Beaumont Tiles’ design specialist Christie Wood outlines six trends for 2017. It’s less about which tiles and more how we put them together.
EARTH
This trend may be designed by man but has the earth very much at its heart. It’s a return to nature, the original masterpiece, where you surround yourself with the art of the ages. The stone look is very big in this trend and using natural tones that actually bring the outdoors inside. The earth trend is working in cohort with nature, rather than enforcing another style on it. It’s about a calming, relaxing sanctuary ambience. In earth, you can also be very high contrast with your material choices to amp up the wow return.
RAW
We’re moving from the industrial trend into a rawer, unconventional ambience where imperfection (often hidden or disguised) is being brought to the fore.
Raw is about items that are found or unearthed and been naturally affected over time, they have character and age. For example you may be renovating a home and come across a beautiful fireplace – it’s about stripping it back to what it once was, and celebrating the beauty of it. It could be an old fence, wall or door. Or it may be handmade. Something that is part of what’s gone before is very grounding and demonstrates that we’re all part of a time continuum. Concrete, unfinished timber-look tiles, handmade or irregularly shaped tiles feature here.
FORMATION
Formation is the materialisation of a concept into a design. It’s where surfaces are shaped, moulded and fashioned with the eye of the designer. They are laid out to capture light, shade or to create a transition to carry the eye. Each piece has its own contour or shape to create pattern with a myriad of applications. Hexagons, triangles and cubic tiles feature in this trend which can be spectacularly outside your comfort zone or as a subtle background design to lift a space. 3D tiles are new kids on the block and beautiful examples are coming from Europe, particularly Spain.
MONOCHROME
Black and white makes a classic entrance but its extrovert temperament runs stripes all over the rest. Shades of grey soften the hard edges, and metallic embellishments are the finale to completing the luxurious look. The new monochrome encompasses all shades of grey too. Monochrome is a confident contrast that people feel good and comfortable about. For example you can use black and white across the floor but it would take a bold personality to do that with other colours. You can experience it with different elements, for example shapes, or patterns, and take it in different directions by introducing a burst unexpected colours.
NOSTALGIA
In a rapidly changing world where every day we face uncertainty and change, we’re finding comfort in by gone eras. This is about the weight of history (in fact, anything that is memory related) whether it’s exposing retro, 70s, 50s, even the 90s. You can go all out or use subtlety but it’s about bringing a memory back to life and revelling in that memory. In particular retro is making a huge comeback and will be the next big thing after Scandi. There’s plenty of choices in this trend: older look timbers, subway tiles, fans, penny rounds and chevrons from the thirties.
BURST
Don’t hold back; let it burst out in colourful and contrasting energy! Like a curator’s enthusiasm for exquisite pieces, surround yourself with joyful style choices. Multiple textures, colours, and materials are combined in seemingly random composition to make a room pop. Burst is all about splashes of the eccentric and idiosyncratic to create positive and vibrant spaces that ooze personality. Experiment and play with elements like tile structure and texture or coloured fittings to set a room apart from all others and go bold to make it scream character.
—Beaumont Tiles is Australia’s biggest retailer of tiles and bathroom with 111 outlets across most states. Their buyers travel the globe to bring back the best in tile designs. www.tile.com.au
