What will be the trends for floors and walls in 2021?
The world of architecture and interior design is always in constant evolution. In recent years, porcelain stoneware has established itself in all its facets. It would seem that the 2021 trends for floors and walls will also follow this trend, with stoneware once again remaining at the top of the preferences of designers.
According to the major interior designers, the stylistic trend will always be focused on minimal taste, but the surfaces will have to transmit heat and enhance natural light, transmitting a sense of general well-being to counter the malaise of 2020 caused by the pandemic that is still underway.
Porcelain stoneware, the trend of 2021
The materials proposed by the interior designers, once again, reward the technical performance of this material which can be a valid alternative to marble, wood or natural stone.
The advantages of porcelain stoneware
- Wide availability of textures. These surfaces imitate natural materials such as stone, wood, marble or modern materials such as concrete, metal and resin.
- Wide range of finishes. These are very realistic and perfectly imitate the materiality of the materials, even to the touch. Slabs can have a smooth, shiny, matte appearance, and so on.
- Great variety of formats. The incredible variety allows to create numerous laying solutions. A trend for 2021 will in fact be the use of large slabs.
- Different thicknesses and different uses. Production technologies make it possible to get slabs, even in large sizes, with very thin thicknesses, up to 3cm.
- Reduced costs. Stoneware is one of the cheapest materials on the market.
- Eco-sustainability. This material is totally recyclable and no building waste is produced.
- Antibacterial properties. The ceramic material can be added with particles that generate an extremely effective antibacterial reaction. Antibacterial stoneware is able to kill 99.9% of bacteria.
Sicer is finalizing the development of an innovative antibacterial product, BACT-ZERO, which penetrates the ceramic surface to ensure LONG-LASTING protection. Thanks to its special patented formula, not based on silver ions, it guarantees a constant antibacterial action that does not wear off over time. In fact, unlike most silver-based products, which lose their effectiveness over the years, Sicer’s product guarantees inexhaustible action.
Porcelain stoneware at home: long live the large slabs!
The trend towards the use of large-sized stoneware tiles is also confirmed for 2021. Few joints, easy cleaning and resistance.
The technological evolution of ceramic manufacturers has allowed the production of very thin slabs, up to 6mm, as well as large thicknesses up to 3cm. This feature offers several advantages such as lightness and ease of transport and handling.
The market today requires very thin slabs to be used for walls, as well as for floors, taking advantage of the minimum thickness for laying on existing floors, without the need for demolition. However, there is also an increasing demand for very thick slabs, which can perfectly replace the real marble slabs used for kitchen tops, as well as for furniture tables and much more.
Let’s see in detail the trends of this 2021.
- Living room and kitchen
According to the architects and designers, the spaces will become more functional and the elements will find a more orderly and easily usable arrangement.
In the kitchen area it is possible to use a single covering material for the top and back, as well as for details such as the sink, the burner area, the covering of a peninsula or a table. The result will be a larger, brighter and tidier space, essentially much more welcoming thanks to the use of stoneware for an elegant and refined result
- Bedroom
Reflecting the minimal style, as previously mentioned, the bedroom will also keep its essential elements. By eliminating the superfluous, space will be recovered and the few elements present will be enhanced. The result will be a more spacious, tidy and brighter room.
Thanks to the realistic stoneware finishes that perfectly imitate the materiality of the materials, the space, while being minimal, will not fail to welcome.
- Bathroom
Even the news regarding the bathroom area are distinguished by a rational arrangement of the main elements, with a design that provides for the reduction of the superfluous. The trends of 2021 include floor showers and sanitary fittings with a linear design.
Some of the features that the bathroom tops will have to show will undoubtedly be stain resistance combined with cleanability, as well as the inalterability of the surfaces over time. In this case, porcelain stoneware is the perfect protagonist and has no rivals!
In interior architecture, large porcelain stoneware offers an excellent combination of aesthetic and technological performance and will be increasingly used.
The large slabs in the public sector
Especially in spaces dedicated to the public, the large format attracts architects and end users also for 2021.
The use of large porcelain stoneware slabs creates an elegant optical effect due to the continuity of the floor without cuts, which suggests a greater width and homogeneity of the environments. The combination of oversized slabs allows the reduction of joints between the sizes, making the surfaces easy to clean. Finally, stoneware is very useful in public environments for its antibacterial and anti-slip characteristics. This is one of the reasons why it is particularly appreciated in the HO.RE.CA sector or in environments such as airports, stations, museums, discos and swimming pools. The concrete and famous examples of the use of large slabs as flooring are different all over the world.
- Sicer, for public places, offers a range of anti-slip glazes, GLR series (Technical Anti-slip Glazes) series dedicated to these spaces. This range of anti-reflective and anti-slip glazes guarantees a technical surface (from R9 to R13) as required by regulatory standards, perfect application, total cleanability and optimal color development.
The manufacturer and supplier of raw materials for ceramic companies of Ubersetto also designs and produces many other technical products for the design of the ceramic surface, both for floors and walls.
Among the most significant we find:
- GRA DRY-LUX grits for dry application. This exclusive series of grits is specific for mirror lapped surfaces with the application of dry grit on digital glue. Perfectly transparent and compact grits, designed to guarantee very bright surfaces, with a precise expansion coefficient, absence of porosity and incredible depth of the glass.
- Technical grits and micro-grits GHR. The range of GHR technical floor grits allows to create a wide range of natural surfaces. Sicer grits guarantee high resistance to chemical agents and abrasion, absolute transparency, color development of digital graphics and innate naturalness.
- The brand new HP series of full colored glass calibrated grits. The HP series is characterized by 5 fundamental features: intensity and depth of color, color stability, soft non-reflective effect, vitrified and water-repellent color. It is also possible to generate customized mixtures with colored and neutral grits of the same particle size (HPX series) to get the desired color effect.
Ventilated facades, the union of aesthetics and technology
As we all know, in addition to floors, stoneware is also very popular for coverings. In fact, the Italian architecture of the 1950s and 1960s welcomed ceramics as a “second skin” for coverings. Today, the large ceramic slab is offering unprecedented facades cladding possibilities which, in addition to responding to aesthetic needs, offer an answer in technological terms: the ventilated facade system allows to increase the energy performance of the building to which it is applied.
Porcelain stoneware is particularly suitable as a facade cladding, as it ensures effective protection from atmospheric agents and an excellent degree of thermal and acoustic insulation.
A concrete example of this use is the famous Milanese residential complex “The vertical forest”.
A concrete example of this use is the famous residential complex “The vertical forest” in Milan.
Respect for the surrounding environment
Furthermore, porcelain stoneware allows to establish a constructive dialogue with the natural or urbanized surrounding environment.
This material provides support in protecting and respecting the overall image of architectural contexts, both from an aesthetic point of view and from that of sustainability.
A good example in which the high performance standards of stoneware meet respect for the urban context is the project for Piazza Cavour in Padua, by the architect Antonio Zambusi. The use of the color of the flooring respects the compositional intentions of the project and the surrounding architecture, inspiring modernity without compromising the image of the city in which it is inserted.
