Cevisama 2020: A Look at This Year’s Annual Ceramics Industry Exposition

There’s nothing like being around your peers to make you feel inspired. And, at this year’s Cevisama ceramics trade fair in Valencia, Spain we were surrounded by some of the best manufacturers of bathroom products from all over the world.

From Algeria to Vietnam

A total of 847 exhibitors were on-hand from as far and wide as Algeria, Egypt, Japan, Peru, Sweden, USA and Vietnam, amongst others. Each of them champing at the bit to talk us through their jaw-dropping product ranges. There was an entire hall dedicated to raw materials, frits, glazes and colourants. Another devoted to roof tiles, bricks and glass blocks. Materials and tools had their own space, too, as did machinery.

We, of course, were most excited about the huge wealth of ceramic tiles, bathrooms and natural stone on display in the first four halls. Talk about kids in sweet shops!

Trends in taps

In terms of taps, this year is was all about brass coloured and black taps, which is just what we expected to see. But the designs were something to behold. It was all rectangular faucets wrought into wonderful upturned u-shapes and unusually configured taps – square, triadic and star-shaped – this year. Not to mention old-meets-new shower tap styling that takes its cue from industrial design and lighting.

Trends in tiles

Luxury tiling appears to be moving very much away from minimalism and heading into a new world of postmodern simulations. We found stone tiles that looked like burnt wood, Chesterfield sofa leather and hammered metal in equal measure.

There were space-age polygons, oceanic swirls and pyramidic peaks that recalled the heyday of brutalist architecture. Giant single slabs of stone-based materials moulded into ornate patterns that would set the hearts of even the most jaded interior designers racing. A true feast for the eyes.

Trends in surfaces

It should be no surprise to anyone who regularly checks in with Riluxa that there was a whole world of coloured solid surface bathroom products on the stands of this year’s exhibitors. We’ve been pioneering the retail of colour Corian products for the past year and other companies have clearly caught the colour bug.

We also noticed a big move toward sustainability, including a sustainable recycled resin shower tray that was quite exciting. And we saw a rather remarkable range of fossilised wooden washbasins that really take the idea of sustainability to a whole new level, drawing on thousands of years of mother nature’s design work to the most simple and stunning effect.

Finally, it appears that 2020 is the year that maximalism truly made its comeback. Bold marble surfaces clashing with contrary patterns and even other marble. Bathrooms in multiple colours that throw caution to the wind and reject the minimalist principle of “less is more”. A joyful, almost gung ho approach to interior juxtapositions that will open up the possibilities of your home design like never before.

What does it mean for bathroom design in 2020? 

It’s going to be a remarkable year ahead. We were truly inspired by the level of ingenuity on display at Cevisama this year, not to mention the passion of the manufacturers and wholesalers at the expo. Bathroom design has leapt well and truly into a new era of design innovation in 2020 and we are thrilled to be at the heart of this stylistic revolution in home design. Keep your eyes on our website as that revolution unfurls.