How Akij Ceramics is shaping the modern Bangladeshi home

Walk into a newly finished apartment in Dhaka, and the floor is not just a floor anymore. A marble-like surface stretches across a living room, wood textures run up a staircase, and large-format tiles make a compact space appear more expansive, while textured walls add character to rooms that once would have been treated as functional.

The change reflects a broader shift in how Bangladeshis think about their homes. With urbanisation accelerating and lifestyles evolving, the home has become a statement of taste and identity. And somewhere beneath that transformation is an industry that has had to keep pace.

For Akij Ceramics, the answer has been to treat the humble tile as something more than a construction material.

Established in 2012 under AkijBashir Group, the company has built its business around what it calls a "Promise of Perfection" — a philosophy that brings together manufacturing technology, design and an expanding emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility.

The scale of that ambition is perhaps best understood at its manufacturing facility in Mukkhopur, Trishal, Mymensingh. Spread across 67 acres, the facility has grown since the company began operations. Its daily production capacity has risen from 20,000 square metres in 2012 to 49,500 square metres, giving the plant an annual capacity of 25.55 million square metres.

As consumers become more familiar with international design trends and architects and interior designers look for greater variety, the traditional choice between a handful of standard tile patterns is disappearing.

Today, Akij Ceramics has more than 980 active designs and introduces around 200 new SKUs each year. Its portfolio stretches across different formats, finishes,  and uses, from wall tiles to heavy-duty industrial surfaces.

Tiles as a design statement

The company's product lines are designed around different interpretations of space. Granula focuses on high-end wall finishes, Rocker brings more tactile, natural textures indoors, while Lappato offers semi-polished flooring. Double Charge is aimed at durability, while Espacio Porcelain Tiles are designed for a more seamless appearance with fewer joints.

Then there are the more statement-orientated ranges. Kathena uses large formats to create a sense of scale in spaces such as living rooms and lobbies, while Vanita is geared towards kitchens and bathrooms.

Technology sits behind much of that visual variety.

Through Digital Decoration & Glazing (DDG), the company can create realistic finishes on ceramic and porcelain surfaces. The result is a broad spectrum of textures, from high-gloss and mirror-polished surfaces to satin matt, matt carving, sugar matt carving, punch porcelain and rocker finishes.

Size has also become part of the design equation. The portfolio ranges from 20x30 cm wall tiles to larger floor formats such as 60x120 cm and 100x100 cm, alongside tiles designed for industrial and high-traffic environments.

For homeowners, the implications are straightforward: the tile no longer has to disappear into the room. It ca vn define the room.

Some of Akij Ceramics' collections have been developed around that idea. Sierra, for example, introduced what the company describes as Bangladesh's first 40x80 cm porcelain wall tiles. The larger format reduces grout lines, creating a more continuous appearance across walls.

Its Sugar Finish vitrified tiles take a different approach. The emphasis here is on surface treatment and durability, with a finish designed to offer greater scratch resistance while retaining a premium appearance.

The Panora Plank and Stair Series taps into another popular interior trend — the desire for the warmth of wood without giving up the durability of porcelain. Available in wood-look formats including 20x80 cm, 20x120 cm and 30x120 cm, the collection is designed for floors and stairs, including areas exposed to moisture.

Meanwhile, Micro Granule and Gryptile address the more functional side of flooring. Micro Granule combines a matt surface with durability, while Gryptile is designed as a slip-resistant solution in formats such as 20x20 cm and 30x30 cm.

Beyond aesthetics: Responsible designing for inclusion

But the more interesting story around Akij Ceramics is not necessarily about how many designs sit in its catalogue. It is about how the company has tried to expand the idea of what design can do.

One example is its Braille-imprinted tile initiative.

The concept uses raised tactile patterns on tile surfaces to help visually impaired people navigate spaces with greater independence. Rather than treating accessibility as something separate from mainstream design, the initiative incorporates it into the built environment itself.

It is an approach that changes the conversation around tiles. A product traditionally associated with colour, texture and durability can also become part of a more inclusive public and private environment.

That sense of responsibility extends to the factory floor.

Manufacturing ceramics is an energy- and resource-intensive process, making environmental efficiency an important consideration for the industry. At its Trishal facility, Akij Ceramics says it has introduced a series of measures aimed at reducing resource consumption and waste.

The facility conserves around 600,000 cubic feet of natural gas every day and has reduced its overall carbon emissions by 13%. The company also says 20% of the facility's electricity comes from its own 100 MW solar power setup.

Water and solid waste are also part of the equation. Half of the plant's wastewater is recycled, while 100% of its solid waste is reused, reducing waste discharge by 51 metric tonnes a day, according to the company.

For a manufacturing business, these measures matter beyond the factory gate. The sustainability of a product depends not only on what the customer sees but also on how it is made.

The people behind the surface

Yet there is another part of the tile business that often remains invisible to the consumer: installation.

A premium tile can lose much of its visual appeal if it is poorly aligned, unevenly levelled or incorrectly installed. Recognising this, Akij Ceramics has built a sizeable ecosystem around the people who sell and install its products.

The company has more than 380 exclusive outlets and over 4,700 retail points across the country. Its retail network doubles as a space where customers, architects and interior designers can see and compare products rather than making choices from a catalogue alone.

The company has also developed Aponjon, a retail engagement and network development initiative that has involved more than 4,700 retailers. The programme reflects a recognition that changing a market requires more than adding products to shelves; it requires building relationships across the distribution chain.

Akij Ceramics trains nearly 7,000 tile fitters every year in installation techniques, including alignment, levelling and modern fitting methods. The company says its products reach more than 220,000 homes and architectural spaces annually.

That network gives the business a footprint that extends well beyond its Trishal factory. A tile may be designed in response to a global trend and manufactured using European technology, but its final expression depends on a retailer explaining it to a customer and a fitter translating the design onto a wall or floor.

In that sense, the tile becomes the meeting point of several different industries: manufacturing, architecture, interior design, retail and skilled craftsmanship.

The company's growth has also been accompanied by recognition from the local branding industry. Akij Ceramics received the Bangladesh Brand Forum's Best Brand Award in the Ceramic Tiles category for six consecutive years from 2019 to 2024. It was also recognised by Superbrands for the 2023–24 and 2025–26 periods.

Awards, however, are only one measure of how a brand changes an industry. The more telling measure may be the expectations it creates among consumers.

With the evolution of design and spaces, surfaces have moved closer to the centre of the conversation. Tiles are no longer something that fills an empty floor or protects a wall. They help determine how a space feels.

Akij Ceramics' journey has been built around that shift. The story, ultimately, is less about the tile itself than what happens around it.

As Bangladesh continues to build upwards and outwards, those details are becoming important. The modern home is changing, and with it, the expectations placed on everything that goes into it. For Akij Ceramics, the challenge now is to keep those expectations moving — one surface at a time.