Surface Design Show 2024

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Tilecast news, features and analysis brought to you by diary of a tile addict hello, tile addicts. Well, as ever, we have Joe Simpson with us in the studio to tell us about his latest travels. He went to surface design show in London's Islington this week. Can we hear a bit more about it? Joe? What is surface design show? I know you've been before. We've covered it on the podcast, right? [00:00:40] Speaker B: Yes, I mean, it's an established date in the London design diary. It's a small but perfectly formed event, takes place in the former halter cultural halls, now called the Business Design center in Islington. And what I like about it is the fact that it is very compact. There are somewhere around 180 to 200 brands there, all with small stands. They cover a complete spectrum of surface materials, so as alongside tile, which is maybe 10%, you'll see carpets, you'll see wallpapers, you'll see plaster, stone, metal, glass, you name it. And what I like about it is because people have got quite small stands, they tend to cherry pick their finest products, their most recent, the most innovative, the most stylish. And so you can see the trends from a whole load of different surface finishes side by side, compare and contrast, see how the trends are evolving and all. Basically, in two or 3 hours, you can have done the whole show. And I always come away with at least one or two things. Outstanding memories, new products to follow up, new companies to research. So it's a great little show. [00:01:51] Speaker A: So despite being small, it's definitely worth the trip, particularly if you happen to be in London. You've been going for about 20 years, haven't you? So do you keep finding new things? [00:02:01] Speaker B: You always do find new things, and that's partly because of the way it's organized. You have the main stands on the ground level, or the business science centre is not like a normal exhibition. There's sort of mezzanines, whatever, but there's always on the top area, a balcony, where there are quite often PhD students or small emerging companies, which is they call this year, it's called new talent. It was curated by Trendies International. There were 33 different brands there, and you will always find something really interesting there. And what I like about it is you can see the talent coming through the next wave of talent that's going to drive the interior design and surface industry for the next 20 or 30 years. And personally, I just find that very refreshing, very exciting, very stimulating. [00:02:54] Speaker A: So, as it's a small show, is it quite sociable? Do people meet up there? Because you can actually find people in a small venue. [00:03:01] Speaker B: This is an interesting one. I go there basically to look at materials, although I do obviously meet people. But I think for a lot of the interior designers and architects who attend, it is at least 50% a social occasion. It's a great way to meet your peers, meet suppliers, attend the debates. There's a lot of talks and stuff that goes on across the day. I mean, there's normally seven talks every day. The first day, which runs only from five till 09:00 is centered around a debate which has really normally a stellar cast. This year the theme was mindfulness, but that debate in the first one looked at human capital, risk and retention. So it was all about attracting good people and keeping them and how to look after them. So it's always, for want of a better words, quite right on. It covers cutting edge issues like sustainability, but you'll also find talks about color theory. There's always quite a strong element of lighting in there, as well as surface, new surfaces and the kind of technology that lies behind them. [00:04:08] Speaker A: And so this year, not tons of exhibitors, but there was a resounding theme that you felt was either resurfacing or just continuing. [00:04:22] Speaker B: I would say that if you are looking for the major trend, it will and probably will be for decades to come, be sustainability. I mean, it's something that's on everyone's agenda, but people interpret it in different ways. I mean, some people are looking at it very much from a material science way, is how you can make these things using lesser energy, more recycled content, whatever, and others are taking a rather more holistic approach to sustainability. So it's how can we change our design ethos to make it more sustainable in general terms? And then there's all the areas in between. But I would say that's the fundamental theme of this show and actually probably most shows at the moment, it's underlying pretty well everything. [00:05:09] Speaker A: Now, I know you've already put an article up on diovataledict.com and you mentioned in that torazo, which obviously is endlessly recyclable. What else did you find at this show that was a bit different? [00:05:20] Speaker B: Right. Well, as you mean, it's lovely to see Tarazo. I'm a big fan. There are a couple of the top players there, Andrews and in opera, and it's always good to see them flying the flag. But what really stood out for me this year, also on the Tarazo line was Fareso, which is a timber terrazo manufactured from wood waste in Birmingham, held together by a non toxic formaldehyde free binder. I thought it was utterly beautiful. Talking to the guys who'd founded the company, they set out to make a flooring product and then quickly found they'd developed a worktop product. This is already commercially viable. I think it can grow and grow and grow. And why did I like it? Well, quite apart from the wood waste element, which is difficult not to support, and it uses planing waste and wood dust, which to add the inclusions and the warmth of the thing, primarily oak, London plain and walnut, it's the colours of the binding, if you can talk of such a thing. This had a mid century modern palette, but they're the kind of colors, if you look at old design books that you'd have found in milk bars in the 1950s or cool cafes in the 1970s, particularly quite deep greens with just a hint of blue. We have endlessly debate on Thailand, what you're going to call this color, but let's say aquamarine, for want of a better word. But it's actually probably more what a lot of tile manufacturers call sage green. But I really, really liked it. You can finish it with a food safe hard wax oil. If you damage it, you can repair it, you can machine the edges to make them smooth. Utterly beautiful. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Brilliant. So it could also be a flooring as well. Of course. It's just that at the moment that the commercial interest has been on surfaces. [00:07:30] Speaker B: For work tops, I do, and I also think probably it's more attractive for work tops because of the price point. But one of the things I think, if I was a designer, I'd be buying some of the offcuts and experimenting with it for smaller things like coffee tables or maybe even your desk. It's a truly beautiful product. Have a look at it. [00:07:53] Speaker A: Right. So also reusing wood was a company that used marketary techniques to us by that one. [00:08:01] Speaker B: Right. Yes. This is very much more a crafted product and I really liked what they'd done with it. As I said in my article, it was the kind of surface you'd have thought Rick Deckard would have sat behind a desk made of this in blade Runner. It has that kind of slightly new age linearity to it. I really like the two guys who set it up. It's, again, reusing waste, but it's reusing them in quite a scientific and considered way. The end results are utterly beautiful. You're going to pay for the privilege. But they showed some examples of where this had been used throughout in a kitchen. And you just think it is fantastic because you can put color, you can put different materials and you could put good joinery into one piece of furniture or one work top or some combination. And I just thought it was fantastic. So they were called stratum and they were building the whole thing as modern marketery. And I would say that Ravi and Dan and their customizable off the shelf furniture, parquet flooring or bespoke project solutions are going to be one to watch. [00:09:26] Speaker A: Right, okay, so already commercial? [00:09:29] Speaker B: Oh, it is already commercial. They are not trying to create the world's largest company here. They want to bring their own craft skills to bear on every project. This is clearly everything they do is quite obviously a labor of love. And if you look at their background, these are guys who have come to this because they are adventurers, because they are pioneers, because they are willing to challenge the norm and more power to their elbow. [00:09:59] Speaker A: Excellent. So, in terms of up and comings, I gather you had a good look at what the students had to offer on the gallery landing of the centre. Who did you find there? [00:10:11] Speaker B: I always do this. For me, this is probably the thing I most enjoy about surface design show, and once again, it didn't let me down. There are a lot of lovely things there. Some of them are just not relevant to me. There's work in textiles and paint and various different things, so I try and restrict myself to solid surfaces. And this year there were two that really farred my enthusiasm. Beatware and resinder. Beatware. A final thesis project by Chloe Mountain from central St Martin's is a biodegradable material formed using the waste product from british sugar beet production. And you think, how on earth did she come into that? Well, the answer is, her family are in the sugar beet industry and she's obviously looked at this all her life and wondered, what could you do that adds value to that waste material? And she's come up with something. To be fair, it is early days and she's produced something that's hard wearing and durable, but quite what journey it's going to go on before it's commercially viable is anyone's guess, but it seems to me it's a path well worth travelling. Reesinder, which is the brainchild of Rosie Nappa, has, I would say, gone a bit further along its journey. She's a ceramic material researcher who's looked at, like a lot of people, sustainable development of waste based ceramics. She mixes this with waste ash, cinder ash, diverted from Fly mill, and she's created this product, resinder, 100% recycled. It's versatile. You can use it for furniture, tiling and tableware. But front and foremost, and what she was shown there was using it as a lighting product because it's translucent. And those of us who follow the tile industry, trying to create a translucent tiling biscuit, has been preoccupying tile companies for many, many years. Well, she has come up with an alternative that is translucent. She was showing it as basically table lamps, but there's no reason why you couldn't adapt this, I think, and make light walls replace thin sheets of achingly expensive stone or other alternatives, plastics. I think there's a lot of potential here. I'm not saying that's the way she's going to go with it. And her aim is that she is going to develop the material, make everything. She's going to be a very busy lady because she was getting a lot of attention at the show and I think she produced a really wonderful product, but it could be taken in lots of different directions. Whether it will go in these different directions, only time will tell. [00:13:06] Speaker A: Well, good luck to her. And in terms of actual tiles, right. [00:13:11] Speaker B: Well, there were, for want of a better word, mainstream tiles. So there's always a tile of Spain display there and they bring a handful of brands and they had some wonderful tiles there. I particularly like the soft non slit tiles from Dune. There were some nice smaller tiles from decosair and Addex Christasser. And there are a couple of companies that have permanent displays at business design centre, Greztech and Saloni. So they're obviously always to the fore every year and not too bad ones to have. I particularly like some of the new concrete effect and in various graduated grey tones that Greztech had. Very beautiful. But on the other tile front, mirage were there at one end of the spectrum, the people that are well known for their fantastic ventilated facades. Probably the pioneer in that field in the UK who worked closely with Shackley over the years. And then at the other stage, there was a little company called Lux Pottery and the woman behind this, Trix Newman, was at the show. And if there was just one artisanal producer, what a hummer she was. I absolutely loved what she did. Reminded me of two people who are very good to be reminded by Kenneth Clark and Lubna Chowdhury. So anyone who follows Tal addicts will know that I'm putting her in very high company. What I liked about her was she's kind of come to tiles by accident. I think she was going to be a potter, the kind of person who makes vases or whatever, and has discovered that tiles are not restrictive, but actually offer enormous creative freedom. And she hasn't been making them for very long. But judging by the few she had on show at surface design show, she's got a great future in tile making. Because rather than just take a standard commercial biscuit, she has been really started from ground zero. The biscuits all her own, the scraffito kind of effects she's created, the circular motifs and the glaze color. I mean, it's all thought through and it's very, very beautiful and it also achingly on trend. I don't know if that was her intention. I rather suspect it's because this is what she likes. She just happens to like things that are absolutely in the design zeitgeist at the moment. They're just small format square tiles, but they are fantastically varied. Very, very beautiful. They go together. You could make a wonderful backsplash or put them behind your cooker. You could make a fireplace around a bedroom headboard. I don't think people are going to be decorating large areas with these, partly because they are so dramatic in impact and also probably going to end up being quite expensive because they're not just handmade, these are handcrafted works of art. And frankly, that's what I would do with them. I would put them in frames and hang them on the wall. They are that lovely, beautiful. [00:16:25] Speaker A: You've got details of her. That's all on the website as well? [00:16:28] Speaker B: I do. I think, again, Lux pottery are going to be one to watch. This is early days and I think this woman is very talented and if she sticks with it, I mean, we all know that being a handmade pottery studio or tile studio is hard work. If she sticks with it, I'd love to see what she's going to produce in the years ahead. [00:16:51] Speaker A: Well, maybe want to revisit in twelve months or so and see how she's getting on. [00:16:55] Speaker B: Fantastic. [00:16:56] Speaker A: Yeah. So, anything else? Artisanal from the larger manufacturers, right? [00:17:01] Speaker B: Well, yeah, this is an interesting one. I bumped into Mark Williams at the show. Well, I say bumped into him. He was exhibiting, so I was bound to bump into him, but I didn't know he was going to be before I went there. He's created a new company called Tile around town and he is drawn on his huge tiling background. I mean, he was the sales and creative director at so, you know, three stellar names in specification tile distribution, and now he's paddling his own canoe around the UK and he's particularly working with a company called Maora Ceramic based near Valencia, just literally on the outskirts of Valencia, rather than in the tile hub of Castellion. And this is a really up to your elbows in muddy clay kind of tile producer. This is where it all started and he is bringing that and taking it to the specification marketplace. They're simple shapes in a lot of ways, but he understands that tile can be applied creatively. It doesn't have to be a fancy tile, it's how it's used, it's the format, it's simple geometries. I don't know where they're going to go with this, but I think it's going to be exciting. [00:18:17] Speaker A: Excellent. Excellent. So all images on the website to. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Have a look, there are images, including the first project of his that I'm aware of for a food brand called Honey and Co. So this is like a cafe interior. I think you just have a look at that image, you get a pretty good idea of where he's going to go. And also, it's very interesting that he has tied himself in with this artisanal tile studio, Maura ceramic, because they are real historic techniques that they're using. And I always find it quite gratifying to find these things haven't died out. It's a bit like when you come across Craven Dunnil and see what they're doing still. And also, the market is coming back to these kind of people. So the ones who stuck at it, who have still got those skills, who've still got the people who understand how pug clay works, how you can mold it, how you can glaze it, that less is more. It's fantastic. And it's really good to see someone like Mark, who has got buckets, loads of enthusiasm and creative energy, is now promoting that in the UK. It's got to be good for the tile industry. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Excellent. So that was a gentle start to the year 2024. Next stop is. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Right. Well, next stop is Valencia. [00:19:40] Speaker A: Other end of the spectrum, perhaps. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Possibly the other end of the spectrum. It's going to be interesting to see what we're going to see. Valencia and Sevisama still to get back to quite where it was 1015 years ago. But that doesn't mean I'm not excited to go out there. I'm already getting a few previews from some of my favorite factories, so I know there's going to be some. Plenty of eye candy on display. And tile addict. We like a small format, glazed, beautiful tile, and there's going to be a lot of that there, but there's also going to be some beautiful big commercial large format tiles, work top surfaces, innovative installation techniques. There's some new raised flooring systems I've been told about, so I got to go and see. So, yeah, all good. [00:20:27] Speaker A: Okay, well, we'll come back to you at the end of the month and there will be another podcast then to update everyone on what you find there. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Yeah, and anybody who is interested in following up any of this stuff I've been talking about at the surface design show. As Janet said, if you go on to WW diaryvataladdict.com, you will find pictures and more information about all the companies I've mentioned here, plus contact details so you can go onto their websites and see more. Some of them actually don't really have much more than I've told you here, others a load more so you can disappear off down that rabbit hole yourself. Bye now. [00:21:03] Speaker A: That's brilliant. Thanks Joe. You've been listening to Tilecast, produced by Diary of a tile addict. To ensure you don't miss any future episodes, don't forget to follow us. You can also find show notes and receive updates on newsfeeds, articles, podcasts, and videos direct to your inbox by subscribing to the Diaryoftile Addict.com website. Get the inside track at diaryofatile Addict.