Tiling Trends In Asia

The way we customise our house in terms of colour themes, furniture and tiling has changed drastically over the past few decades, especially in Asia. With growing influences from the western world, and with the fusion of characteristics from our own Asian culture has evolved the local trends to a whole new unique taste.

With the year coming to a close, let’s look at the top tiling fashion that has been trending in Asia in 2016. Make sure to bookmark this as an inspiration and a guide to encourage your ideas if you are looking to renovate soon!

The look for kitchen

Over the past few years, there has been a growing trend and increasing demand for this particular type of tiles called Terrazzo for use in the kitchen. Terrazzo tiles have a splashback surface – this means that any debris or residue that accumulates on the tile can be wiped off and cleaned easily. Using Terrazzo tiles for your kitchen top thus protects the built-in furniture from heat, moisture and especially oils accumulating from days of cooking.

Terrazzo tiles are made up of a mixture of stone, marble and sometimes glass or metal in a cement base. These tiles, because of their splashback nature, require very little maintenance and are extremely easy to clean, despite them being containing natural materials. They come in extremely lovely textures that fit a cosy kitchen look intrinsically and the more latest models also come in very thin widths which are less heavy and look more polished and light.

It’s surprising that Terrazzo tiles came into the market as a cheaper alternative to marble slabs, but soon gained popularity because of its advantageous characteristics. It has a comparable durability to marble, and at the same time offers you a choice from a variety of colours which marble tiles do not.

Bathroom tiles

The upcoming trend in bathroom renovation is to use the same tile texture and design for both the walls and the flooring. Solid, bold colours and textures are preferred and the tile that tops the list is again variants of the Terrazzo tile. Fragmented patterns of broken stones in shades of beige to grey is a common choice when it comes to choosing a Terrazzo tile for bathroom flooring and walls. This has a very unique, geometric spread of texture and patterns which gives it a kaleidoscopic look.

More minimalistic yet bold patterns of tiles are also favoured by those who want a simple and homely look in their bathrooms. Materials that suit this purpose are slate, ranging in strong colours and shades of brown and grey, and also stone tiles.

Finally. a very popular concept of bathroom interiors is one that resembles a resort or a spa look. Glazed Ceramic or Porcelain tiles with a wood look are able to fulfil this purpose and turn out to give a very earthy and warm vibe to your bathroom.

The most important part of the house – the living room

1) The wooden look

This is an established favourite that is always hot in the market. Furnishing your living area with a parquet look is a traditional concept that makes your house look comfortable and of course cosy. However, there are plenty of variations of wooden tile available today to replace the traditional parquet flooring. The wooden look has also taken upon a few modern changes which makes it more long-lasting and practical for residential use.

A few common designs that are popular in the wooden look for tiles are tile planks in herringbone pattern which provides a strong statement when used to tile the walls of your living area. Reclaimed wood gives a rustic, vintage woody look that has been growing in demand lately for those going for older European concepts for their homes. Painted wood gives plenty of options to play around with colour shades and also prints on them like floral designs or geometric patterns that add a modern touch to the traditional parquet concept. Finally, a new variation of the wooden look involves cross graining, that adds texture and realism to the wood.

2) Using a raw, brick look

Each year a particular shape or pattern lands as the favourite and most popular one in the industry, and for this year it has been the brick pattern. Surprisingly, though the concept is simple, there are plenty of options within brick wall or tiling. You are free to choose from micro brick designs to macro bricks, whether you would like a raw textured look for your bricks or prefer polished surfaces and between colours for your brick wall – whether you would like a uniform colour or bricks with uneven shades to add some realism. Other materials like marble and wood are also being used to resemble a brick format to fill walls!

Plus, despite the common habit of using bricks only for walls, this year the trend is changing to use Ceramic tiles in a brick format to fill floors. This has been an interesting and refreshing addition to the classic brick look for houses.

3)  Focusing on the pattern

An upcoming trend is to settle for simple materials like brick, stone, Ceramic or Marble but focus on the design of which they are laid. Walls with linear, geometric or Chevron designs are increasingly popular and add a modern and chic look to your interior. This works well with minimalist themes of furniture and wall colours and it although the shapes stand out, they still keep other aspects like textures easy on the eyes.

There you have it, a simple list of the most popular tiling trends in Asia for the past year! Who knows what direction the next year is going to take us, but based on the ideas and outcomes thus far, it sure is going to be an interesting way ahead.