Club Med | The Etienne Jordaan Story – Italtile

Meet Etienne Jordaan:
The Man Who Specified South Africa’s Most “Monumental” Resort Project, One Tile at a Time.

Historical events are rarely the product of a single sweeping moment. They are built vision by vision, decision by decision, and … in the case of South Africa’s epoch-making new landmark project … metre by metre.

In mid-2026, South Africa welcomed its first Club Med. Club Med Tinley Manor, a multi-billion-rand beach and safari resort on KwaZulu-Natal’s Dolphin Coast. As the largest hospitality investment of its kind in decades and a pioneering dual beach-and-safari offering from the global brand, the project has set a new benchmark for scale, design ambition and technical complexity. Both the commercial and tourism worlds, locally and internationally, have taken notice.

At the heart of its spectacular surfaces stands Italtile Commercial, appointed as the preferred supplier for every single tile across the development: an extraordinary procurement exceeding 46,000 square metres. The man behind the coordination of that vision, from paper to finished surface, was Etienne Jordaan, Western Cape Regional Manager for Italtile Commercial.

A Career Built on Detail and Responsibility

Etienne’s journey in the building materials and tile industry began with a simple, clear affinity for people, problem-solving and watching raw ideas become functional, beautiful environments. He was drawn to tiles because they are both creative and highly practical. “A tile is not just a decorative finish,” he notes. “It influences how a space looks, feels, performs, ages and is maintained.”

He joined Italtile in 2013 as an External Sales Agent and has since progressed into his current role, managing Western Cape commercial operations. Today, he is involved in business development, specification, technical guidance, procurement coordination, project supply and supporting the commercial team. What has kept him at the company is the constant variety: no two projects are the same, and there is always a new technical challenge, product or relationship to develop.

One of the biggest lessons of his career shapes everything he does. “Specifying a product is not enough,” Etienne says. “You need to stay involved and work closely with the architect, developer, contractor and installation team to ensure that what was specified is what is eventually purchased and installed correctly. A project can fail at either the specification or installation stage, which is why I believe in taking responsibility beyond the sale.”

And then the Club Med project at Tinley Manor in KZN happened.

Tackling the Monumental

Asked to describe the Club Med South Africa project in a single word, Etienne does not hesitate: “Monumental.”

His involvement began in September 2024 and stretched from provisional specification and costing through to final supply, contractor coordination, deliveries, problem-solving and post-completion guidance. The site was never a single build. It was a collection of concurrent packages: the central hotel village, private luxury villas, staff accommodation, the Exclusive Collection zone, public amenities and a state-of-the-art convention centre. Each had its own contractors and requirements. Certain areas alone demanded more than 60 separate tile selections.

Navigating that complexity required precise technical mastery, relentless coordination and daily troubleshooting, often solving seemingly insurmountable problems on the fly:

Extreme logistics and multi-package control. Multiple independent main contractors operated across different site packages. Products had to be tracked, allocated and delivered accurately without creating shortages or excessive surplus.
Precision shade and calibre management. Certain product lines were shared across multiple deliveries and zones. Etienne worked extensively with suppliers and contractors to ensure uniform calibres, protecting joint widths and avoiding costly site delays.
High-performance curation. Every range had to balance refined aesthetics with resort-level sustainability goals, durability, non-slip performance and cleanability. Each texture, tone and finish needed to bring the base canvases and harmonising colour palettes of the architectural and interior design vision to life. Selections included Atlas Concorde’s Marvel Travertine and Boost Stone,, INOUT wood-look porcelain tiles, Ceramica Sant’Agostino’s Pixel Aloe, and Global Stone’s custom mosaics. Each range was imported specially for the project.
Sustainable contribution. The careful inclusion of Italtile’s exclusive LiveGreen products helped the completed resort achieve its impressive 4-Star Green Star rating.

“Clients often underestimate the complexity of quantities, shade consistency, product lead times, installation methods, wastage and attic stock,” Etienne observes. On this project, continuous communication, detailed stock allocation tracking and hands-on site support proved essential. That support extended beyond handover: he supplied cleaning guidance and recommended specialised heavy-duty machines fitted with brushes to ensure the finished surfaces were maintained correctly.

Ownership That Outlasts the Build

For Etienne, a project of national significance is about more than commercial success. It is about ownership and building trust that endures long after the last tile is laid.

“Clients are not interested in which department or supplier caused a problem. They need someone who will help solve it fast,” he reflects. “It is both a privilege and a responsibility. Seeing products that we specified, sourced and coordinated become part of the completed resort is extremely rewarding.”

Guided by integrity, consistency and accountability, he continues to drive Italtile Commercial’s growth while mentoring the next generation of commercial specialists. His focus remains on establishing early-stage partnerships on complex developments and leaving behind spaces and relationships built to last.

The Story Continues

While Etienne Jordaan and the Italtile Commercial team laid the technical groundwork for this groundbreaking development, the full story of the “Monumental” Club Med Tinley Manor project, as told by Italtile, is only beginning to unfold.

Over the coming months, we will step inside the resort package by package. We will unpack the design narratives, highlight the specific LiveGreen tile collections used across the luxurious spaces, and share exclusive behind-the-scenes insights into how this eco-chic paradise was brought to life … surfaces and all.

Watch the Italtile Blog and follow our official LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook pages as we roll out Italtile’s take on the complete Club Med South Africa story. A luxury resort that has both the commercial and tourism worlds, locally and abroad, watching closely.