misty forests to overlapping sheets of corrugated metal, tile manufacturers are producing a range of mind-blowing optical illusion effects on porcelain. Given the technical benefits of porcelain, designers can use these digitally printed tiles to their advantage, creating a shower that appears to be enclosed by billowy drapes or the floors of a spa covered in grooved wood-look planks.
Related Stories
Laboratories | Oct 5, 2022
Bigger is better for a maturing life sciences sector
CRB's latest report predicts more diversification and vertical integration in research and production.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 5, 2022
Co-living spaces, wellness-minded designs among innovations in multifamily housing
The booming multifamily sector shows no signs of a significant slowdown heading into 2023. Here is a round up of Giants 400 firms that are driving innovation in this sector.
Contractors | Oct 5, 2022
Materials shortages, cost spikes throwing Design-Bid-Build process out of whack
The traditional Design-Bid-Build delivery process is under considerable stress this year as materials shortages and cost spikes are upending usual practices, according to a new report from JLL.
Green | Oct 5, 2022
In California, a public power provider’s new headquarters serves as a test case for an innovative microgrid and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), the public power provider for California’s Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, recently unveiled its new all-electric headquarters.
Contractors | Oct 4, 2022
Which comes first, the building or the cost estimate?
At the start of a project, don’t forget to establish financial parameters when you’re discussing the design and program. By establishing the costs up front, you can avoid the pitfalls that might derail your project and guarantee its lasting success.
Fire and Life Safety | Oct 4, 2022
Fire safety considerations for cantilevered buildings
Bold cantilevered designs are prevalent today, as developers and architects strive to maximize space, views, and natural light in buildings. Cantilevered structures, however, present a host of challenges for building teams, according to José R. Rivera, PE, Associate Principal and Director of Plumbing and Fire Protection with Lilker.
| Oct 4, 2022
Rental property owners want access to utility usage data for whole properties
As pressure from investors for ESG reporting mounts, owners of multifamily properties increasingly look to collect whole-building utility usage data.
| Oct 4, 2022
In dire need of affordable housing, Aspen, Colo. will get a development that provides 277 affordable homes
A few miles from downtown Aspen, Colo., a development will provide 277 new affordable homes for an area experiencing a dire affordable housing crisis.
Green | Oct 3, 2022
California regulators move to ban gas heaters for existing buildings
California regulators voted unanimously recently on a series of measures that include a ban on the sale of natural gas-powered heating and hot water systems beginning in 2030.
| Oct 3, 2022
The College of the Holy Cross completes a $110 million performing arts center
In Worcester, Mass., a one-hour drive from Boston, the College of the Holy Cross has completed its $110 million Prior Performing Arts Center.