Two of my favourite things come together in this post: decorative ceramics and toothsome food. Pink Mamma (Paris), Ricker Restaurants’ Stoke House, Pizza Express, Nico Osteria and Levi Roots Caribbean Smokehouse are just some of Alhambra Tiles‘ clients who are wowing their diners with bespoke tiles featuring individual patterns and colours.
Working with design teams such as Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, Tara Bernerd, Creed Design and B3 Designers, Alhambra Tiles has built up an impressive portfolio of restaurant projects.
While Levi Roots asked for a bespoke green shade to connote the Caribbean in his B3-designed Smoke House ‘rastaurant’, Pink Mamma, designed by MBDS, had two of their own designs created in pink, while Ricker Restaurants commissioned a new shape – giant diamonds – to make up huge hexagonal features.
Working with Tara Bernerd & Partners, Alhambra supplied a uniquely coloured patchwork selection for the Nico Osteria at the Thompson Hotel Chicago.
For Pizza Express at First Street, Manchester, the touch of tile magic came in the form of a patchwork selection that included a bespoke pattern. Creed, the team behind this design, made novel use of encaustic tiles in bold black and yellow, inspired by hazard tape.
Alhambra’s encaustic cement tiles come in bespoke colours as standard. There is a choice of around 100 shades to choose from, and the colours can be placed wherever the client wishes within the tile template. While there are over 200 existing patterns, making a new pattern is usually straightforward. And, although there is a one-off fee for a new mould, the cost of a bespoke tile is no different to a standard design of similar complexity.
Making the giant shape for Ricker Restaurants was a challenge because Alhambra struggled to find a specialist to make a metal mould of the required dimensions. However, Alhambra’s extensive contacts within the Spanish tile manufacturing community paid off – Alhambra only imports from Spain – and a suitable mould was sourced.
Some of Alhambra’s restaurant tile designs will be on show at The Restaurant & Bar Design Show at ExCeL, London, next week, 26th and 27th September. Free tickets to the show are available by clicking the following link eventdata.co.uk.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, September 2017.
Lovely article – thanks for the kind words!