The 42nd annual International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile show, Cersaie, was recently held at the Bolonga, Italy, Exhibition Center. This year’s show expanded to 16 halls comprising more than 1.5 million square feet of display space with 627 exhibitors from 30 countries representing tile, tile glazing and tile installation tool manufacturers. Almost 100,000 design, real estate, media and student visitors attended with approximately 52% of the total coming from Italy and the other 48% from around the world.
Cersaie 2025: Tile Style Trends
• Travertine and wood-grain looks continue to trend strong. One update to travertine is a crosscut rather than straight grain look such as Del Conca Group’s Travertino Moka or a mineral-drenched serene primary suite from Atlas Concorde’s Marvel T Series. Versace Ceramics Leatherwood series includes plank and mosaic tiles for both walls and floors, lending texture and warmth to a room.
Leatherwood Series by Versace Ceramics. Photo: Courtesy Ceramics of Italy
• Terrazzo, in a multitude of colors, particulate sizes and overall tile sizes, remains popular and was on display as floors, walls, countertops and furniture applications. Edi Max Astor’s Iro Series provides options for mixing and matching a terrazzo tile with mosaic tiles to create a coordinated yet custom look.
Iro Series by Edi Max Astor
• Cool whites and grays were out at Cersaie. What was trending was gradations of colors starting with a warm white and moving into a warm gray or griege. In a similar vein, bright neon colors were few and far between, replaced by tile series of glazed porcelain field and large-format tiles in gloss and matte finishes that could be found in natural environments like the sea, earth and sky. The Pompei Series by Tonalite, Celtic series by Cerlat S.A. and Chroma by Imola Ceramica are examples of this trend.
Chroma by Imola Ceramica
• The freedom to mix and match creating custom looks within a single tile line continues to trend. Marca Corona’s Terrasale Series and Del Conca Group’s Faetano Dimore Series are excellent examples of this trend.
Terrasale Series by Marca Corona
• I can’t believe it’s not … quarried stone. The realism in the decorative surface of large-format porcelain tiles and slabs continues to surprise and delight industry professionals and consumers. The veining and texture in Energieker’s Marble matte porcelain slab is notable as is Tangina’s Onyx Diamond and the Luci D’oro Dorato matte slab.
Marble-look slab by Energieker
• From textiles to geometric patterns to botanical motifs, tile is giving wallpaper a run for its money by providing unique accent walls and durable surfaces with potentially lower installation costs.
Cersaie 2025: Tile Technology & Sustainability Trends
• The underlying trend across the entire show was how technology continues to transform the tile and porcelain slab industries, elevating the look and feel these materials. More than ever, tile manufacturers have enhanced options for creating unique textures that evoke sensorial feelings of nature and tranquility, supporting the biophilic/health and wellness trends.
• Applications for water-based digital glazes and inks continue to expand, creating a variety of finishes that mimic ‘natural’ surfaces such as wood grain and veining found in natural stone.
• The expanding application of digital glues for adhesion of grit (texture) are creating visual and tactile raised relief surfaces, creating a unique aesthetic that translates across a variety of applications from commercial and hospitality to residential.
• ‘Soft’ to the touch surface textures and matte finishes were also trending, especially on slip-resistant floor tiles, giving architects, designers and consumers less ‘institutional-looking’ tile floor options.
• Large-format porcelain tiles with rectified edges continue to trend in a variety of glazes and finishes. These tiles reduce installation costs, the potential for shipping damage and are more resource efficient to manufacturer.
Sustainability Trends
• Sustainability is an integral part of daily operations for most manufacturers displaying at Cersaie. With circularity, durability, EDPs, worker health, packaging and more being more than just a mission statement, it is an ethos. Many manufacturers have established and published their dedicated targets for achieving carbon neutral production processes, no easy feat considering the firing temperatures of most tiles and the historical reliance on fossil fuels.
—Molly McCabe, AKBD, CLIPP, CGP, CAPS is owner/principal designer at McCabe By Design LLC
