ARLINGTON, VA – Coverings, the premier international tile and stone exhibition and conference in North America, took place last week, April 5-8, 2022, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. Several awards were presented during the event, including those for the Rock Stars program, as well as the Coverings Installation & Design Awards and Best Booth presentations.
The Rock Stars program recognizes emerging tile and stone industry members who consistently innovate as forerunners of achievement. The winners represent the talented and resourceful young professionals in the industry who are setting new standards for excellence and performance, notes the show’s organizers.
“Now, in its seventh year, the popular Coverings Rock Stars program continues to reinforce Coverings’ mission to support the advancement and triumphs of the industry by distinguishing talented young leaders as well as fostering networking and educational opportunities,” said Jennifer Hoff, president of Taffy Event Strategies, LLC, the event management company for Coverings.
A committee of longstanding tile and stone industry leaders evaluated nominations to select this year’s 13 inductees for Coverings Rock Star status. The 2022 Rock Stars represent numerous industry segments and include the following winners:
Contractor: Rogue Bergerson, tile artisan, Bergerson Tile, Astoria, OR and Ricardo Rosa, superintendent, David Allen Company, Warrenton, VA.
Designer: Jaclyn Isaac, principal interior designer, Doni Douglas Designs, Shrewsbury, NJ.
Distributor: Chelston Ross, territory representative, D&B Tile Distributors, Sunrise, FL.
Installer: Jaime Karsky, owner/master artisan installer, Meadowlark Tile, Dickinson, ND and Matt Welner, trainer, National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), Jackson, MS.
Manufacturer: Matteo Calisesi, technical business development, Florim, New York, NY; Natiely Canedo, Florida sales manager, StoneHardscapes, Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Danielle Lancianese, director of Tile & Stone, Shaw Industries, Dalton, GA.
Other – Allied Materials: Jordan Richards, executive director of marketing and design, ProKnee Corp., Whitefield, ME.
Other – Restoration: Alexander Zambrano, owner, Fabrizio & Sons Marble and Granite Restoration, New Port Richey, FL.
Stone Fabricator: Sam Karns, owner/fabricator, Pioneer Surfaces, Gibsonia, PA.
Trade Association: Martha Salazar, director of marketing, TCNA-Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
The 2022 award recipients were honored at Coverings on April 5 at the awards ceremony and networking reception. Recognition for the winners also includes Coverings press content, a year-long professional feature on the Coverings website, postings on Coverings’ social media channels and blog.
Also honored during the awards ceremony were recipients of the Coverings Installation & Design (CID) Awards, bestowed on 15 tile and stone projects that showcase distinction in creativity, ingenuity and technical achievement. The winning projects were on display in the Central Hall of the Convention Center during the show. The annual CID Awards program provides an opportunity for designers, architects, builders, installers and others in the tile and stone industry to demonstrate their creative design projects and superior installation craftsmanship.
This year’s award winners were recognized and celebrated for their accomplishments in the design and installation of tile and stone for residential and commercial projects. The awarded projects showcased distinctive tile and stone applications, involving tile and stone execution, original usage of materials, and overall design and purpose.
The 2022 CID Winners – Design and Installation – for residential are:
Residential Stone Design – Large Budget: Onyx Oasis, SOURCE
Residential Stone Design – Small Budget: Simply Striped, SOURCE
Residential Tile Design – Whole Project: Casa Mancusi, Mancusi Design, LLC
Residential Tile Design – Bathroom: Retreat from Reality, Tbektu Design + Development, LLC
Residential Stone Installation: Visually Stunning Villa, Cox Tile
Residential Tile Installation: Copenhagen at Home, On The Level Flooring
The Best Booth Awards, a program that recognizes exceptional exhibitor booths based on design, creativity, display of product, use of space and overall presentation, were also presented during the show. A panel of tile and stone industry judges selected four booth displays to bestow the awards.
“The Coverings 2022 best booth award winners are a collective group of highly creative tile and stone industry companies,” said Jennifer Hoff, president of Taffy Event Strategies, the show management company for Coverings.
The Overall Best in Show honor was presented to Landmark Ceramics for the best use of tile. The booth display showcased various vignettes featuring different uses of tile, including residential and hospitality applications, such as a luxury spa, retail shop, relaxed bedroom, an ensuite bathroom and two outdoor settings. Landmark’s wide range of displays included limestone-look, wood-look and terrazzo-look porcelain tile collections. Two outdoor settings gave show attendees opportunities to see and feel an expansive array of porcelain tile outdoor pavers. A winning feature of the booth was a solution-based view of the potential for selecting and specifying different styles of tile to achieve a creative and cohesive design, noted show organizers.
Florim was awarded Best Immersive Experience for the space’s new display concept, with an open and spacious area that was inspired by the company’s showrooms in Italy. The exhibit’s experience for attendees involved seeing and touching many colorful porcelain tile options and large-format porcelain slabs that were installed along curving walls encircling the space. A large digital screen centered in the booth provided the continuation of the experience with virtual tile design application simulation, allowing for an interactive experience called the Florim Visualizer. Florim also highlighted its ventilated façade on the exterior of the booth, which is a system of external cladding of buildings for combining aesthetics, functionality, low maintenance and energy efficiency.
The Best Fusion of Artistry and Craftmanship booth award went to Peronda Group. The exhibit space was laid out to include alcoves displaying three different brands. The Peronda Group’s Peronda brand display showed classic porcelain styles with the looks of stone, concrete and wood. The Harmony brand area of the booth offered a design-forward selection of tile shapes and color palettes in collaboration with prominent designers and a trend-focused approach to tile applications. The Museum brand stood out for its timeless appeal with large-format, marble-look porcelain.
ABK won the Best Fashion Meets Function award for its fashion-forward, large-scale, gauged porcelain slabs as well as floor and wall tiles for indoor and outdoor spaces. The exhibit’s products and displays were inspired by the latest trends in the worlds of interior and graphic design. ABK’s fashionable Versace Ceramics collection was a dramatic area on one end of the exhibit. The other side of the space included ABK’s Cooking Surface Prime technology with induction cooktops of large ceramic slabs in different thicknesses, colors and styles for both indoor and outdoor applications. Centering the booth, ABK’s numerous collections of floor and wall tiles and large coordinating, modular slabs created a sense of continuity between the floors and walls.