Tao Design·Issue 1
March can be said to be the month when ceramic tile brands release the most spring new products. One is to cooperate with the announcement of new strategies after the resumption of work in the new year, and the other is to welcome the new products in April. Foshan Spring Ceramics Expo is coming.
Judging from the new spring products that have been released or are being prepared by 20+ brands, the following keywords can be roughly summarized: microcement, light texture, soft light, plain color, neutral Color...
Transform "traditional" into "simplified" and "element"
Exploring the classics of ceramic tiles
Looking back at the category development history of the ceramic industry, many popular products do not have a long lifespan, including microcrystalline stone, jade and other popular products. With the changes in home decoration styles, they have been eliminated. In recent years, even the "warm" products have been replaced. "Yellow" and "black, white and gray", which occupy the vast majority of the market share, are also predicted by many industry insiders to be gradually marginalized.
For ceramic tiles, one of the main materials for decoration, what kind of product can be regarded as a "classic"? This issue needs to be analyzed from the perspective of Chinese people’s living conditions and aesthetic needs. In a period of rapid economic development, people admire wealth and long for recognition. Therefore, the demand for ceramic tiles for home decoration is mainly to reflect nobility and luxury. However, with the development of society, the deepening spiritual needs, rich material foundation, and increasingly improved design and manufacturing capabilities, so that Chinese people no longer pursue the satisfaction and security brought by "complexity" and "multiple", and begin to enjoy a simple but not simple life. This is also the "simple style", "black, white and gray""The reason for the popularity.
Picture source: Jian Yi
On March 4, Jianyi held the 2022 marble tile spring new product launch conference with the theme of "Infinite Nature·Just the Right Beauty". At the meeting, Bvlgari Gray, There are five products: Italian cloud gray, Finnish beige, new royal gray and Fendi gray. Zhongtaojun learned that these five products are different from common industrial assembly line products. Although they are simplified, they are full of details. Its neutral tones, simple textures and soft light give people a comfortable visual experience. At the same time, Jianyi's unique process of deconstructing, integrating and reconstructing stone elements makes the texture of the product more intriguing.
Image source: Wrigley
In 2021, Wrigley teamed up with the Italian Sistema designer team to create the first B-C-T research and development model of composite light texture bricks in the industry (the texture brightness difference is less than 21 levels, the color saturation is less than 15%, and the texture is uneven less than 0.9mm). After more than a year of continuous innovation, Wrigley officially released the Qingwen 3.0 super product on March 8. Among them, the four new color series of Yuanqi Rice, Warm Coffee, Tranquility Gray, and Calm Gray have selected low-saturation colors between 3% and 15%, and have used 3.0 slate micro-carving molds, ultra-fine dry particles and other processes to create the new products. The textured surface adds smooth, delicate, and soft light characteristics.
Image source: Owen Lai
To be said to be the first brand in the industry to grasp the "vegetarian" trend, we have to mention Owen Lai. As early as 2016, Owen Lai focused on the research and development of plain and textured ceramic tile textures. Since the release of the first-generation symbol product "Owen Lai Gray", it has experienced 5 generations of product technology iterations, and each generation of products has become a popular product on the market. A timeless and versatile classic. It is understood that Owen Lai's new products in 2022 will still focus on the matte and soft light fields, and are divided into design models (specialized products with advanced technology) and owner models (products that are closer to the aesthetics of ordinary owners and have high cost performance) Two major directions.
In response to the trend of ceramic tiles becoming more and more "simple" and "plain", Cheng Zhen, general manager of Wrigley Ceramics Division, analyzed that ceramic tiles, as wall and floor decoration materials, are essentially the background of home space, and talents are the protagonists in home space. Therefore, good-looking ceramic tiles are bound to not be eye-catching. They should step back visually and be willing to play a supporting role and leave a lot of white space. Wen Yingren, planning director of Ouwenlai Brand Marketing Center, said that classic ceramic tiles have their own tolerance and affinity, and are versatile in the space. Facts have also proved that gray and plain ceramic tiles can better match various styles of home spaces. Fusion.
Deeply explore consumer demand
Transition from customer to user
Throughout the entire building ceramics industry, many brands are in a passive and blind state when developing new products. They "just follow what their peers do", "do whatever upstream suppliers introduce new processes", "do whatever foreign competitors do". Whatever is popular at the exhibition will be done.” If this situation continues, it will become "whatever the company produces, dealers will sell" and "whatever is new in stores will be promoted to consumers." As the homogeneity of the market becomes increasingly intensified, brands blindly emphasize personalization when developing new products. Therefore, ceramic tile product designs that "exercise too much force" often appear.
Ceramic tile products with too "exaggerated" textures are not only difficult to be accepted by consumers, but are also criticized by designers. Designer Zhang Can said that visual experience, behavioral experience and emotional experience are the three most important dimensions in space design. Today's designers need to pay more attention to the study of emotional experience - that is, the user's feelings. Designer Wu Wenli also does not advocate transitional "design". He believes that both space and materials need to have humanistic care, pay attention to the living environment, and return to the user's demands.
Image source: Owen Lai
"The ceramic industry used to be based on manufacturing thinking and internal thinking. It was developed behind closed doors by the manufacturing end, and then exported to the outside world to promote products through educating the market and consumers. We should put manufacturing Change your thinking to user thinking, change internal thinking to external thinking, and innovate based on user needs and tap the potential needs of users," Wang Jiawu, executive president of Ouwen Lai, once said in an interview with the media. It is reported that in order to deeply explore consumer demand, Owen Lai independently launched the "100 High-end Homes" campaign, going into users' homes to understand their true feelings about product use, and use this information to develop new products.
Image source: Wrigley
"The birth of Qingwen 3.0 super product is actually the fact that Wrigley's exploration of a better life in people's hearts has risen to a new level." Lu Jinhui, deputy general manager of Wrigley Home Furnishing Group, believes, Although both customers and users are consumers, there is a qualitative difference between customers who choose the brand's products and users who have the brand build products for them. Brands should change their attitude towards consumers from customers to users, take the initiative to study their needs, think about how to provide them with more comfortable home spaces, and help them achieve a better life.
Based on precise insights into consumer trends, the industry has not only launched a new round of quality breakthroughs and space design innovations, but also accelerated the upgrade of brands and dealer services. When the "product perspective" transitioned to the "user perspective", many brands keenly discovered that providing users with semi-finished ceramic tiles cannot fully solve their needs. Only by creating a finished space for users can they solve their pain points. To this end, brands including Jianyi and Marco Polo and some dealers have created overall ceramic tile solutions for finished product delivery around the pain points of decoration.
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At present, leading companies such as Dongpeng, Eagle, Wrigley, etc. have begun toMulti-category large home integration route, de-stylized ceramic tile products such as "simple" and "plain" have wider ductility, are more conducive to harmoniously integrating into diversified spaces, conform to the integrity of space design, and increase The comfort of the home environment coincides with the concept of "continuously satisfying people's yearning for a better life".
It can be seen that in the era of users, everything from material production to design to application revolves around users, and the popular trends of ceramic tile products should also be decided by users.
