Javier Rodriguez, Head of Hospitality/Contracts Manager, PORCELANOSA Group
What does PORCELANOSA do and what makes its offering unique?
Founded in Vila-real, Spain in 1973, PORCELANOSA established itself in the UK in the early 1980’s and has had a strong presence ever since.
In the UK, PORCELANOSA offers not only tiles but kitchen and bathroom products as well as building solutions for contemporary architecture through its eight brands. We also offer design services, with experienced designers, for those bespoke products throughout our 22 showrooms nationwide.
PORCELANOSA’s consolidated position has been built up on values such as innovation and quality, but specially the trust placed in its large human capital, made up of almost 5000 skilled professionals, and its concern for its stakeholders and the environment. With the aim of making unique ceramic tiles out of white clay imported from northern Spain and overseas rather than the more common red variety found in local quarries, PORCELANOSA focused its efforts on creating ornamental value instead of just volume and function. Its products stand out for their high-tech properties, innovative design and unbeatable quality.
PORCELANOSA is a powerhouse within the tile industry and the bathroom sector as a whole and is working its way up the list to become kitchen retailer of the year. It is fast becoming the one-stop-shop for home furnishing and construction projects.
How has your business adapted for the post-pandemic hotel and hospitality industry?
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, face-to-face meetings have been few and far between with most hotel and hospitality workers furloughed. This hugely impacted being able to market product direct to industry contacts and having to market a purpose when everything was closed.
Since opening back up, there has been a slow uptake on physical meetings however, industry contacts are now keen to discuss new options incorporating new technologies with an eye for sustainability. With this in mind, PORCELANOSA has developed new product ranges to suit the new lifestyle and has focused more on hygienic surfaces offering benefits to combating the spread of the virus, amongst other things.
PORCELANOSA’s newest showroom at Hanover Square also offers a different experience to the other showrooms providing inspiration for architects and designers alike, featuring a UNIT-SYSTEMS modular construction pod. The growth in modular construction has meant that our UNIT-SYSTEMS offering is the perfect fit for the complete package approach to design.
What can the hotel and hospitality industry learn from the global pandemic?
The global pandemic has likely challenged everyone’s past experience and knowledge about the profession and hoteliers have probably had to relearn some of the key cornerstones of the industry. It stopped a growth period and put every hotelier to the test. On the other hand, the COVID-19 outbreak gave hotels that were not doing as well a unique opportunity to catch up to their competitors.
Things for the industry to learn and pick up on would be that local travel has become trendy, especially amongst the younger generations. The idea of making this exciting to all generations and ensuring each habitation has its appeal is essential going forward.
Aside from this, digitalisation seems to be continuing to take over the hospitality world and the pandemic allowed the time to sit down and review this approach which should now be continued into the future.
The resilience, innovation and courage shown should make everyone confident that the industry will grow out of this pandemic.
Among the big social shifts to have occurred over the last 18 months (e.g. changing value expectations; hotels as workplaces; building trust and loyalty with Gen-Z; wellness; hotels as communities), which will be the most significant driver of change over the next 3-5 years and why?
The advantage PORCELANOSA has is that due to its range of products, it can adapt to the changing requirements of clients. Regardless of the shift there is in what drives new design in the sector we have the solutions which will meet each individual business requirements.
What products will you be featuring at HIX this year and why should visitors visit your stand?
PORCELANOSA prides itself on being able to offer customers in the architect and design market a full range of complete solutions to meet the demands of modern construction.
Our established Butech factory already had the technical and manufacturing know-how to develop a dedicated UNIT-SYSTEMS (modular construction pods) manufacturing facility and can now offer UNIT-SYSTEMS to specifiers around the globe, just like the rest of their extensive product range.
Visitors can expect to see a fully functioning pod featuring the Group’s own solid surface KRION®, large format XTone® sheets and LVT Linkfloor in a pop-up home from home. PORCELANOSA will showcase the complete package approach to design right in the heart of the UK at The Building Centre – hub for the built environment.
See PORCELANOSA at HIX 2021. Register for your free pass today.
