The architect’s tile Royal Mosa

THE ARCHITECT’S TILE

Dedicated to innovation and beautiful functionality, Netherlands-based tile manufacturer Royal Mosa BV is proud to be the world’s first ‘cradle to cradle’ tile factory. Emma-Jane Batey interviewed the technical director, Jaq Laumans, to see how this is being achieved.

With a history that spans more than 120 years, Dutch tile manufacturer Royal Mosa is well aware of how business cycles impact on its activities. When Industry Europe last spoke to technical director Jaq Laumans, in March 2011, we learned how the company was enjoying positive growth and looking forward to its next chapter.

An independent company entirely owned by Dutch equity firm Egeria, Royal Mosa is as famous for its beautiful tiles as it is for its dedication to delivering a sustainable product. Its wide range of interior and exterior tiles are ideally suited to architects looking to source a functional tile that will enhance the aesthetic of their project, as well as maintaining a high level of ecological responsibility. Achieving and expanding

Technical director Jaq Laumans told Industry Europe how the past 18 months had seen the company move further towards its goals. He said, “When we last spoke, the world was still certainly feeling the impact of the economic recession, with our core automotive and construction markets both badly hit. Even though we only experienced about a five per cent

drop, we were keen for the difficulty to pass for the benefit of our customers and their projects. Thankfully, the fact that we’ve concentrated on developing varied geographical markets for some years now allowed us to maintain our market-leading position in many territories throughout the recession. We’ve continued to see exciting growth in emerging markets, particularly as the increased appreciation for good design is evident in new construction and architectural projects.”

Headquartered in Maastricht, Royal Mosa exports its tiles to more than 30 countries on four continents, producing in excess of eight million square metres of tiles each year. As it continues to expand in new markets including Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore, the company is both enjoying strong performance in its domestic market – where it has a 30 per cent market share – and seeing ongoing potential outside Europe.

Mr Laumans continued, “Our products are perfectly suited to a wide range of projects. With a large team of in-house designers creating tiles that are classic, vibrant, dramatic – anything a designer or architect could want – we are confident that we can meet any creative brief.”

Royal Mosa has recently re-launched a collection of relief wall tiles by renowned industrial designer Kho Liang Ie. Originally offered by Royal Mosa in the 1960s, the company felt the colourful creativity of the designs were perfectly suited to today’s market too. Mr Laumans pointed out, “Much as we love to create new ideas with new designers, we are also very proud of our heritage and the work we have created over the years. We felt it was the perfect time to relaunch Kho Liang Ie’s relief wall tiles as we can deliver a hard-wearing tile that has a unique design identity.”

Tiles and more

While Royal Mosa’s tiles are certainly its most famous product, it has also gained a great reputation for its façades and flooring systems. Its façades are the ideal partner to its tiles, offering solutions for design and realisation of projects with a high level of functionality, with its flooring systems providing a wide variety of uses and loads to architectural and construction projects worldwide.

Sustainability is consistently Royal Mosa’s key focus in terms of long-term development of products and their transportation. Going hand-in-hand with innovation of design, the company is always looking at new ways to enhance the sustainability of its tiles – from sourcing of raw materials to processing to installation. This is how Royal Mosa devised its famous ‘cradle to cradle’ approach to tile design and manufacture, meaning that it takes total responsibility for each stage of the process. The company ensures that it understands exactly what happens to the raw materials or products at each step, so that it can guarantee its products are sourced, manufactured and transported in as environmentally responsible a manner as possible.

When Industry Europe spoke to Mr Laumans in March 2011, he predicted ten years of strong growth. We asked if he felt the company was on course to achieve this, and he was resolutely positive in his response. He said, “Our ongoing aim is for Mosa to be the first choice when it comes to looks, functionality and sustainability, and I am pleased to say that this is fast becoming a reality. We are still enjoying excellent results in Europe, the USA and the Middle East, with more and more projects in Asia specifying Royal Mosa products. As we continue to look forward, we believe that our high-quality, high-functionality tiles will keep being specified by the architects and designers that are working on projects that demand the best in terms of performance and sustainability.” n