Eurotile Bermuda, the ceramic tile company located on Mills Creek Lane in Pembroke, has expanded considerably since its inception twenty years ago.

"When the company started, ceramic tile was all that was available,'' said Mr. Huw Lewis, managing director of Eurohome Bermuda, the company that manages Eurotile Bermuda. "But now we sell ceramic tiles as well as kitchen cabinetry, hardwood floors and carpeting.'' Eurotile continues to grow and product lines are now being extended, said Mr. Lewis. Still, ceramic tile forms the basis of Eurotile's business. "But the making of ceramic tiles has changed dramatically,'' said Mr. Lewis. "Because of the technology available today, each tile can be produced to look different. And these slight variations make for a more interesting and characteristic look,'' he said.

"Also, there's been a lot of fashion and style changes. At first, there were various patterns available in basic ceramic tiles. "Then the industry moved into the marbled look. And in the past two years, the stone look has become popular. "Some tiles are timeless,'' he added. "They'll always be in fashion.'' Eurotile previously carried a limited number of ceramic tiles from various companies. But today, the company buys only from large quality manufacturers, said Mr. Lewis. "We've cut out all second grade ceramic tiles,'' he said, adding that the majority of tiles come from Italy, but tiles are also imported from Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Panama and the United States. Eurotile keeps up with all the new technology in the tile business. Just three years ago, there were only four grades of tile; grade one being a wall tile -- soft in consistency with no great deal of wear and grade four being a hard wearing commercial tile. But today, the industry has produced tile that exceeds grade four, said Mr. Lewis.

"It is very hard and very long wearing.'' Customers can choose from a number of tiles from the inexpensive, fairly plain but good quality ceramics to the marble or granite stones. As well, hand-painted tiles in a variety of patterns and colours are available. Also, one of the most popular tiles in Bermuda is terre cotte of which Eurotile has a wide selection including a special antique terre cotte tile, noted Mr. Lewis. Eurotile's corporate policy is to try and beat US prices in all that they sell. "We try to sell all our goods at below US prices,'' said Mr. Lewis. "This is important because our main competitors live on the eastern seabord in the United States -- we have to be competitive or customers will go abroad.'' PHOTO ENDURING COLLECTION -- General manager Mr. Dennis Rodrigues notes the quality of Eurotile's colourful, natural Bruce hardwood floors.

TONNES OF TILE -- Product manager Mr. Joe Carolo points to some of the decorative tiles supplied by Eurotile Bermuda Limited.

COLOURFUL CARPETS -- Sales representative Mr. Gary Simons shows off some of the many carpets in stock at Eurotile.

PROFESSIONAL INSTALLER -- Factory-trained kitchen, bathroom and hardwood floor installer Mr. Kevin Hendrickson performs all of Eurotile's installation.

IN THE WAREHOUSE -- Warehouse supervisor Mr. Richard DeSilva (left) and Steven Henscke are kept busy picking up tile orders for customers. They move up to 3 tonnes of tile a day.