While tiles are common in kitchens and bathrooms, increasingly they are covering more spaces at home such as the bedroom, living room and dining room, the car porch, walls of every room and even staircases and islands in the kitchen. As a result of its myriad uses, tiles have evolved in its design to suit these application areas. Designs ranges from metallic, wood, natural stone finish, even those that expresses the softer moods such as lace inspired or embossed floral designs to sate the individuals’ senses .  

Many have realized the many advantages of tiles vis-a-vis other home wall enhancements or decorative finishes such as wall paper or even paint. The most obvious advantage is that tiles are virtually maintenance-free, requiring minimal actions to keep them clean and stain-free. In the case of the increasingly popular porcelain tiles, these are appreciated for their versatility of use as it has a higher breaking strength and low water absorption rating of less than 0.5%. Thus porcelain tiles could be used for both wall and floor indoors or outdoors depending on the surface finish of the porcelain tiles.

Tiles have evolved to such an extent that there are many designs, styles, colours, finishes and materials now in the market catering to all manner of tastes. Every few months, tile manufacturers reveal new designs with evocative names such as Sonara, Moments, Travertini and Mars Series.

In terms of design, there are textured fabric and satin gloss print effect that mimics wallpaper for a soothing tranquil mood.  Others include soft pastel colours with wild lilacs and summer orchids or neutral natural colours of mocha, beige, olive, grey and white to complement the mood you are in. For a wild romantic mood, you have a choice of lustrous red, autumn gold or orange.

To get an idea of the vast range of tiles and latest designs available, drop by at Guocera’s Gallery which is located at Wisma Kemajuan, No.2, Jalan 19/1B, Petaling Jaya. Guocera, a member of the Hong Leong group, is the biggest tile manufacturer in Malaysia. We decided to make your life easier by asking its General Manager (Marketing), Mr Benjamin Siow, questions that you are likely to want to ask about tiles in general and Guocera tiles in particular.

Tiles are getting very popular nowadays due to several factors, chief among them is the intrinsic designs created to sate a wide range of consumers’ tastes, and the low maintenance required to suit the busy lifestyle these days. 

The trend is lending towards porcelain tiles for its designs and the fact that it could be used both indoors and outdoors. Having said this, ceramic tiles, especially the glazed wall tiles, whereby the consumer wants a glossy finish especially for application in areas such as the bathroom, kitchen (both wet or dry) or utility rooms are popular too. However, the designs on porcelain tiles are more versatile as it could be used for both wall and floor, comparing with ceramics which is more specific to its area of application. For example, a ceramic wall tile could only be used for application on the wall due to the breaking strength of the tile which is developed specifically for its purpose.

All parts of the house except the ceiling. The trend is moving towards larger format porcelain tiles, such as the 60cm x 60cm size format, for the living room. For bathrooms and kitchens, both porcelain and ceramic are used, while porcelain tiles on staircases are getting very common but require anti-slip edges. There is also an increase in demand for the usage of porcelain tiles on islands in the kitchens especially with the marble effect design tiles due to its easy maintenance.

Q: What is your recommendation on how to maintain and care for tiles?

Ceramic and porcelain tiles require little maintenance. All you need to do is to clean all spills as soon as possible to avoid any stubborn staining of tiles. It is important for homeowners to avoid using acid based cleaners that are corrosive and which can attack the surface and cement based grout. For stubborn stains, a little advice will be to always test the appropriate cleaning agent using a small or diluted amount of the cleaning agent in a small area before actual cleaning on the affected areas.

Yes, but most people in Malaysia prefer to get experienced tilers to do it. Larger format tiles are popular nowadays but are heavier to handle, therefore installation is more difficult and requires a higher set of skills. It is also important to note that with larger format tiles, it is imperative that adhesives with suitable polymer are used instead of the usual cement-sand mortar.

Guocera collaborates with tile design houses in Spain and Italy and then manufactures the selected designs here in Malaysia.

Innovation in tiles includes making them more environmentally friendly as with some of the initiatives done  by manufacturers in Europe  to produce ‘green’ tiles

In Guocera, we recycle the water used in the production plant so as to conserve water usage.   As the leading tile manufacturer in Malaysia, we work with SIRIM and other bodies to continuously upgrade our standards and you can say we are constantly driving standards to a higher level.

Admittedly, ceramics/porcelain tiles now are not green in Malaysia because the investment costs to effect production of ‘green’ tiles are very high. If we want to produce ‘green’ tiles, we need to invest in new production lines to fulfil the ‘green’ guidelines and criteria before the products could be classified as ‘green’ tiles. In Europe, green-label or environmentally friendly tiles are  available but are a lot more expensive.