FloorTalk – for all the latest flooring fashions

Annette Callari, Allied ASID

Good design is all about solutions, and here’s a solution worth sharing. Glass tile is a shining star in both commercial and residential designs, bringing color, light and translucence to any interior.  Getting creative with glass tile nets big results, but can also net some installation headaches as well.  The crystal clear elegance of glass requires a grout that can enhance its beauty—and I believe I’ve found it.

StarGlass™ translucent grout from StarQuartz, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, offers the solution.  Regular grout products used in glass tile installations can bleed under the tile and give a muddy, irregular appearance.  StarGlass™ is designed to let your glass tile be the star, because it enhances the look of the glass.  Besides being translucent, it’s three-dimensional and reflective.  The secret ingredient to this grout is a round glass bead aggregate that combines with a urethane grout binder.  What a brilliant idea!  It brings out the beauty of the glass (or metal) tile without weighing it down.

The manufacturer states, “StarGlass™ can be used on vertical or horizontal surfaces for both interior and exterior tile installations.  Approved uses include grout for ceramic, porcelain, glass tile, metal tile, or natural stone tiles.” 

Here are some of the interesting features/benefits that I discovered:

• Pre-mixed, ready to use
• Excellent chemical, stain and mildew resistance
• Semi-flexible, low shrinkage, and high crack resistance
• No color fading, streaking or shading—even when wet
• Fast, easy clean-up when compared to epoxy and cement grouts
• Proprietary coloring system
• UV stable colors (non-yellowing)
• Self-sealing (no sealing required)
• Non-sag formula for vertical surfaces
• Installs up to 50% faster than other grout systems
• Contributes to LEED credits
• Contains over 80% post-consumer recycled content

Pretty impressive line-up of features, but most important, we finally have a product specifically designed for glass tile installations.  It’s possible your tile setter hasn’t even heard of it yet, but be persistent if this is what you want in your home or office.  A little research and your professional will be a convert too.  I believe in this product—to the point where I have specified it for a vertical glass tile installation in a commercial design I am working on.  With this product discovery, I brought something new to my company and to our installation crews.  StarGlass™ may now become a star player for all of our future glass installations. 

Before I close, let’s talk color for a moment.  This grout comes in 15 amazing colors (Diamond, Onyx, Opal, Jade, Bronze, just to name a few). The colors are gemlike and almost dance with reflective qualities. You can see the entire color line on their website, www.starquartz.com—and you need to know that Daltile is the national distributor for this amazing new product.  What fun!

Submitted By:  Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID, CMG

Tile manufacturers are always looking for ways to make designers’ lives easier, and along with that, YOUR life easier as well. Aesthetically, the choices out there in ceramic and porcelain tile are expansive and quite amazing.  All of the ‘big guys’ dedicate a lot of resources to product development, so what else could they possibly offer in tile design that might capture more attention?

How about a program that offers you in-factory cutting services?  One that allow for your tile of choice to be ordered in custom linear and rectangular sizes?  AND provide that tile within a three week turnaround time?  Well that is exactly what Daltile is about to launch.  Dal identified a huge, unmet need out there.  For the most part, anyone looking for linear shapes and rectangular sizes were either limited to a handful of collections that offered those options, OR they had to have their tile installer cut down the tiles right on-site–a slow and messy process at best.  Now, according to Lori Kirk-Rolley, Senior Marketing Director for Daltile, “Any Daltile or American Olean rectified porcelain tile or glazed floor tile can be ordered in popular linear and rectangular sizes, making design options endless.”  There are two added benefits to this program that deserve mentioning:

-      Since the custom cuts are done at the factory, the quality of the cuts is more consistent

-      Custom cutting at the factory reduces labor costs at the jobsite, and that can be a big benefit!

 The core assortment of products for this program was selected from the most popular porcelain tile collections Daltile and American Olean offer.  But, according to my sources, any ceramic floor tile in the line can be custom cut to any size (within a minimum width of 2” and a maximum length of 24”).  Lead time might be a bit longer, but check with your local flooring store for pricing and production time.

 One last thing for you to know:  these “cutting edge” programs will be announced shortly as Linear Options under the Daltile brand, and Linear Express for American Olean.  Just another design option for you to use as you create your one-of-a-kind floor.

Submitted By:  Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID, CMG

Just in case you missed the latest post on WFCA.org “Designer’s Corner”, you might want to check out the article on “What’s Cooking in Kitchen & Bath Trends…PLUS COLOR”. It’s the “PLUS COLOR” part of that article that ties nicely into the subject of this blog.  Twelve stunning new colors for 2010 were introduced in that article—all will come into their own for home interiors over the next year. These rising stars on the color scene were all based on my on-going research and work with Color Marketing Group International. (CMG is the premier color-forecasting group in the United States. As a not-for-profit organization, color trend predictions are unbiased, sector-specific, quite accurate, and highly valued.)  Each member analyzes the raw data that comes out of CMG conferences and customizes it to their particular product line and market.  In my case—home interiors! 

One of the new color introductions included in that published forecast was Violet Satin.  This color was strongly influenced by the technology sector and is reflective of combining stainless steel with the softer side of purple.  The fashion industry absolutely loves it, and so do home interiors.  It’s a transitional color that we will see working effortlessly in everything from carpet and fabrics, to hard surface applications.  Consider that the 2010 color predictions for home interiors were decided early in 2008, and validation of these colors is now emerging—in a big way. Evidence of that was seen at the recent Cersaie Tile Show in Italy.  Sphere Trending, a respected international trend spotting company, highlighted this show in their recent newsletter.  In their own words: 

“As always, the tile and bath installations at Cersaie were simply stunning this year. Continuing in importance, as a softer statement in design, was the influence of inspirations from nature. Birds and butterflies came to life, subtle floral motifs took shape and shadowy trees, branches and leaves became an elegant statement.”

The link to Sphere Trending’s slide show is below (Lovely in Lavender). Be sure to click on ‘slide show’ in upper right of their page to see these images full-screen.  Enjoy this color-rich visual walk through of the exhibits at Cersaie, and watch as Violet Satin comes alive in some stunning and surprising applications.  This color is a blossoming winner already making international headlines, as you will see.

Submitted By:  Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID, CMG

I really wanted to get your complete attention on this blog—and what better way to do that than by leading with pictures of an awesome new collection of mosaic tile patterns from Nadeau.  Their creativity is showing–not only in the patterns introduced above (and these are just six of the twelve new mosaics), but in the marketing theme behind them. 

According to Nadeau Tile’s marketing department, “We are introducing the ‘TWELVE MONTHS OF MOSAICS COLLECTION’ which was inspired by the intricacies of Mother Nature.  Each design was hand selected with the essence of the weather and feel of each month.

So let’s have a little fun with this.  Can you identify which month each pattern represents?  You really have to analyze each pattern to see if you can find a theme, and the colors used might give you a hint as well.  If you’d like to see the other six months of mosaics not shown here, visit TheNadeauCollection.com for the complete line. 

Okay, I’ve teased you long enough.  Look below for the answers, starting with the top left pattern:

1. DECEMBER – The colors are cool and icy, and reminiscent of ice crystals taking shape under a microscope.
2. NOVEMBER – Winter is making it’s debut, and warm flannel blankets are coming out  of the linen chest.  This homey plaid speaks of bundling up in front of the fireplace on blustery nights.
3. OCTOBER – Look very closely at this pattern.  I definitely see black bats with wings spread.  The russet and gold colors are some of Fall’s best hues.
4. AUGUST – This one was harder to guess, but Nadeau describes it as being inspired by feathers, colored with the warm hues of sunny August.
5. MAY – Flowers in full bloom and garden-like colors inspired this design.
6. JANUARY – Winter white with a snow leopard pattern represents the month of January.  This one is a stretch of the imagination, but what a great pattern!

‘Twelve Months of Mosaics’ definitely qualifies as an innovative collection, and it’s just a sampler of what Nadeau can create. They encourage you– customers, designers, architects and specifiers–to contact them directly with your own ideas of patterns you want to create.  They will work with you as a team to develop the concept and composition of a floor or wall mosaic customized for your project.  Now THAT is mass customization at its very best.

Submitted By:  Annette M. Callari, Allied ASID, CMG

Hats off to the Italians once again this year.  Their reputation for fashion-forward thinking is demonstrated annually, as they host Cersaie – one of the world’s largest exhibitions of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings in the world.  They drew a crowd of over 83,000 people this year, as they celebrated 27 years of holding this event in Bologna, Italy.

The theme of this year’s mega-show focused on responsible product composition (recycled ingredients being a focus), as well as improved manufacturing and shipping processes that serve the environment well.  Innovation is the signature of Cersaie, and I wanted to share with you just a few of the creative international products that came out of this show, along with some great new products coming out of the good old USA.  The Italians excel in tile design, but our own domestic manufacturers are pretty impressive too.

One of the big design trends I’ve been talking about for two years has come to life with the introduction of Mosaico Italiano’s Vetrina Collection.  Iridescence in finishes gives sparkle and life to any surface. Vetrina does just that, with mosaics available in 72 solid colors and 56 combinations and blends.  Mosaics are always expressive because you can customize the layout any way you like.  Insets in harmonizing colors can define space and create a focal point.  These beautiful 4 mm thick glass tiles lend themselves to geometric compositions, limited only by imagination.  www.mosaicopiu.it.

Browsing through the next manufacturer’s website was an adventure you will truly enjoy.  What intrigued me about this collection of glass tile was its versatility.  Trend has introduced an inspired collection of 2 x 2cm glass (tesserae) mosaics that can be applied to ceilings, walls, or floors!!!  Once you visit www.wallpaperintrend.com, these words will vividly come to life.  I love the themes that Trends is presenting:  Academic, Euphoric, Natural, and Classic.  Within each style theme there are 16 designs in three color ways (one of which is black and white).   They’ve done their research, and colors and patterns are historically accurate to reproduce a shimmering interior that lends tactile dimension to any design.  I encourage you to explore their website and have fun!

I first discovered Everstone Tile last year at the Surfaces Trade Show in Las Vegas.  Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, this manufacturer has a fun, contemporary charm to its line of products.  Geometric shapes define Everstone as unique.  “Bubbliscious” Circles, hexagons, and squares create stand-out glass tile designs in fearless colors.  Now they are rocking traditional ceramic tile design with the introduction of Metaluxe—REAL metal on porcelain tile.  Four lustrous patterns in subtle geometrics are offered:  Vortex, Sanded, Flashing, and Stream.  The pattern names give you intriguing clues as to what each pattern is all about.  Now for the colors offered in each pattern:  Alloy, Platinum, Bronze, Copper, and Nickel.  They are impressive to say the least, and the possible applications of these metallic tiles open new doors in the world of design.

As tile manufacturers constantly reach beyond the norm to discover innovative material marriages and finishes, we, the consumer, are the benefactors.  Our choices are multiplying exponentially, and the advantages play out, life-sized, in the unique design of our own homes.