I am always on the lookout for manufacturers that bring a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to the global tile market. And at Coverings, well away from the main Italian village, I came across a new name to me: Made+39 … and I was impressed, very impressed.
To set the scene, Made +39 is an Italian manufacturer of luxury surface finishes. As well as utterly on-trend porcelain tiles, Made +39 also produces marble resin products and wallpapers.
The company’s impressive product portfolio is expressed in a vocabulary that draws on the world of Italian fashion and that of traditional hand-crafting. The result a range of products and materials for interior architecture offering excellent material quality and aesthetic impact.
I have chosen just two. Hextie, as the name suggests, is a hexagonal range. It provides a blend of different patterns based on fabrics, that lend surfaces a precious tactile quality. The collection comprises four solid colours – light grey, grey, blue and anthracite – and eight enticing decor options; while the tile itself recalls old-style hexagonal concrete floor tiles.
In the Wool range, the weave of a woolen fabric has inspired a quirky glazed porcelain tile collection that is available in five sizes and four colours. This is a vertsaile range, suitable for both residential and commercial areas, and both wall and floor applications. The modular formats are 600 by 1,200, 600 by 600, 600 by 300, 600 by 150, 600 by 100mm, complemented by a range of five decors: square, mosaic, quadri, puzzle and sphera. The harmonised range of neutral colours are cenere, avio, terra and sabbia.
Further coverage of the design trends at Coverings 2017 can be found in Tile & Stone Journal May 2017, Pages 48-65, or online at www.tileandstonejournal.com.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, June 1027.
