"Modern vintage" is the main idea behind the decor of the Cotto Tiles Library on Nimmanhemin Road in Chiang Mai.

Anuvat Chalermchai, marketing manager of Thai Ceramic, a subsidiary of the Siam Cement Group, says the intention of the showroom decor is to show customers how to decorate floors and walls to represent their lifestyles.

"Our customers' main problem is they don't know which tiles are best suited to their homes. They need some ideas to inspire their home decoration. So we've introduced the Cotto Tiles Library in answer to their demand," he says.

In planning the showroom's main decor, advertising and promotion officers Supavadee Saengprasertkul and Chirapat Ngampornsin selected black and cream as the base colours, highlighted with pink and green.

Black and cream are mid-colours that easily combine with others, creating vivid displays to attract the attention of visitors, they explain. They also mix easily with different styles of Cotto tiles that are displayed in the showroom.

Of its total floor area of 384 square metres, the first floor of the Cotto Tiles Library offers combinations of tiles to spark ideas on how different colours and designs can be used to decorate living rooms, kitchens and even gardens. The Western style offers different tiles to match with a large pink chandelier, a decorative artesian well is suggested as a garden feature, and different kitchen designs propose a Western concept and Lanna style.

Between the first and second floors, the designers have created a common wall decor in black and white.

The second floor is a showroom for floor tiles. It also features a counter at which design advice can be given by comparing different decorative combinations.

Supavadee says the showroom is intended to inspire ideas among visitors for the creative use of ceramic tiles to decorate homes.

"We've attempted to decorate the showroom both to present our products and to show our customers how to decorate their homes following the 'modern vintage' concept. We've also tried to create a feeling of warm welcome for visitors," says Supavadee.

Chirapat agrees that customers should feel comfortable as they browse through the eye-catching array of tiles.

"We've selected only 40 designs from our total of 6,000 to decorate this showroom to match our 'modern vintage' idea, but the decor will inspire customers to search through our entire collection to find what suits them best," says Anuvat.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation