If it looks like a duck and quacks, let’s call it a duck. The porcelain tile makers are certainly trying to make their latest generation products look like stone and they are happy enough to name them so they sound like stone. But do they quack?

The word ‘stone’, or something implying it, appeared plenty of times in The Tile Association’s Awards scheme this year. But all that carried it was not stone. In fact, the Natural Product category, which has not been the only place stone could be found in the Awards for many years, was dropped this time.

The porcelain tile makers are getting better at replicating the look of stone all the time with improvements in inkjet printing. And their products are whittling away at the natural product’s advantages, such as being available in larger sizes. The manufacturers have identified stone’s USPs that have made it so popular as tiles for well over a decade and have put a lot of effort into replicating them.

They have also seen the drawbacks of stone – namely its weight and thickness – and have avoided those.

Stone wholesalers have seen the potential of larger, thinner porcelain tiles and slabs and have started stocking them. And stone processors, too, are looking at the potential of porcelain to expand their traditional market, having learnt from man-made quartz just how beneficial non-traditional products can be to their sales.

It is difficult for firms that would have once considered themselves strictly stone companies to ignore the potential offered by man-made products, just as it has become difficult for tile sellers to resist the opportunities offered by stone. But the porcelain manufacturers are certainly not sitting back and accepting that stone has won a slice of the market. They are fighting back. And sometimes they are winning.

A lot of tile companies never did quite understand that stone tiles need sealing and regular maintenance and could not see why they should risk a sale by explaining those requirements to customers. Selling ceramics was always easier.

It is unlikely that stone will ever be replaced entirely by man-made materials because the natural product is still what many people would prefer. At the top of the market it is irrelevant how much effort has to go into looking after it because the person who is enjoying it is often not having to do the looking after.

Away from that rarefied atmosphere, in a sector of the market where people do their own cleaning, it is easier to compromise and accept a product that looks similar to stone but requires less maintenance, especially when it is cheaper.

Not that the ceramic manufacturers are looking at the lower end of the market only. They have noted – even more than many suppliers of stone have – that the further up-market you go, the more exclusivity wins out over price. Customers want the best and assume the higher the price the better the product.

The porcelain tile makers are sophisticated marketeers and are starting to sell some of their products at a price point deliberately above the price of the stone they emulate. The price on its own carries the subliminal message that the product is like stone… only better. It worked in many cases for quartz worktops, so why not for porcelain floor and wall tiles?

Dirk Van Dam of Erinstone, a Belgium company bought by the Irish company Stone Developments to sell their Irish Blue limestone into the tile and interiors market, says it is an interesting phenomenon. Erinstone was being exposed to the UK market at the Stone Show in London earlier this month. Dirk said he came away from the Show with a lot of highly impressive leads, with the blue-grey of the stone being very much in-vogue in interiors. But he recognised the threat from ceramics.

“The ceramics people can’t go into a market with a stone-like product, they have to let the stone make the market then the ceramics are the last part of the cycle. How much more kitsch can you get than copying something else?”

Neither is it just natural stone that the porcelain makers are emulating. Ceramic ‘wood’ tiles are also proving popular for similar reasons and the manufacturers are looking at other effects and textures.

The Tile Awards at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, on Saturday 20 April certainly rewarded some of the porcelain manufacturers whose products are looking ever more like other materials, especially stone.

Winner of the Wall Tile of the Year category was Colchester Tile for a porcelain product called Newstone by Piemmegres, which consists of what it describes as five stone colours and four metallic in plain, textures, stripes and wave finishes. It is being sold for use both inside and out.

Among the finalists was N&C Nicobond’s Diverse Slate, described as “a convincing imitation of natural stone” that “allows clients to achieve an authentic natural look with a durable and maintenance free finish”.

Another of the finalists was Porcelanosa, which the submission says “the overall look of this ceramic tile rivals that of our stone range, but the price and low maintenance aspects make this tile the preferred choice”.

The winner of the Floor Tile of the Year was N&C Nicobond’s Pietra Lavica (Italian for ‘volcanic stone’) that creates “modern sophistication through the slate effect surfaces”.

Finalists included British Ceramic Tiles’ HD Origin, which the company says includes “a variety of realistic stone effects, from sandstone and travertine through to marble” and takes “stone-effect ceramic floor tiles to a whole new level of design”.

With Dordogne, Unicom Starker says it has “reproduced a superb stone from France” while Craven Dunnill & Co say their Sands entry by Edimax is inspired by the Westmorland slates around Kirkstone to produce “one of the most striking… natural stone look produced”.

The wall and floor tile awards are for the latest developments in tiles and leave little doubt about which sector of the market the porcelain and ceramic tile markers are aiming at.

Other categories in the Awards scheme that recognise those who sell and install tiles made it clear why the manufacturers are targeting the stone sector. Because in these categories there was plenty of natural stone being sold and used.

The winner of the Best Use of Tile in the Domestic Sector, for example, was London company Stone & Ceramic. It installed natural stone in various areas, including 50 bathrooms, in 14 apartments at 3-10 Grosvenor Crescent in London. The cheapest of the apartments sold for £20million.

A variety of top quality Italian stone was used, including an unusual grey Carrara marble with white veins (rather than the other way round) slip matched. Portland limestone was used for the floors in the common areas, and around the pool were expensive glass mosaics.

Project manager Rob Hansford says Stone & Ceramic were on site for nearly a year. He accompanied the team to Italy to help select each block of stone for the project, working with UK stone consultants Harrison Goldman and Henraux, the Italian processor which cut the stone.

The only porcelain used was in large format (1200 x 600mm) tiles from Domus. It went into the servants’ kitchens in the larger apartments.

“For the ultra high end it has to be a natural stone product. Porcelain just doesn’t ooze luxury,” says Rob Hansford. And he should know as he reckons to do four or five such projects each year as well as a selection of more modest £5-10million developments.

He says high end projects usually also bring more work into the company because it is contracted to go back each year to look after the stone.

He says he does not much mind whether he is installing natural stone or porcelain and now that porcelain is available in slabs as large as 3m x 1.5m it is becoming more popular. He baulks at saying that both stone and porcelain have their difficulties, choosing instead to say they are both “interesting”.

“I think I would prefer to use natural stone. It’s easier to work and, if necessary, repair.”

But he concedes that the best of today’s porcelain tiles that are designed to look like stone, do. “They are very good. And if us in the industry are saying they look good you know they do.”

Both the Independent Retailer of the Year and the Multiple Retailing winner sell stone tiles as well as porcelain, ceramics and glass.

Winner of the Multiple Retailer category was Tile Choice, an independent chain that grew from 14 outlets to 17 last year. It sells the whole range of tiles.

The Independent winner, Tile Style, is aiming more at the mid to top end of the market, as the pictures here of the company’s showroom in Dublin illustrate – and it is a big showroom at more than 5,000m2. It even has a three bedroom semi-detached bungalow built inside it to create realistic room displays. There are tiles in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and its two bathrooms, one with stone tiles and the other with porcelain tiles and glass mosaics. There are 50 people employed in the company’s showroom, offices and warehouse.

Ruth McCarthy, Marketing Manager, says people come from all over Ireland to shop at Tile Style. She says grey is the interiors colour of the moment and that porcelain tiles that look like natural stone and wood are growing in popularity, although “there are people who can see and feel the difference”.

One of the finalists in the Independent Retailer category was Stone & Tile from Omagh in Northern Ireland, which also targets the mid to high end of the market.

The shop was opened in the town centre by Paul Bryan, who had been a tiler and worked in a tile shop in London before moving to Northern Ireland. He felt there was a gap in the market there for top quality products.

“The public can only know they like a product when they see it,” says Paul. “I felt other companies were bringing in cheaper materials and charging a lot for them. The customer was suffering. So I opened Stone & Tile, fashioning ourselves on a boutique showroom to bring in a higher quality product.”

He opened the boutique five years ago and has always sourced his product range from Italy. When he started, 40% of his sales were of stone but he says that has fallen to about 15% now. He says people have bought stone and found it difficult to maintain, especially as there are few people with the machinery and skills to maintain stone floors, not only in Northern Ireland but in the UK in general.

Paul also complains that when people have bought stone they have not been warned that it will need maintaining, which has left them dissatisfied with it.

Clearly there is still a lot of stone being sold in the tile sector and it still has a commanding hold on the high end of the market.

But, just as clearly, the porcelain, ceramics and even glass manufacturers have their sights focused on that lucrative and still active end of the market.

And they could win at least a share of it with the active participation of companies that have traditionally considered themselves stone specialists, as wholesalers, processors and fixers reassess their idea of the market they are in and start to think of themselves as being in hard surfaces rather than stone.

It will be interesting to see the products used in winning projects in the The Awards in the years ahead. n

TTA AWARDS DINNER 2013: A memorable night

The Tile Association Awards Dinner 2013, the major tile industry social event, took place on Saturday 20 April 2013 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

Over 100 impressive nominations were entered into this year’s awards, and 15 winners were announced on the night covering the areas of products, people, business and environment. Winning a TTA Award is a statement of excellence unparalleled in the wall and floor tiling industry. It is an achievement that provides a platform for success, elevating the winners standing within the industry.

The James Bond themed awards ceremony not only honoured and celebrated the very best in the tile industry, but also provided an exhilarating night of entertainment and excitement, hosted by ITV weather presenter Emma Jesson.

The night was made even more memorable by the kind donations of over £2,300 from the attendees for the Children Today Charitable Trust, a charity that raises funds to provide specialised equipment and services for children and young people with disabilities throughout the UK. Its aim is to ensure that every disabled child and young person achieves their potential. Since 2010 the TTA Awards Dinners have raised well over £20,000 for this worthwhile cause.

The event was kindly sponsored by: Building Adhesives Ltd, Fila Industria Chimica Spa, James Hardie Building Products, Lthofin, Mapei UK Ltd, Rubi UK, Schlüter Systems Ltd and Shackerley Holdings Group.