Be bold with mosaic colour this season, says Italian glass tiles specialist Trend, suggesting that purple is now becoming chic in interior design. Having talked to architects, designers and tiling retailers across the country, UK sales director Tom Anderson finds renewed enthusiasm for the purple spectrum, inspired perhaps by recent, dramatic glass mosaic designs like Trend’s Liberty Purple, which expresses the colour in an irregular palette of plum, aubergine, lavender and amethyst.

“Purple is not a ‘safe’ colour like neutral creams, browns and greys, it is a bold statement that expresses confidence, style, even opulence,” says Tom. “It is the traditional colour of wealth and status. It’s the mark of royalty and Roman emperors, which is why it is known as imperial purple. It is deep and rich, combining the coolness of blue with the hotness of red, and in the hands of the right designer can make strong, sophisticated decorative statements.”

Marrying artisan craftsmanship with contemporary style, Trend’s authentic Italian glass mosaic tiles can extend such colour statements to most interior and exterior settings, adding visual excitement and textured interest to walls, floors and ceilings. Being non-porous, non-flammable, fade-resistant, wipe clean and virtually maintenance-free, glass mosaic is suitable for reception halls, living and dining rooms, bathrooms and showers, even ‘wet areas’ like swimming pools, fountains and other features.

Scattered amongst the 250 pages of Trend’s lavish online catalogue, viewable at www.trend-gb.com, fashionable shades of purple can be found permeating the entire collection. The classic 2 x 2 cm tile format [from £49 per square metre] offers iridescent purple, plum and violet Shining tiles, tonal veins of enamel and aventurina in Brillante and plainer semi-transparent mosaics in the Vitreo range. The 1.5 x 1.5 cm range [from £120 psm] extends choice in the purple spectrum to opaque glass Lux in plain shades and the opulence of Shining, created with semiprecious metal solutions in molten glass. Smaller yet, the 1 x 1 mini mosaic tiles [from £51 psm] allow for more intricate décor panels and borders, using tiny Brillante 1 x 1 designs in varying shades of purple.

Offered in 2 x 2 and 1 x 1 formats, the Aureo Lucio Orsoni designer collection [from 85p per piece] includes violet-tinted 24 carat gold mosaics; while white gold, yellow gold and platinum white tiles from the precious Modern Aureo and Traditional Aureo selections [from 65p per piece] will reflect and enhance purple hues. Trend’s full-bodied Karma glass mosaic [from £220 psm] is additionally available in plain and multi-coloured purple ‘stained glass’ effects, in a whole variety of hand-cut formats and sizes.

Karma’s depth of colour and irregular shapes are exploited in Trend’s distinctive Liberty collection [from £230 psm], designed in collaboration with Italian artist Giulio Candussio. His use of different tile shapes and sizes, with straight and sinuous lines, is perfectly expressed in Liberty Purple, which is presented in irregular film-faced modules measuring approximately 26cm x 31cm.

Further preformatted studio designs with purple notes can be found in Trend’s Miscele [from £90 psm] and Shading Blends [from £133 psm], featuring square format glass tiles in colour-coordinated designs. Mixes like Calycanthus, Happyness and Sensitivity display varying strengths of purple, while the Lavender shading blend graduates visually from near white to deep purple.

For the most dramatic decorative statements, Trend’s exclusive Wallpaper collection [from £180 psm] features the repeat pattern structure of paper or silk wallcoverings, but has the textural and hardwearing appeal of Italian glass mosaics. There are a number of purple-hued Wallpaper patterns, such as the abstract Grand, classic Floral and labyrinthine Glorious designs, and the tiles are pre-grouted and mounted on a polyethylene mattress system for quick and easy installation.

Finally, for countertops, floor tiling, panelling and other hardwearing exterior and interior finishes, there are Trend Agglomerates [from £188 psm]to continue the purple décor theme. Variously made from Italian granite, quartz or recycled glass blended with polymers, these surfaces are heat, stain, scratch and impact resistant and available in a wide choice of tile, plank and slab formats.