When you enter someone’s house, the first thing that catches your attention is the floor. Tiling can also give your home and your floor lightness and brightness that you would not get with any other material - with white and off-white tones and the option of creating your own unique floor pattern with stronger coloured tiles.

The market today is full of new and exciting options for arguably one of the most important aspects of a home – flooring. 

RAK Ceramics has various products like vitrified, rustic, ceramic and the latest Seine tiles that offer plenty of options to choose from. Their latest Seine collection is inspired by the magnificence of the River Seine that flows through the city of Paris.

The design patterns created are so vivacious that it will take the elegance of any interior to celestial heights. This series available in honed and mirror finishes is a vitrified tile range adorned with unique textures and patterns.

The available vibrant Seine Ivory, Seine Blue or Seine light grey and the other extreme of the blue and red range enable you to create the most suitable atmosphere for your living area.

New technology vitrified tiles being harder are more abrasion resistant than ceramic tiles and therefore ideally suited for flooring. These tiles today are considered to be the most upmarket and glamorous flooring material as compared to the ceramic tiles as the latter are basically an outdated choice as compared to the new technology vitrified tiles.

These tiles are available in a variety of colours and designs, which give a very cool and natural look to your home.
After the colour scheme is sorted, you should be all set to complete the room with furniture and accessories, resulting in a room that you just simply fall in love with. 

Carpet tiles

Another interesting concept is that of carpet tiles (yes, you read that right!). InterfaceFLOR is the modular flooring division of Interface Inc., that, based in Atlanta, USA, makes and sells the industry’s largest and most diverse range of carpet tiles. Their modular flooring combines a high degree of functionality with a genuine sense of style.

They offer climate neutral products to customers through its Cool Carpet® programme in partnership with Climate Care—whereby certified carbon offset projects, such as forestry plantation acting as a carbon sequestration store - offset gas emissions generated during the lifecycle of a carpet. “We supply resilient textile flooring, cable management systems, floorcare products and flooring adhesives.

Our range of backing systems, combining both unmatched design capability with perfect performance, supports our textile flooring.

Our standard backing system made available in India is Glasbac. It provides maximum flatness and stability and is impervious to water. It is also impervious to changes in atmospheric conditions,” says Raj Menon, Country Manager - India, InterfaceFLOR.

i2 (Inspiration squared) encompasses Interface’s “less-is-more” objective of using the least amount of the most necessary raw materials in manufacturing a product.

Bio-mimicry

The unique design concept taken from ‘Biomimicry’ allows for a non-directional installation that results in easier, faster installation with significantly less waste, no dye lots to manage, and no pattern or colour match issues in future replacements or expansions. Thus, i2 products last longer on the floor than any other modular or traditional carpet.

The unique pattern and colouration of each i2 tile allows for a non-directional installation that is less wasteful than traditional floor coverings. In fact, one person can install more than two and a half times as much i2 tile in one day as he can with broadloom. And i2 floors result in less than 2 percent waste.

“Recently the Indian commercial office segment has seen a facelift from the hard floor to the carpeted floor with the now preferred product in soft flooring being modular carpet tiles. The carpet tile is a favourite with the IT industry popular for its quality floor finish - aesthetics, acoustics and anti-static features,” explains Menon.

Advantages

So what are the advantages of carpet tiles over traditional tiles? Easy installation, be it on a plain concrete floor or on an existing tiled floor, the job is done within hours. Also it is easy to maintain and replace as carpet tiles can be individually removed for spot cleaning or replacement in case of stains or damages.

This apart there is design flexibility and it focuses on environment friendly products and sustainable practices. “InterfaceFLOR addresses sustainability on seven fronts.

These involve eliminating waste and harmful emissions; maximising use of renewable energy; recycling waste materials and reusing products; developing resource efficient transportation methods; creating a culture that integrates the principles of sustainability into working lives; and creating new models for businesses.

The company’s aim is to move from the traditional industrial approach of ‘take, make, waste’ and move towards a more natural or cyclical system of material and resource flows,” adds Menon.

Studio Atlas Concorde also offers a wide range of designer tiles from Europe and Thailand for a wide range of applications. “We essentially offer full bodied porcelain vitrified tiles that are virtually unbreakable, stain proof and scratch proof,” says Harsh Bhutani, Executive Director, Studio Atlas Concorde.

In fact the tiles available come in wood, fabric, metallic and leather finishes. In fact it is virtually impossible to distinguish between wooden tiles and vitrified tiles with a wooden finish.

The store houses tiles from Studio Atlas Concorde, Italy and Cotto, Thailand. “Flooring trends today are more contemporary and modern in rustic and satin tones and glossy finishes are out,” explains Bhutani.

The market has indeed moved on in terms of the availability and choice of flooring options. So go ahead and pick up what suits your home and budget.