Ever thought of being a detective? If you have attempted to identify the
manufacturer of a tile, you may have come close!
A legacy installation that involves a discontinued range can mean digging around for a tile’s origin.
If you are a commercial interior designer, artist or consultant, you may have found yourself in the position of trying to ascertain a tile’s manufacturer, and in this article, we offer some tips.
Check the backing
This is your first port of call. Carefully remove one of the tiles and inspect the back. Manufacturer stamps or batch codes are found on the underside of many ceramic and porcelain tiles.
If these marks aren’t visible, you may at least see a country or origin mark, which can help to narrow down the search.
Visual search tools
Technology has given us a few handy tools for this purpose. Try Google Lens – it allows you to upload a photo of the tile’s surface and check for matching patterns or textures across the web.
Chat GPT might be worth a try, and there are also specialist platforms such as TilesView and Domus, which use AI-powered visual search technology to match photos with tiles in their database.
Consult local showrooms
Why not consult the professionals? Showrooms and warehouses know their stuff when it comes to tile manufacturing, and bringing along a sample – whether that be a tile or a photo – may put you on the trail of the right tile.
Someone who has years of experience in working with tiles may be able to recognise a design, even when it’s from a discontinued collection.
Identify type & era
Understanding whether a tile is ceramic, porcelain, or natural stone is crucial. Porcelain tiles, for example, are denser and tend to be used in high-traffic commercial environments. When it comes to age, older or antique tiles may be thicker and less uniform than modern products.
Online marketplaces
There’s the whole online world at our fingertips. Having a scout around on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Craigslist might uncover what you are looking for, or point you in the direction of the manufacturer.
Come to the end of your search? You might not have made it as a detective but remember; if you can’t identify the tile, it is possible to replicate the glaze with colour matching.