The ever-changing world of digital ink-jet technology has had huge impact on the design of floor and wall tiles and the way in which they are decorated.

Digital printing is a method of printing using digital techniques in which data and images are printed directly from a computer onto a tile, and has made a huge impact on what manufacturers and designers can create.

The key features of digital ink-jet technically-produced tiles are the ultra-fine resolution, the complete edge-to-edge decoration and the myriad of design options.

The technology enables an unlimited number of high-quality patterns and decorations to be produced with fewer materials, less waste and less development and production time than conventional processes.

Digital technology is particularly effective with stone and timber reproduction so designers have the option to select quality tiles that look exactly like timber and stone but without the maintenance. An example of this includes Tile Warehouse's Gris Fleury and Treverk Timber ranges.

Gris Fleury are 750 x 750mm large porcelain tiles that, with the applied digital technology, feature the characteristics and vein patterns of stone, while Treverk is a range of 300 x 1200mm ceramic timber tiles with the aesthetic look of wood.

The standard ink-jet printing machine is equipped with enough memory to create a unique pattern that is nine-metres long and 36-centimetres wide – large enough to decorate about thirty 12 by 12-inch tiles in a row before a design has to be repeated. Computers can be instructed to sample any tile from any point in that row and reproduce it later on; the possibilities going forward, are endless.