3mm Thin!

With bathing suit season just around the corner my focus has turned to getting slim. Well Lea Ceramic has also turn focus to getting slim with their Slimtech porcelain tile line. With a thickness of only 0.12” and sizes ranging from 18x18 to 119x40 (also includes mosaics) this tile line can truly transform a space. Due to its unique thickness this series is ideal for installations over tile in commercial or residential. Great for renovating spaces like hospital or airport restrooms that cannot afford to shut down for demolition and reinstalling. Slimtech is not limited to commercial use but also has its place in the residential world or just fun art projects like you see here…

This piece is entitled “Twirl” by Zaha Hadid. I pulled the pictures off of Lea’s Facebook page and I would love to tell you more about it but everything written on it is in Italian so all that I can do is show you the pictures… but those supposedly say 1000 words right?

With its reinforced backing this tile is amazingly durable. The YouTube video here shows how Slimtech out performs your standard 3/8” (0.375”) tile in a durability test.

Lea has taken their three best selling floor tiles and developed the coordinating Slimtech lines. Arenaria, Basaltina Stone Project, and Shade  With these three lines you get a full range of cool to warm pallets.

Well I’ve decided to leave you with one more YouTube video on the product line it’s worth watching just to hear the Italian accent.

Our Plant – Your Chance to Tour

To those of you who are in the trade, I would like to invite you to join Crossville Tile and Stone in a tour of a lifetime (well maybe not a lifetime but it really is a fascinating experience). Most of the time, I feel that one cannot explain an experience but I’m going to do my best to entice you In joining Crossville Tile and Stone for a plant tour. Crossville Inc. was the first to domestically manufacture large-format porcelain tiles and is noted for its innovative production techniques, trend-setting designs and sustainable manufacturing efforts in the tile industry.

See for yourself how Crossville takes this..

to this...

and creates this...

through a process that looks like this...

The all inclusive trip will take place May 11^th through the 13^th. The bus will leave around lunch on the 11^th and return midday on the 13^th. Some perks will include:

• 2 1/4 CEU credit points.
• Tour of plants 1 and 4
• Perhaps the best part of the trip is when Crossville wines and dines everyone at the Stock-Yard Restaurant,which was awarded by International Restaurant and Hospitality Bureau as one of the top 10 steak houses in the United States.

This amazing place opened its doors in 1924, as the mid-south’s livestock trading center. In the late 1970’s the Stock-Yard closed its doors as a trading center and became the distinguished restaurant it is today.

Well did I do it... did I entice you? Contact me today to ensure your spot on the trip as numbers are limited and the dead line is quickly approaching. If you would like to participate in the plant tour I must know by April 15th. To reserve your spot call 987-3617 or email me at dnorden@crossvilleinc.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Color Trends



Crossville’s Color & Design Consultant Barbara Schirmeister wrote an article in the latest TileDealer highlighting this year’s color trends. I’ve found the article to be descriptive and informative. The complete article can be found on page 28 of TileDealer  but here are some of the parts that I’d like to pay particular attention to:

2011- 2012 Color Schemes

Expect the unexpected. Watch for both kaleidoscope and soft, blended combinations. Monochromatic schemes will resurface, employing interesting contrasts. Textures and finishes will define color differences.

Mellow reassuring vintage hues (with a new slant) connect us to the past. These expressive colors are faded, washed, weathered, or may suggest photo-tints.

 

The Benjamin Moore showroom in Chicago's Merchandise
 Mart featuresColor Blox Too in Satin Sheets
 and Building Blox in Limestone.

A slight shift toward cooler Hues is noticeable. As green moves toward blue, turquoise, teal and peacock are added to the broadened offering of blues – during the October Fashion Week in Paris, blue was everywhere.

Blues to watch: steely blues, both pale and saturated; Olympian blues, deep and mysterious; old school blues, classic and preppy.

Leafy greens compliment the escalating family of pinks and apricots. These hues were also flaunted on the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards.

So I’ve learned a new term  (Wabi-sabi) the following is found in the part of the article explaining how we are influenced by the world we live in.

 • Wabi-sabi. This concept is one of the main inspirations of the forecast; its influence is widely apparent on the palette. Wabi-sabi is the appreciation of beauty in imperfection.

It applauds the aging process as an ongoing, ever-changing aesthetic, i.e. rusted, tarnished, oxidized, worn, etc. An object renews its perfection as it continues through its many cycles.

Crossville's Urban Renewal series

• Anti-formality. Good manners never go out of style, but formality is on the decline. Note, for example, the reluctance to don jackets and ties in even the most elegant restaurants, and the demise of dining rooms and formal living rooms in private homes. The 2011 National Association of Home Builders show addressed the lifestyles of “Gen-Y” and concluded that formal living Spaces are passé among this large demographic.

Just as an added bonus it’s always fun to see how the same color trends ring true in the fashion world as well, check out these summer 2011 sketches for ETCETERA.

To read Barbara’s full article on Timely and Timeless: Color Trends For 2011-2012 click HERE.