As Melbourne’s leading retailer of bricks, pavers and retaining walls – we’re always keeping an ear to the ground on the latest trends.
You won’t believe some of the things that are now happening with the old faithful brick product we’ve all grown up with.
For a product that has been around for over four thousand years, the last few years have really seen an escalation in the disruption of the choice available to consumers.
Let’s first look at colour and texture.
Brick has always been a popular choice and we’re all used to the red and cream brick and the variations within.
But this has been turned on it’s head with feature bricks now available in all colours of the rainbow through the use of a glazed finish. But this comes at a price, with some of these bricks now costing up to $10 or even $15 per brick, compared to 70c in the old grey common brick.
Perhaps that is why they are being used on the face of houses, or as feature walls inside, with more common brick used down the side and back of houses.
Now onto shape – we’re all familiar with the traditional 230 to 250 mm brick or for the older amongst us – the 8-inch size.
But lately, we’ve seen a range of sizes available in the local market from both importers and local manufacturers. The so-called European brick size is much thinner and also longer than usual – giving an interesting variation and different look.
Want a green block? Then turn to Island Block – a local manufacturer from Tasmania who have introduced an innovation in the form of including recycled glass in their bricks. Just watch them sparkle when the sun hits the fragments of glass in these bricks – just stunning.
There’s just a few of the trends in the not so humble brick – you can get them all from the team at Melbourne Brick – many of which are displayed in our centres so you can touch, feel and see these bricks in varying light situations and with varied grout colours to get exactly the look and feel you want.