BOLOGNA, ITALY — America has always drawn inspiration and influence from its European counterparts in music, art and culture. Not surprisingly, then, this rings equally true for kitchen and bath design, as evidenced at the recent Cersaie, held here. Nearly 90,000 design industry professionals attended the 25th annual celebration of the world’s largest international exhibition of ceramic tiles and bathroom accessories.

Environmentally friendly products remained one of the hottest trends at the show, while metallic colors, wallpaper looks and textured patterns stood out at as well. Larger formats, unusual shapes and technological innovations also suggested upcoming trends soon to cross the Atlantic, according to kitchen and bath professionals in attendance.

Shapes and Sizes

A wide variety of size options are critical to allowing designers to create personalized spaces, and the tile options at year’s Cersaie clearly reflected this. Working with the “bigger is better” mentality, the exhibition offered a plethora of oversized formats throughout, including tiles that measured as large as 3m x 1m.

“The super-thin, oversized tiles introduced into the market several years ago were now shown at more booths and with more patterns and designs. These can be used for facing over cabinets or walls,” says Christine Abbate, spokesperson for Ceramic Tiles of Italy and principal of the Park Slope, NY-based Novita Communications.

One new product presented at this year’s show exhibited the excitement of the size phenomenon with a double-layer slab tile consisting of one layer of fiberglass between two 3.5 mm pieces of porcelain stoneware.

While the ordinary circles and squares were still in evidence, new shape options also emerged, including polygons, hexagonal shapes and more. Rectangles and squares conquered more territory than ever before, many with irregular variations of these shapes to create a more personalized feel. Indeed, whether creating optical effects or fitting together as a puzzle, it was obvious that the shape of the tile market is ever growing, again reflecting the desire for more custom looks.

The texture of surfaces seemed equally significant this year, with textural interest being a critical element of many of the most popular tile offerings. One surface trend consisted of imprinting linen, cotton and papyrus textures on tiles, which were then topped with a glazed “stitching” to complete the look.