The tile industry gathered in the Birmingham Hilton Hotel on 21 April for what were flagged up as the ‘fabulous’ Tile Association Awards, the annual celebration of what’s best from the tile industry – and, as ever, a good proportion of what was best had its contribution from the world’s stone producers.

Stone once again played a significant role in this year’s TTA Tile Awards, presented at the Birmingham Hilton Hotel on 21 April. The Las Vegas-themed ‘fabulous’ awards ceremony not only provided a night of glitz and glamour as the City of Sin was brought to Birmingham, complete with Elvis and showgirls, it also raised money for the Children Today charity, adding to the £20,000 The Tile Association has donated to the charity since it adopted it as its worthy cause three years ago.

Even the top honour of the Fixer of the Year title went to a tiler who has made a speciality of installing stone. He is Ian Harrison from Hull, whose short-listed entries in the Best Use of Tile in a Private House category ably demonstrated his skills.

Best Use of Tile by a House Developer included in its finalists Stone & Ceramic, formed in 2002 by the joining of separate companies in the stone and ceramic sectors. It was recognized for its work at 7-5 Whitfield Street, London, where it installed various natural stones throughout the flats and townhouses, including the bathrooms, living space floors and balconies.

Stone & Ceramic was also a finalist in the Best use of Tile within the Leisure or Hospitality Industries for its work at London’s Syon Park Hotel, a new five-star Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the grounds of Syon House. It is designed in a contemporary style using natural stones supplied and installed by Stone & Ceramic Ltd to a standard befitting such a prestigious venue.

Winner of the Best Use of Tile in the Public Sector saw more stone used. The winning project was a new floor in Burlington’s Cumbrian stone and Carrara marble at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow. It incorporates a mosaic featuring the Archdiocese of Glasgow’s crest. This circular mosaic was commissioned by the Archbishop while on a visit to Jerusalem.

The one category you would expect to find stone is that of Best Natural Product, introduced specifically to recognize the contribution of stone to the tile industry. Winner this year was Precious Polished Stone from the Designer Stone Collection of N&C Nicobond.

Precious Polished Stone is a range that boasts a touch of modern vintage combined with true elegance for an opulent appeal. It includes a combination of colours, textures and sizes, finished in a high polish.

N&C Nicobond says: “This classic yet contemporary series breathes new life to natural stone, bringing a classic genre of tiles into the modern era. There are no two pieces alike, bringing out the naturally abstract composition of natural stone and inviting the great outdoors into the home, commercial area or exteriors.

The winner of the Most Innovative Tile Installation Award was artist Ed Chapman, who gathered together a broad range of natural stone tiles, broke them up and used the pieces to create a 92x62cm mosaic of rock star David Bowie in celebration of Bowie becoming a pensioner on 8 January this year.

Ed Chapman is famous for his mosaics and has previously used coins, paper, glass and even chewing gum to make likenesses of famous subjects ranging from Nelson Mandela and Albert Einstein to Princess Diana and Lemmy from Motorhead.

A runner-up in the Most Innovative category was the CoppaFeel! garden by Mapei in the Hampton Court Flower Show in July last year. It saw the collaboration of 2010 RHS Young Designer of the Year Hugo Bugg with the breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel!. The garden was conceived to provoke thought, captivate, educate, unsettle visitors, change attitudes, and heighten awareness.

There are not many tile retailers now who do not include some stone among their ranges, but some focus more on stone than others, such as Creative Stone & Tile, in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, a finalist in the Excellence in Independent Retailing category.

It does not hold stock but aims to offer a complete range of quality design-led tiles. It says it is one of a new generation of tile retailer satisfying the modern customer always on the look-out for something unique. The company’s porcelain collections have been hand-picked from Italy’s leading tile manufactures / designers and its natural stone floors and staircases are selected and commissioned from the leading stone houses of Italy & Spain.

Tiles now come in so many different sizes, finishes, shapes and colours that Creative Stone & Tile offers all its clients a complimentary design service to help them through the decision process. This involves spending time with the client in the showroom working together to design interiors according to the lifestyle and budget of the people concerned. This service is available to clients throughout the UK, Ireland and internationally.

Among the multiple retailers, the Award for Excellence went to Tile Choice, which has 14 stores ranging in size from 500m² to 1,800m². It also has a 3,000m² centralised warehouse and distribution centre carrying £1.5million pounds-worth of ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tiles.

The finalists included Armatile, which, from humble beginnings, has become one of the largest tile and natural stone retailers in Ireland.

Suppliers of products to the tiling industry also did well in the Tile Awards. Best Environmental Initiative went to BAL for becoming the first company in the tiling sector to become a Partner of Cool Earth, which protects threatened rainforests by working with indigenous communities to prevent deforestation.

For every pack of the BAL ‘Go Greener’ range of environmentally responsible tile adhesives sold, a donation is being made to Cool Earth to help fight climate change by preventing rainforest clearance – and BAL says that for every square metre of tiling laid using its ‘Go Greener’ products, a square metre of threatened rainforest is protected.

Mapei UK was among the finalists in the Best Environmental Initiative category for its Integrated Management System (IMS).

The company’s short- and long-term business plan has placed much emphasis on sustainable development and it has set a high standard of objectives through a variety of industry standards. The IMS strategy has proved to be a methodical and proficient approach towards sustainability – reflected in Mapei's performance in both meeting sustainability objectives and being a commercial success.

Another finalist was Ultra Tile for reducing the amount of waste it sends to landfill by 51%. It has achieved this by using Kaizen management techniques developed in Japan and establishing Kaizen teams of employees from various levels of responsibility throughout the company.

‘Kaizen’ translates as ‘change for the better’ and focuses on making continuous improvements of processes throughout a company. Using this approach, Ultra Tile has reviewed, defined, implemented, controlled and more than halved the waste it sends to landfill.

Suppliers to the tiling sector also did well in the Excellence in Marketing category. Winner was Ultra Tile (an Instarmac brand) for its ‘Flex Factor’ launch campaign for its grout range with an improved FlexJoint formula. Innovative marketing activities were used to promote the range, including a ‘text to win’ promotion with suitably themed prizes.

The ‘Flex Factor’ combined originality with a clear, focused message, incorporated interactive media and provided an opportunity to win with an eye-catchingly memorable concept. The launch was developed within budget and generated an above target return.

Among the finalists was Weber for its ‘Love Weber’ campaign. Primarily aimed at tile fixers to promote Weber’s tile fixing range, it emphasised the long-term relationship the company builds with fixers once they have tried the Weber brand.

The Best Innovation category also gained recognition for the suppliers of ancillaries and consumables, with switchless touch controls particularly attracting the attention of the judges. Hidden touch controls have been around for a while for kitchen worktops and for lamps and have now moved on to the walls of bathrooms.

Taptile’s Taptile Bathroom was the winner. It allows the user to control three different lighting circuits, plus appliances such as extractor fans and sound systems just by touching a surface. Taptile says it is affordable and simple to install, comprising an 8mm thick panel fitted behind the tiling or wall-covering with nothing showing on the surface and with wireless operation.

Finalists included Mapei’s Mapelastic Aqua Defense and N&C Nicobond’s Gypfix.

Mapelastic Aqua Defense is a one-component, ultra rapid drying, ready-to-use liquid membrane for waterproofing substrates in preparation for fixing ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tiles and mosaics. Nicobond Gypfix is a rapid setting, white, gypsum-based tile adhesive for fixing ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tiles to anhydrite / Calcium Sulphate floors. The product performs exceptionally well with under-tile and other forms of under-floor heating systems.

The Awards ceremony was a bright spot in what has been a bleak world, although there are signs of improvements ahead, said outgoing TTA chairman Ian Crowther.

“In the tile industry, businesses across all sectors have closed their doors and many employees have lost their jobs. However, the signs of recovery are there for all to see and at this time it is important that your business is ready for improved trading conditions,” he said.