The Tile Association’s annual Tile Awards returned to London this year with a Burlesque extravaganza at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel.

Although burlesque tends to be associated with leggy dancers these days (and they were certainly present at the Tile Awards), the word actually means a comic imitation or parody, which some purists in the stone industry might think singularly appropriate for most of the winning tiles in this year’s awards. Because while many of them looked like natural stone (and some wood) there was a particular lack of natural materials among the winners this time.

There has always been a blurring of the lines between natural stone and man-made tiles at the Tile Awards but as the fashion went to larger format tiles and a natural look, natural stone grew in significance.

This year, the porcelain tile manufacturers in particular showed they had reclaimed much of the sector. And as they have fought back on the larger format and more realistic natural look of their products, they are also making a bid for other areas of the interiors market.

Most of the major worktop manufacturers in the stone industry have encompassed porcelain and other man-made products. And just as CNC machinery and diamond tools made it feasible to work granite, so waterjets and making it easier to work porcelain and superdense sintered materials.

Many of the products used in the project categories of the Tile Awards that looked like stone were porcelain and there was not a single natural product among the finalists in the prestigious Wall Tile of the Year or Floor Tile of the Year categories.

The Commercial Contract winner showed just how far ceramics have come. The project was 80-100 Victoria Street in London, where 1,600m2 of floor on the ground and first floor lobby were tiled by limestone-looking tiles 2.5m x 1m x 6mm thick. As the entry says, this presented a significant challenge to the installation team from Quadrant.

To address the potential for the slabs to crack in use, a solid bed fixing (SBF) had to be used and Ardex was called on to provide a specification for the project. It suggested Arditex NA Ultra rapid setting latex subfloor, levelling and smoothing compound, used to level the deviations in the subfloor, and Microtec X 7001 rapid drying pourable floor tile adhesive.

The new materials are also prompting product development by the companies that supply the products for fixing and finishing tiles. The Best Ancillary Product award went to Fila for its Filano Rust, which removes old and new rust stains from all types of surfaces, including natural stone because it has a non-acid formula that makes it safe to use with marble and limestone.

The Best Innovation was judged to be Saint-Gobain Weber’s Weberfix Pro Lite, a ready-mixed acrylic wall tile adhesive for ceramic and small porcelain tiles. It is flexible, water resistant for intermittently wet conditions and light weight – 10litre tubs weigh just 13kg.

You can see all the winners on ttaawards.com/2017-winners.