Tracking the foremost tile makers is like watching a game of one-upmanship. These companies have already created tiles that mimic marble, wood, leather, and linen, and used real gold and silver in finishes that turned what was once a modest material into jewelry for the floor. So at Cersaie, the premiere exhibition of ceramic tile held each fall in Bologna, Italy, the expectations of more than 91,000 visitors from around the world were high. What could they possibly do next? In their never-ending exploration of how tile can resemble other decorative materials, many companies looked again to the wall.

Tiles that resembled wallpaper were in abundance. Italian manufacturer Casamood had two such looks in its Thin collection, so named because the tile is a mere 3 millimeters thick, a new technological achievement that allows the pieces to be easily laid over existing surfaces. Iki is a pop-art Asian-inspired pastoral, while Victor is a damask design reminiscent of Victorian wallpapers. Such patterns are available in large formats (almost 10-by-3.5 feet), making installation easier and faster. Damask motifs were popular, but the Turkish-based Graniser added a tactile component to the concept. Its new G-Tex wall tile is dubbed "the world’s first ceramic tile with the velvet touch."

Settecento, based in Italy, took the wallpaper idea in another direction with their Visionnaire collection. In the same way a wallcovering can be used to accent an otherwise monochromatic room, the company combined large swaths of busy tiles with solid tiles. Les Fleurs du Mal depicts a purple-and-gold floral. Indian Summer, with purple-and-green autumn trees etched into porcelain stoneware, takes its inspiration from Cole & Son’s Woods wallpaper. Both designs have shimmery finishes reminiscent of foil, and are oversize in scale and romantic in theme.

Not limited to flat surfaces, manufacturers also explored textural three-dimensionality. For the Italian firm Ceramiche Supergres, Milanese architect Claudia Raimondo looked to classic detailing for her new Scultura tile for the De-Co collection, which recalls architectural plasterwork. For the same Italian company, Fabio Bortolani, a Florentine architect, took a more flexible, contemporary approach. His Figura tile, a geometric relief on a rectangular wall tile, can be arranged in various configurations, each producing a different overall design.

Renowned Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola marked her foray into ceramic tile with Italian manufacturer Mutina. She describes her Déchirer tile—large slabs of fine porcelain stoneware—as an industrial product that traces the layers of history. And like an archeological remain, snippets of pattern and texture, from floral to squares, dots and ridges, rise and sometimes overlap on the tile’s surface.

One dramatic, textural wallcovering that debuted was Crescent Border, from Japanese manufacturer Inax. Like an oversize piece of wicker, or the bamboo fences so prevalent in Japan’s urban gardens, this porcelain tile has a deeply dimensional surface that appears woven together. Crescent Border is an improved version of a previous Inax tile with more rounded planes, demonstrating again that exploration is a creative constant in the world of high-end tile.