If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you’ll know that I love a tiled restaurant interior. Of course, some tiled interiors are better than others. Many designers are drawn to ceramic tile’s obvious qualities: hard-wearing, easy-to-clean, hygienic, fresh, bright, colourful, etc.
Others go the extra mile and explore the almost limitless aesthetic potential of ceramic tiles, alongside these practical considerations, to produce tiled interiors that reinforce the dining brand and become an integral part of the marketing campaign.
This was the case in the fashionable Belgravia district of London in 2013 when Andy Martin Architects were commissioned to design the interiors of the Olivogelo ice-cream shop.
AMA was asked to create an aesthetic that reflected both the craft of ice cream making and also the complimentary crafts that form such a key component of Sardinian culture … Sardinia is the brand’s home.
Working in a very confined space of just 17 sq. metres, AMA used one wall as the focus, drawing the public into the space to discover the ice cream display. AMA covered this wall in 3D bespoke ‘lickable’ tiles with hints of coloured flavours, with a reflective ceiling accentuating the colours.
The wall tiles were produced in the north of England and were glazed by one of the UK’s foremost ceramic tile designers – featured earlier in Diary of a Tile Addict – Lubna Chowdhary.
Five tile types were prototyped and 450 tiles – all 200 by 200mm – were then produced. The tiles were slip cast in six different modules. The coloured glazes were then precisely blended and applied to achieve controlled movement during the firing; representing melting ice-cream flavours.
Location photography by Ben Webb.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, February 2017.