On October 16th, 2020 Ceramic Industry Trend Forum and 8th China & Italy Ceramic Design Award (CICDA) was held in Foshan New Media Park. Ink Golden Tiles of Eagle 2086 Ceramics won the Gold Award, the top prize of the competition.   

Please click on the video to learn more about the 2020 CICDA.

Every year, tens of thousands of ceramic players attend Cersaie to learn about the latest trends and technologies of ceramic tile, however, the exhibition was canceled this year due to Covid-19. Through the platform of CICDA, Chinese ceramic players got an opportunity to discuss the trends of ceramic tile together and pay more attention to good ceramic designs in 2020. On the forum, guests from different fields shared their point of views on trends of the ceramic industry.

Chen Xianwei, Vice President of Eagle Ceramics delivered an address entitled Trends and Markets. He analyzed trends from three perspectives, namely, industry data, market structure, and product evolution.

About Industry Data

Chinese ceramic market structure also experienced some changes. Before 2015, ceramic tile was mainly sold by channels of retail and engineering projects, but it has changed these years. We can see that the share of the traditional retailing channel dropped from 100% to about 50%, while the sales through home decoration and designer channel are increasing. What is gratifying is that sintered slab has become the fastest-growing product in China’s ceramic industry, and the sales of sintered slabs has been increasing this year as they are also sold well to the stone and furniture industry.   

Regarding to the product evolution, the mainstream products of China’s ceramic industry are polished marble tiles, glazed porcelain tiles and sintered slabs. At present, as one kind of decoration panels, sintered slabs are mainly sold to stone and furniture industry while there is little thought given for branding and the price is getting lower and lower. Therefore, some lower cost-efficiency panel materials are replaced by sintered slabs. "After a round of rapid development, ceramic enterprises may start to focus on additional value, design, and branding strategy of sintered slabs, and the industry will become better and better. " said Chen Xianwei.

Professor Wei Hua from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts has been the judge of CICDA for eight years. He shared some ceramic craft works from world-renowned masters. Wei Hua believes that in terms of product development, we may not only explore innovative elements from the traditional culture and various ethnic culture, but also seek inspiration from antique objects and natural materials.

Liang Xueqing, General Manager of Brand Management Center of Overland Ceramics, gave a speech entiled Explore a New Map of Product Develorpment. In his point of view, it seems not a bad news for Chinese ceramic industry without Cersaie this year. "In the past, ceramic companies were used to visiting Cersaie to look for trends and inspirations of products. However, without the fair this year, we need to think independently about the trends of product development."

In his opinion, products should be made more and more refined, which is not only to improve the resolution of the surface or just copy the surface of natural materials, but also focus on the story telling of the product.     

After three months of registration, the winner was announced. Ink Golden Tiles of Eagle 2086 Ceramics won the Gold Award. This is the 3rd Gold Award won by the Ink Golden Tiles series since the 5th and 7th China & Italy Ceramic Design Award. The product featuring Chinese traditional culture elements was praised by all the judges during the evaluation.

▲Ink Golden Tiles of Eagle 2086 Ceramics

"Technically the Foshan ceramic ecosystem is growing higher and the detail level of some tiles has reached impressive quality. The collaboration with international suppliers and technicians has surely benefited the industry," said Danilo Trevisan, Managing Director of Aleatek Studio, in his speech.

"It is in times like these that we are enabled to sharpen our focus on new solutions, through experience, know-how and creativity. I see a lot of this behind the development of most of these new works, and the outcome could not be anything else than a great range of products, expressing the excellence of the ceramic industry in Foshan, that is always improving,"said Freddy Curiél, Founder & Creative Director of Lapis Bureau.

"The first theme that comes in my mind is EVOLUTION. Our daily life is surrounded by new materials, new technology but making innovation by evolving an ancient and traditional material like ceramic, requires love and passion and vocation. I do believe these are the feelings that allow designers and producers to investigate and play the big challenge of innovating such a traditional element, making it evolving, together with us, in a key-component that is constantly surrounding our lives," said Deborah Campana, Creative Director of Lapis Bureau.

We look forward to the 9th China & Italy Ceramic Design Award in 2021, bringing more well-designed products and profound insights about ceramic trend.

This is the 406th issue. 

Editor: Erica