Crossville recently sponsored an episode of the popular NeoConversations podcast, shining a spotlight on the exciting advancements and new offerings that we’re bringing to the porcelain tile category.
In addition to conducting interviews with our own Frank Douglas and Noah Chitty on the topic of tile’s evolution, host Amy Devers also brought Laura Muller into the discussion. Muller shares the design industry perspective that’s at the heart of what motivates and informs Crossville’s product development and innovation.
Discover insights and fresh takes from the transcript of the conversation between Devers and Muller, here.
On Tile as a Preferred Material and The Category’s Current Evolution
Amy Devers: So Laura, you wear a lot of hats as CEO. Can you give us a sense of your work and how you approached your projects?
Laura Muller: Well, having a background in theater, we really do approach every project very holistically from the production side, from the budget side, from the art side and from the execution side. So having the opportunity to be design build, we also incorporate gathering the team members, which makes the project very streamlined from start to finish and we basically approach them the very first meeting with all of those entities at the table so that the project can be controlled and organized. We look at it like we’re producing a show.
Amy Devers: So, we’re talking this episode about tile and how tile has evolved and tile as a surface can be very dramatic, very practical, very orderly. I’m wondering, have you worked with tile products in your work and what do you love about tile surfaces?
Laura Muller: Well, first and foremost, tile is one of those great surfaces that you can clean and then the idea that you can clean it and that it’s now as diverse as any other magical design product we work with. It’s a perfect response to so many applications from kitchens and baths, especially from flooring to ceiling applications, now exterior building facades. I mean tile is probably our go-to. If we could do everything in tile we probably would because it just lasts, it’s strong and durable and it’s beautiful. So I think that’s key for when you’re specifying something for longevity.
Amy Devers: Absolutely. And I think there’s something really honest about it, just it’s clay and fire and glaze and that’s very timeless. So no matter what format you use the tile in, it always is going to have that timeless aspect to it because of the material that it’s made from.
Amy Devers: So tile though is evolving into exciting new territory. Can you tell us what you’re seeing or what you’re using or excited to use as far as innovative and refreshing uses of tile surfaces?
Laura Muller: What’s fabulous in tile in the world of tile and how we as designers and builders can access it is when it becomes really good quality. And what I really love is that I’m seeing the quality of the digital world of tile, really, really expanding. So now we can do art on mosaics. The size is incredible because we can go from half inch tile to large jumbo tiles and the resolution from photography and art that’s being able to be used on tile is really coming so far along that it’s almost hard to tell that it’s a tile, which is really exciting in the world of concept design. We do a lot of high concept, high branding restaurants, et cetera, that when you’re using a wall covering, sometimes it’s limiting in how you can apply it. Whereas tile is, it’s timeless, it’s durable, it’s beautiful finishes. And now with the quality bar being raised so high, it’s almost like it’s limitless. And so for a designer to sit down and start to develop a concept for a new restaurant, to be able to have the opportunity to almost imagine anything and have it be produced without compromise is huge.
On Crossville Porcelain Countertops & the Realities of Using New Product Options
Laura Muller: I’m very excited about them. This new opportunity to actually work outside of the quartz and the marble and the solid surface to go into tile where you can do almost anything on a surface now and with the high resolution impact of being able to photograph something and put it into a ceramic tile, it’s an immense opportunity and I’m super excited. I’m actually using it right now. Those large jumbo slabs that are porcelain and it is a little scary because I’m taking a new journey with a material that I haven’t worked with before to be quite honest, but I am very excited about the opportunity that we can move into a new direction in countertop finishes, especially for kitchens and baths being something that I do a lot.
Amy Devers: On the client market side, when we get into porcelain in large formats there are going to be budget and labor considerations that impact the project. Can you speak to that a little bit?
Laura Muller: So if we have to value engineer a product and we have more and more installers familiar with the project installation values then we can predict those and lead that sales. We are in boots to the ground sales for any product that we specify. We are going to be able to guide the client horse, as they say. We’re directing, we are manipulating those things so that because they come to the table having no idea about what these things take to execute.
Laura Muller: So when budget is a part of the project, which it is always having, any time we can streamline that so that it’s a familiar installation process for example, so that more and more people are getting used to it, it becomes more and more regular. Then we can bring those costs in a little bit better. But I will tell you that budget always drives a project. It’s always going to.
Laura Muller: Technology is great, but if you can’t understand it or you can’t access it because it’s just outside of the budget or the concept understanding, people are afraid to do new things. So it’s up to us in the field to be able to educate and reassure them that this is what’s going to look. So the more times we have an example, a finished example, and we have more installers familiar with this product and perfecting it as they go, the better the products can be, the better the budget is going to be able to contain an expense like that.
Opportunities for the New Tile Innovations Crossville Has Introduced
Amy Devers: Where’s the real opportunity for this?
Laura Muller: It does mean that sky’s the limit. It does mean that our design process is unbridled. It means that we can really start to visualize almost anything. And to be able to have a product that is so readily available, high quality, durable, it’ll prove to have classic longevity, it’s like you said, it’s just made with the basics. It really does impact the way we design. It’s actually, after doing this for so many years, it’s now I feel like I’ve had a bolt of adrenaline, I’m now excited about. I got to go out and get another restaurant project because I got to use this somewhere. And I think that’s the beauty of being inspired by design. I mean I could say I could go to the beach, I’m inspired by beautiful nature. I’m inspired by awesome products, you know, and that’s what excites me.
Laura Muller: And when we do our multifamily mixed use buildings or we’re building a three story condo in Beverly Hills, now I’m thinking, oh okay, I can clad that whole exterior in this design now and I can actually accomplish it. I know how it’s going to go in. I can count on its application and installation. That excites me. That it really, I can’t even pinpoint one thing or another. It’s just the whole idea of being able to do towering design work is really, really exciting. It’s very, very inspiring.
Amy Devers: Where do you think the real impact is in innovating with tile and evolving it into these large format surfaces?
Laura Muller: We have a great new mall that’s being built and I’m seeing these wonderful new tiles being used and little things like we don’t go to the mall anymore as designers, we go to the mall as designer builders and we’re looking at the way a facade is being put together. What are they using on the floor these days? How’s that made? What product are they using? And I think that I’m seeing more and more of these new ideas coming to fruition in these commercial applications, which is really, really exciting. And I’m inspired by the idea that we can combine technology and classic materials to create something that’s really out of this world. And I have seen those jumbo, these giant jumbo tiles going in with these wonderful liners. I mean, it’s just these facades with new photography, everything looks like stone and you know it’s not going to absorb those materials. So it’s going to look like that in 10 years.
The Importance of Supporting the A&D Community in Specifying New Tile Products
Amy Devers: So what is necessary to support designers, architects and installers as we move into using and specifying all of these new tile surfacing materials?
Laura Muller: I can so speak to this because this is something, when it’s not available, it’s easy to avoid that product altogether, but when it’s available, that’s all you want to use and specify. So education, when I have a rep come to my office and check in with me and make sure that I’m comfortable with the material, that I have an opportunity to see it installed, that I’m given proper samples, that I’m given a proper backup. For example, the fine print on a manufacturers warranty on a material can be 10 pages. And I can venture to say, going out on a limb here, but I can venture to say that most interior designers probably don’t read it. They look to their reps to help them understand those 10 pages of small fine print. So when a designer says, “Is this applicable to this area? Can you please educate me on installation? How much lead time do I really need?”
Laura Muller: All of those questions are imperative that the designer has in their tool belt. So when a new product comes out, come to my office, educate me, videos, YouTube, any tutorials that could help me visualize. We’re in a visual business, designers are visual people. And anything that can be translated from a manufacturer’s technological side to the interior designers creative side, that conduit has to be always running. I should always be receiving current and updated information. And then you have the relationship side. So we have the events, we have mixers so that I can go to a showroom and understand the technological side, that I can ask the questions I need to ask so that when I specify it I don’t look like an idiot. Right?
Amy Devers: Yes.
Laura Muller: Because nobody’s going to want to do that. We’re going to avoid it so therefore we end up avoiding the product altogether. That’s not a good thing. It’s so important that even this morning when I went to Crossville’s website, I was incredibly impressed by the ease at which I could navigate the site. In fact, I ordered 10 samples this morning. I was able to locate my closest vendor, which happens to be within three miles of me. I called him, I said, “I need these 10 samples.” He said, “Okay, I’ll have them Wednesday. I’ve got them.” You know, it was just absolutely breathtakingly easy to be able to navigate and then of course being able to click over to their videos. I was very interested in seeing the technology side and the delivery side and how they move the product from point A to point B. These are all things that I hold in dear value so that I can do my job in a way that builds confidence with my client.
About Laura Muller
Laura Muller is CEO, founder, and owner of Four Point Design Build, Inc. Her studio is based primarily in Los Angeles and manages projects within LA area, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. Muller’s work includes interior design, architectural detailing, space planning, project management with a strong specialization in luxury kitchen and whole home remodels. Four Point Design Build’s diverse portfolio of projects includes residential and commercial, new construction, remodels, tenant improvements, restaurants, hospitality, medical offices and restoration.
