The development history of ceramic tiles Historical background The history of ceramic tiles can be traced back to 4000 BC, when the Egyptians began to use ceramic tiles to decorate various types of houses. The clay bricks were dried in the sun or baked and then colored with a blue glaze extracted from copper. Before 4000 BC, ceramic tiles were also discovered in Mesopotamia. These ceramic tiles were decorated with blue and white stripes. Later, more styles and colors appeared. Ancient brick kiln ruins China is the center of ceramic art. As early as the Shang and Yin Dynasties (1523-1028 BC), China produced a kind of exquisite white stoneware, which was decorated with early Chinese glazes. Over the centuries, the decorative effect of tiles has improved as tile production methods improved. For example, all tile decoration methods reached their peak in Persia during the Islamic period. Subsequently, the use of ceramic tiles gradually became popular all over the world. In many countries and cities, the production and decoration of ceramic tiles reached its peak. In the history of ceramic tiles, Spanish and Portuguese mosaics, Italian Renaissance floor tiles, Antwerp glazed tiles, the development of Dutch tile illustrations, and German ceramic tiles are all landmarks. In ancient times, ceramic tiles were all handmade, that is to say, each tile was hand-shaped and hand-colored, so each tile was a unique work of art. Ceramic tiles are used in almost every aspect of architecture, such as walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces, murals, and building exteriors. Today, all over the world, ceramic tiles are no longer hand-made and hand-colored, but use automated production technology, and human hands are only used to install the tiles. As in the past, ceramic tiles are used both indoors and outdoors for decoration, such as floors, walls, countertops, fireplaces, fountains, exterior walls, etc. one. A brief history of the development of Chinese ceramic tiles. Although Banpo people were making pottery in China as early as 6,000 years ago during the matrilineal clan society, Chinese ceramics have been mainly limited to the fields of daily ceramics and craft ceramics for thousands of years. A small number of Building ceramic products also refer to clay bricks and tiles produced in a manual or semi-manual way. As a kind of modern architectural ceramics, Europe is the birthplace of ceramic tiles. In 1914, Wu Youqing founded Qingshan Porcelain Kiln in Wenzhou, pioneering the production of architectural ceramics in modern China. In the 1920s and 1930s, Taishan Brick and Tile, Desheng Kiln Industry, Xishan Kiln Industry and other enterprises were established one after another. Among them, Wu Baiheng, a national capitalist in Wenzhou, hired technicians to build the Xishan Porcelain Factory in Xishan, a suburb of Wenzhou, in 1939. In 1943, he successfully produced my country's first glazed brick, thus kicking off the construction ceramics industry in my country. Due to the backwardness of equipment and technology at that time, by 1949, the national annual output of ceramic wall and floor tiles was only 2,310 square meters. After that, large enterprises such as Xishan Noodle Brick Factory, Jingdezhen Ceramics Factory, Shenyang Ceramics Factory, and Tangshan Building Ceramics Factory were established. In 1960, the national annual output of ceramic wall and floor tiles reached 2.11 million square meters. By 1980, the national annual output reached 12.61 million square meters. . In 1983, Foshan Acid-Resistant Ceramics Factory introduced China's first fully automatic ceramic wall and floor tile production line from Italy, setting off the first development climax of China's architectural ceramics industry. Since then, China's architectural ceramics industry has entered a rapid development track. From 1989 to 1990, the product line of Chinese ceramic tiles expanded from white porcelain tiles and colored glazed tiles to wear-resistant tiles, polished tiles and colored glazed mosaics, thus enriching the variety of ceramic tiles; from 1992 to 1993, villages and towns The rapid development of enterprises has rapidly increased the production capacity of China's architectural ceramics. In 1993, China's output of architectural ceramics ranked first in the world, and it has since become the world's largest producer of architectural ceramics. From 1998 to 1999, many former township and village enterprises were transformed into private enterprises. The changes in operating mechanisms further enhanced the vitality of enterprises. Since then, China's ceramic tile production has grown by leaps and bounds. It is estimated that in 2006, China's annual output of architectural ceramics will reach 5 billion square meters, exceeding 50% of the world's total output and ranking first in the world for 12 consecutive years. 2. The birth and development of Chinese ceramic tile culture China's ceramic tile culture was born and developed along with the upgrading of Chinese ceramic tile production technology and products. China's ceramic tiles started very late, and the ceramic tile culture also came into being late. Before 1996, the production of ceramic tiles had little cultural concept. In the early days of ceramic tile products, because the supply exceeded demand, few people paid attention to cultural aspects, and there was no distinction between brand culture and product culture.

Although some ceramic tiles have some simple patterns printed on the surface, it is only to enhance the beauty of the product and avoid the product being too monotonous. In 1996, Stoken Company developed three-dimensional clone stone, which imitated the grain and texture of granite. It was an early product that intentionally imitated stone. Soon Eagle Ceramics also launched large-grain polished tile products that imitate granite; in 1998, The launch of Dongpeng Golden Flower Beige is the first ceramic tile product that imitates marble; in terms of antique tile production, in 1996 Marco Polo conducted in-depth exploration of some products with classical taste in glazed tiles and launched matte retro tiles, becoming the first domestically produced tiles. A company that produces antique bricks. In addition, Marco Polo used cultural marketing methods to vigorously promote the mass production and popularization of antique bricks. Antique bricks have since become one of the three major categories of architectural ceramics alongside polished bricks and glazed interior wall tiles (tiles). With the continuous advancement of ceramic tile production technology, the continuous increase of product categories and the continuous updating of product colors, ceramic tile culture has also emerged and become the focus of attention. It should be said that the companies that pay the most attention to brand culture construction are Dongpeng Ceramics and Marco Polo. The actions of both are milestones in the development history of Chinese ceramic tile culture. The former focuses on promoting the standardization of brand culture, taking the lead in introducing CI in the ceramic industry, improving the overall image of the company and brand; the latter leads the occurrence and development of antique brick culture, and has recently actively promoted the construction of the China Architectural Ceramics Museum, making China's The architectural ceramics industry has a distinct mark on history. three. The specific situation of Chinese ceramic tile culture (1) Brand culture of ceramic tiles There are many classifications of brand culture of ceramic tiles. For example, it can be divided into original brand culture and non-original brand culture based on whether it is original; from the value orientation of the brand, it can be divided into brand culture that emphasizes quality, brand culture that emphasizes life sentiment, and brand culture that emphasizes naturalness and ecology. Brand culture, etc.; classification from the cultural system is the simplest way of classification. The brand culture of ceramic tiles is generally divided into three categories from the cultural system. One category is Western culture, there are many of them. Such as Marco Polo, Monte Carlo, Samit, Grace, Louis Moderne, Romario, etc.; the second category is Eastern culture, which is relatively small, such as Guanzhu, Shengtaofang, Tang Hesheng, etc.; the third category is others Category, does not strictly define the style of ceramic tile culture. Such as Yingpai, Jin Chaoyang, Hui Wanjia, etc. (2) The main reasons for the current prevalence of European positioning of brand culture are: 1. It is a requirement for brand internationalization. Just like Lenovo Group, in order to adapt to the needs of global development and promote the international influence of its products, it changed Lenovo's international trademark from "legend" to "lenovo". 2． It is China's ceramic tile design and development level that is still relatively backward. China's ceramic tile production started with the introduction of foreign production equipment and production lines. Although the production volume has increased significantly over the past decade, it has not paid enough attention to product development and design. Among the thousands of ceramic tile production companies across the country, most of them mainly imitate and follow the trend. There are very few companies that truly have product R&D capabilities, and even fewer companies have complete product R&D centers. Especially compared with the world's ceramic production powers such as Italy and Spain, it lags behind by more than one level. 3. It is the maturity of European design concepts and product culture. As the birthplace of modern architectural ceramics, Europe not only leads China in terms of production equipment and technology, but is also very mature in terms of product design and brand operation. European architectural ceramics product design focuses on personalization, advocating in-depth consumer analysis and research as the starting point for product production, R&D and design, and guiding consumer needs with personalized products. As a result, product design has always been at the forefront of consumer needs. In short, the development of European architectural ceramics is overall ahead of China. 4. It is influenced by some consumers’ admiration for foreigners. In order to cater to the requirements of some consumers who worship foreigners and favor foreigners, some companies position their brand culture style as European style. Four. What is ceramic tile culture? Ceramic tile culture is based on paying attention to the practical value of ceramic tiles as decorative materials, giving them a cultural significance function, thereby strengthening their visual aesthetic effect and aesthetic value, and achieving communication with consumers. The purpose of emotional communication. Simply put, ceramic tile culture is to upgrade ceramic tiles from material products to cultural products, adding cultural value to the practical value of ceramic tiles, thereby improving the content of ceramic tile products. 5. The role of ceramic tile culture 1. It is conducive to the development of the brand. Ceramic tile culture is an important part of ceramic tile brand building. Thinking and exploring ceramic tile culture can enrich brand connotation and enhance brand influence.

2. Helps differentiate products. Without ceramic tile culture, the only way to distinguish products is by their appearance, such as product texture, color, and whether they are matte or not. This kind of differentiation based on the essence of the product is not easy to leave a memory point in the minds of consumers. Ceramic tile culture can give consumers room for imagination, making it easier to enhance their understanding and memory of product appearance, and add their own emotional factors to the aesthetics of the product. 3. It is helpful to increase the added value of products. In the ceramic tile industry where homogenization is serious, the same product will bring different psychological feelings to the audience depending on the culture attached to it. The same seepage tile, called Baroque and seepage tile, give people completely different feelings, and their added value is also different. So some people say that selling ceramic tiles is actually selling culture. 4. Ceramic tile culture can enrich the appearance of products and provide ideas for product research and development. Ceramic tile culture can lead to innovation in product design concepts, thereby designing products with more cultural connotations. 6. Product culture of ceramic tiles Product culture is an important part of ceramic tile culture. On the one hand, it carries the extension of corporate culture and brand culture at the product level. On the other hand, it carries the consumer groups’ opinions on product features, brand culture and corporate culture. Cognition. Therefore, the process of attaching importance to product culture is also a process for companies and brands to understand and improve consumption concepts. The development of Chinese ceramic tile product culture has gone through a process of development from simple imitation to personalization and artistry. (1) Product culture in the imitation stage 1. Product culture of imitation stone The production of modern architectural ceramics in China started with glazed tiles. Later, polished tiles emerged and gradually became the most important category of architectural ceramic products. In the early stages of China's architectural ceramics production, demand for products exceeded supply, and no one paid attention to product culture at that time. Until the 1990s, as Chinese ceramics enterprises expanded their production lines, the output of architectural ceramics ranked first in the world. The supply of products gradually exceeds demand, and the contradiction between supply and demand begins to emerge. Only then do companies begin to focus on marketing and establish the uniqueness of their products by exploring product selling points. The initial product selling point was imitation stone. Because the application scope of ceramic tiles is mostly to seize the consumer market of original stone products, so the selection of ceramic tiles with better material than stone and the application effect of stone is the selling point of ceramic tile products to open up the market and occupy the market. For a time, there were so many ceramic tile products named after stones. Such as golden flower beige, Tianshan stone, Jindian stone, snow jade, etc. Although the imitation stone concept was originally proposed to compete for the stone market, the imitation stone concept has since been effectively extended and evolved, because the realistic imitation stone effect of ceramic tiles gives the home a close-to-natural decorative effect, thus changing from the product-based nature "Substitutes for stone" transitioned to cultural "satisfaction of consumer psychological needs." Because of the emergence of the imitation stone concept, polished tiles and porcelain tiles are proud of being closer to the texture of stone. Therefore, both product design and product naming are inseparable from the idea of ????imitation stone. The term imitation stone has lasted for nearly ten years and has become the mainstream of ceramic tile product culture. It was not until recent years that imitation stone culture was gradually replaced by other cultures. 2. Antique product culture Antique tile products are mainly antique tiles. Antique tiles pay attention to patterns and decorative designs, and pay attention to the different decorative styles of different countries and ethnic cultures. Therefore, antique bricks are products with rich cultural connotation and personal style. Recently, antique porcelain tiles have emerged, broadening the concept of antique products. 3. Product culture that imitates other materials. At the end of the 20th century, some leading ceramic tile manufacturers began to break through the concept of imitation stone, and a series of ceramic tile products such as imitation fur, imitation leather, imitation wood, imitation silk, imitation metal, etc. began to appear. Initially, porcelain tiles were screen printed to achieve a non-stone effect, followed closely by antique bricks. Due to the matte characteristics of antique bricks, it is easier to achieve the calm and natural texture effect of materials such as fur, leather, wood and silk, so antique bricks truly bring this form of imitation to the extreme. (2) Artistic product culture Since glazed tiles are mainly used in kitchen and bathroom spaces with strong personalization, the requirements for personalized style are relatively high. Therefore, compared with other building ceramic products such as polished tiles, glazed tiles first focused on the artistic expression of the product to meet the personalized needs of space design. Glazed tiles realize changes in color through various processes. The patterns and waistlines of glazed tiles have become the main carriers to show the artistry of glazed tiles. The emergence of artistic mosaics has added a lot of appreciation value to ceramic tiles. It's just that at first, artistic parquet had to be cut mechanically, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the processing effect was rough. Later, the application of water jet cutting enabled the cutting of artistic parquet to achieve a natural and smooth effect, and the artistic parquet presented a colorful style.

The China Architectural Ceramics Museum, initiated and founded by Weimei Ceramics, displays a number of products that are artistically processed on polished tiles. Through carving, cutting and other methods, calligraphy, painting and other works are processed on the polished tiles, truly turning the tiles into works of art. seven. The future development trend of Chinese ceramic tile culture (1) Brand culture 1. There will be more brands that use Chinese culture as their brand culture, and the cultural level will be explored more deeply. As China's national power increases, Made in China and Created in China have an increasing international influence. Chinese culture will gradually become the focus of widespread attention from foreign people, and more and more foreign people will like to be somber and restrained. Chinese culture and Chinese artworks with strong decorative and artistic qualities. Therefore, how to effectively excavate the excellent elements of Chinese culture and use them innovatively to become something accepted by modern fashion people is the most urgent and realistic issue. 2. There will be more brands that are compatible with Chinese and Western cultures, making it easier to adapt to international trends. In the future, many companies will downplay their own brand culture and style trends, but adopt an inclusive mentality to make their products and brands more versatile, so as to timely adjust their products according to the requirements of globalization trends and changes in consumer demand. Cultural style and tone. 3. Brand culture will be more closely integrated with corporate culture and product culture, and the unity of the three will be strengthened. In the future, brand culture construction will break through the current limitations of being too conceptual and truly integrate with corporate culture and product culture, so that the three elements of enterprise, brand, and product can support each other and develop in a more coordinated manner. 4. Brand culture will transcend the current limitations that only revolve around companies, products and other elements, and will be more closely linked and integrated with social culture, thereby further broadening the brand's development horizons. (2) Product culture 1. The media of imitation will be wider. In the future, more media will appear in the field of ceramic tile imitation, giving people a new visual impact. 2. The technology will be more sophisticated and the visual effect will be better. Continuous innovation and improvement in technology and craftsmanship will support the continuous improvement of product design, making product design more colorful, creatively more unique and personalized, and the overall effect more perfect. 3. The imitation, reference and integration of other art categories will be more abundant, and the decorative and artistic nature of ceramic tiles will be more prominent. As consumers' appreciation level and aesthetic ability continue to improve, the application functions of ceramic tiles will gradually weaken, and the decorative and artistic nature of ceramic tiles will become more important. Because of this demand, ceramic tile manufacturers will pay more and more attention to the research and development of new ceramic tile product designs. Ceramic tile product design will definitely draw on more expression techniques from art categories, so that ceramic tile products will be more expressive and personalized. Style has become an important part of space decoration art. eight. Classification standards National classification standards: The water absorption rate of porcelain bricks is less than or equal to 0.5%. The water absorption rate of stoneware bricks is greater than 0.5% and less than or equal to 3%. Loulan antique bricks--the water absorption rate of Loulan ancient fine stoneware is greater than 3% and less than or equal to 6%. The water absorption rate of stoneware bricks is greater than 3% and less than or equal to 6%. The rate is greater than 6% and less than or equal to 10%. The water absorption rate of ceramic bricks is greater than 10%. Water absorption rate expression: Ceramic bricks > 10% ≥ stoneware bricks > 6% ≥ fine stoneware > 3% ≥ porcelain stoneware > 0.5 ≥ porcelain bricks. Divided according to use: Exterior wall tiles, interior wall tiles, floor tiles, industrial tiles, etc. Divided according to molding: Pressed bricks, extruded bricks, plastic molded bricks According to firing composition: Oxidative tiles, reducing tiles According to glaze: Yes Glazed tiles and unglazed tiles are divided according to water absorption rate: porcelain tiles, stoneware tiles, fine stoneware tiles, stoneware tiles, and ceramic tiles according to type: glazed tiles, full-body tiles (homogeneous tiles), polished tiles, vitrified tiles , Porcelain glazed tiles (antique tiles) are divided according to the production process: printed tiles, polished tiles, spotted tiles, crystal tiles, unglazed tiles. As modern ceramic tile technology continues to grow and develop, a variety of creative ceramic tiles have been derived to cater to people's constantly updated home decoration concepts. Such as: inkjet printing tiles, wood grain tiles, etc. Nine. Characteristics of ceramic tiles: Size: The size of the product is uniform, which saves construction time and is neat and beautiful. Water absorption: The lower the water absorption, the better the degree of vitrification, the better the physical and chemical properties of the product, and the less likely it is to crack or peel due to thermal expansion and contraction due to climate change. Smoothness: Ceramic tiles with good flatness have no curved or warped surfaces, are easy to construct, and have a flat floor after construction. Loulan fully polished glazed tiles - golden armor [2] Strength: high flexural strength, good wear resistance and heavy pressure resistance, not easy to wear, long-lasting, suitable for use in public places.

Color difference: Place the tiles flat on the floor and arrange them into a square meter. Check if there are any differences in color shades or inability to connect, causing aesthetic obstacles.