Blurring the line between tile and art is Chilean architect Mále Uribe Forés. It’s clear that we Tile Addicts see tile in much more than simple ceramic and porcelain so we’re always happy when others do the same.

Mále has created a three-metre wall out of 1,300 tiles. But theses aren’t any old tile – they’re tiles made out of salt and plaster. They were produced for her Salt Imaginaries installation and set to grow over time.

The textured surface is a fascinating display of geometry, with shadow and angle forming a woven look wall. But the salt taken from Atacama desert in Chile will slowly crystallise in the tiles, reacting to the humidity in the air. Eventually they may mutate into something similar to the fascinating and unusual natural formations Forés saw in the desert.

Although salt has been used in a variety of ways throughout history and now its abilities as a building material are being explored. For this designer, not only is the use of biomaterials important but so is our capacity to recognise movement and transformation in our built environments.

In nature the salt seems to have a mind of its own, cracking and changing with the temperature and moisture. Demonstrating the organic wonder as well as its local uses, Forés’ installation contributes a multitude of elements to present this salt’s multifaceted story.

The shape of the tiles was inspired by a site in Tarapacá that utilised saleine mineral rocks formed with a zig-zag technique that produced self-supporting walls. Combining the findings of this old mining settlement and the designer’s own love for geometrics the final shape draws the eye and tells a story.

The tiles themselves were cast in silicon moulds and the process to create all 1,300 of them took little over a month to complete. Each piece was sanded and sealed before being individually stacked into the “living system”.

Mále Uribe Forés

A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, November 2020.