Offering a modern perspective on a historic material, Italian research hub Terraformæ seeks to push the boundaries of terracotta to produce fresh surface solutions full of organic charm. One of these surface solutions blends two timeless favourites – terrazzo and terracotta. Designed by Sveva Bizzotto, Terraformæ’s Crumbles utilises production scraps, such as glass and cryolite, to form the freckling flecks that give it its terrazzo-like … Continue reading Creating Crumbles
The Surface Design Show is fast approaching and Tile of Spain have shared five themes to look out for amongst the leading Spanish brands. Fine Lines Faintly textured with matchstick stripes and three dimensional detail, Fine Lines offer subtle decor and perspective play whilst interacting with light and shadow for depth and finesse. Faded Elegance The wear and tear of well loved surfaces comes to … Continue reading Themes to spot at the Surface Design Show
A fabulous selection of tiles and finishes adds detail and ambience to this stunning São Paolo apartment refurb. Designed by Casulo (a local design firm and friends of the apartment’s owners), the entire 220-square-metre apartment was rejigged and reorganised, making the most of each room whilst adding style and ambience. Only the bedroom’s wooden floor remains of the original interior whilst the rest of the … Continue reading A Verdant Variety in a Casulo Casa
A new modular brick from Konstantin Grcic for Mutina offers countless opportunities for creative design. Inspired by natural honeycomb, Hives pairs two hexagons to form a shaped brick with laying schemes to celebrate each aspect of its 3D structure. Each brick is made from extruded terracotta, allowing for subtle variation and unique outcomes, as well as making use of the materials thermal and acoustic properties. … Continue reading Beehive Bricks
Following on from FUGA, Studio Irvine offers another curious combination of fluidity and rigidity. Blending the two, the designers create a surface that can adapt to any location with a look that is not quite tile, but not quite anything else. Exit’s modular system is comprised of pointed arrow forms in either yellow, red, or grey terracotta. Between each of these elements sits the raw … Continue reading Elegant Exit
Our next company hails from Spain. The craftsmen of todobarro are an artisanal outfit dedicated to keeping traditions alive, making each tile to order and forming them all by hand. Specialising in terracotta, stunning shapes and earthy shades make up the majority of their collections. Their seven tones (Blanco Antiguo, Baraca, Ambar, Pizarra, Rojiza, Salmón, and Paja flameada) each offer the delicious variety of classic … Continue reading todobarro
Our seventh installment of companies to keep an eye on is yet another little treasure trove of design delights and gifted artisans. Continue reading Five companies to keep an eye on VII
A few years ago we first covered Durat. Finding such a versatile, eco material that was as beautiful and customisable as the multicoloured, terrazzo flecked, recycled plastic Durat gave us a fresh burst of enthusiasm for the future of surface design. And now they’ve added even more to their range. Durat Palace, developed in collaboration with Dutch design agency MOST Collective has added four new … Continue reading A few shades more
It’s the smaller companies that we’re focusing hard on this year, and with plenty of time to scour the web to find them we’ve got more and more to share with you. Today we’re looking at a Los Angeles based company, with a penchant for the handmade. Zia Tile collects some of the best and most beautiful artisan tiles from around the world to distribute … Continue reading All About Artisans
It’s important to us here at Diary of a Tile Addict to make space for every and anyone who creates, enjoys, and adds to the tile world. To fulfil that we spend quite some time searching for smaller tile companies that can get buried below large manufacturers and well-known names. Our monthly round-ups of companies to keep an eye on adds to this exposure, but … Continue reading The Brilliance of Black Dog
Failing to find the quality and style of tiles needed for her interior design studio (STUDIOEZRA) in Australia, Georgia Ezra created her own brand that could offer exactly what she wanted. Forming partnerhips with artisans and manufacturers around the globe Tiles of Ezra is now a hub of authentic handmade tiles representing a variety of crafts from diverse countries such as Mexico and Vietnam. Combining … Continue reading Tiles of Ezra
There is a focus on material and beauty over trend at Tabarka Studio. Inspired by the search for “an elusive tile in a centuries-old basement shop in Istanbul”, the expansion of Tabarka has taken its founders across the globe in search for authentic charm, finding elegance amongst the mundane and delight in the unexpected. Despite beginning with a passion for terracotta (a humble material still … Continue reading Tabarka Studio
Here at Tile Addict we have a slight obsession with cogobós and Italian brand Mutina is doing a fine job of supplying these ceramic screens to the European market. Notably our last article on the subject covered the gorgeous Celosia, designed by another Tile Addict favourite, Patricia Urquiola. But now it is a separate cogobó collab that we have to share. Nathalie du Pasquier‘s Brac … Continue reading Bric and Brac
Traditional terracotta is given the spotlight with Serenissima‘s STUDIO 50. Celebrating their history of artisanal terracotta and combining it with today’s cutting-edge technology, Serenissima propose a modern surface effect. Six shades make up the range, a mix of the familiar tones of Perla, Sabbia, and Terracotta, and the more unusual colours Peltro, Corvino, and Verderame. A large number of decors add texture and variation to … Continue reading Serenissima’s Synthesis with Studio 50
The founder of Clé Tile, Deborah Osburn, is a kindred spirit. After starting her blog ‘Tile Envy’ in 2009 with the aim to broaden the public’s perception of tile, she eventually launched an online tile shop in 2012. After garnering a following on her blog of those interested in unique decorative tiles, her online store quickly became a hit. Clé has since become known for … Continue reading Captivating Clé Collections
Colourfully welcoming visitors to the arts district in Munich is the Museum Brandhorst – its façade varied and enticing, like a box of crayons. Designed by architecture firm Sauerbruch Hutton, the exterior was created as an indication of what lays behind it. Using around 36,000 TERRART®-Baguette ceramic rods in 23 custom colours the building itself becomes an abstract display. When seen from a distance the … Continue reading Brightly Barred Brandhorst
Widely used in Catalonia, the bóveda (vault) is one of the most elegant structural supports in the design world. They appear to defy physics, confounding beholders with their layered brickwork and gentle curves (see the example of the Soriano-Manzanet family vault in Villareal, Spain). Taking inspiration from this architectural tradition, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma redesigned footwear store Camper. Using both the characteristic terracotta orange and … Continue reading Curved Catalan Camper
Mandarin Stone have added some gorgeous new designs to their terracotta selection. Bazaar is wonderfully on-trend with hand-finished, hand-painted, glazed terracotta tiles with slight imperfections that can make any space unique and characterful. There are eight distinctive patterns, each with their own personality and a subtle essence of that which they are named after. Their Delft design features the classic blue and white of Delft … Continue reading Beautiful Bazaar
These terracotta rainscreens are here from Shildan in response to demand for larger format panels. They are designed to enable drainage and evaporation of rainwater and allows for building design to include rainwater penetration prevention. Instead of eliminating the opening that allows water in, the rainscreen prevents the process that that drives water through the opening by allowing air to circulate behind the panels. The … Continue reading Rainscreen Dream
Nina Martinelli used and abused the plasticity of ceramics to create Giotto, a design inspired by the work of the Italian painter and architect Giotto di Bondoni. He was a pioneer of perspective, who adopted the visual language of sculptors. Continue reading Terracotta Tesselations
